Leeds United providing brand new definition for age-old claim — Graham Smyth's Wolves Verdict — YEP 19/4/26
By Graham Smyth
The Verdict on Leeds United’s massive 3-0 Premier League win
at home to Wolves.
Leeds United are well on their way to rubberstamping Premier
League status and changing a long-held, deep-rooted narrative.
It has taken 33 games to put the Whites on the edge of
survival, but altering a club's mindset takes a lot longer than that. There was
a perfect example of how this club and its fanbase tends to think in the 75
minutes prior to their 3-0 win over almost-relegated Wolves. Dan Bentley had
not played a single minute of senior football this season before being pressed
into action at Elland Road. The jokes wrote themselves. Lev Yashin reincarnate.
Man of the Match award claimed already. Etc etc.
Daniel Farke is not a big fan of this ingrained expectation
that when it comes to the crunch Leeds will shoot themselves in the foot, or
the face. Doing a Leeds has not been a phrase associated with happiness for a
long time. He and others among the hierarchy have been dead set on disproving
the doubts and the gloom and doom predictions, even if they come from a place
of self defence. Bleak humour becomes a mechanism when heartbreak has been the
norm on so many occasions.
Ever since they lost to Southampton at Wembley, Farke and
Leeds have slowly but surely put together a body of evidence that suggests
'doing a Leeds' should be more associated with a strong back bone and a steady
hand than reaching for the strong stuff. Last season they won the league title
on the final day with a goal right at the end of the match. When it needed to
happen, Leeds delivered. This season they delivered when they really needed to
for Farke's sake as much as anything, turning the tide after an ominously
disappointing spell. They let slip a 2-0 lead at West Ham in the FA Cup
quarter-final, allowed the Hammers to take it to penalties and then won. They
went to Manchester United, allowed 10 men to halve a two-goal deficit and then
won.
And having ended a 45-year wait for a league victory at Old
Trafford, they welcomed the Premier League's bottom side to Elland Road with
the survival finish line slowly coming into sight. A Premier League bottom side
with a goalkeeper so game-rusty he could pass for a statue. What happened next
was nothing at all like the doomsday scenario many feared in the back of their
minds.
Farke's men started like they meant business, creating a
chance within seconds of the whistle. Bentley was drawn off his line to make
his first save of the campaign. He kept it 0-0 but the opening minutes were
comfortable for Leeds and they pressed the visitors into going high and long to
Adam Armstrong, who stood little chance against Jaka Bijol. Had just a little
of the striker's instinct rubbed off on the centre-back he would have opened
the scoring for Leeds, but instead he failed to anticipate or react to a ball
hooked across the goal by Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Wolves were struggling to cope with Leeds' intensity and the
in-form Noah Okafor in particular looked ominous. It was his run and pass that
had created the earliest chance for Calvert-Lewin. It was Okafor's touch that
sent the ball up into the air in the Wolves box, allowing James Justin to get
off the ground and not only produce a stunning bicycle kick but nutmeg Bentley
in the process. The centre-back, or is he a right-back, or a left-back, or just
an incredible bit of business? The narrative when he signed for just under £10m
was not quite what it is now that he's proven himself invaluable.
With the goal Leeds had lift off. Wolves already looked
punch drunk. And Okafor was now inevitable. When the ball was picked off by
Brenden Aaronson on the right, the Swiss winger hared off towards goal and
arrived to meet the American's perfect low cross with an equally good finish.
Okafor's story has rarely been as punctuated with end product as it is right
now. Five goals and three assists in his last seven have made him the main man
at the best possible time for Leeds.
Leeds United rode luck in moments
It didn't remain one-way traffic and as clinical as Leeds
had been early on, they were not always as polished in possession. In the main
it was a comfortable half but Wolves did have the odd moment and for the second
game in succession Calvert-Lewin was needed on the goal-line when a set-piece
caused problems and the ball flashed past Karl Darlow.
Wolves made changes in terms of system and personnel at the
break and Leeds' start was decidedly sleepy. Sloppiness prevented them from
finding fluidity or creating good chances. And without the firmest grip on the
game they were unable to shut the visitors down completely. Mateus Mane got
past Justin to play a dangerous ball through the area and then Ladislav Krejčí
flashed a header towards goal and forced Darlow into a sensational save.
Then it all got a bit silly. Aaronson reacted to a foul by
shoving Krejčí in the back and apparently giving him whiplash. A lengthy
stoppage was followed by yet another when a linesman picked up an injury and
had to be replaced by the fourth official. When the game resumed Armstrong ran
in behind and dinked Darlow only for the flag to go up. It was a warning, but
one Leeds heeded. On came Willy Gnonto to create a chance for Pascal Struijk,
who shot just past the post. The winger feathered a beauty of a pass into the
feet of Calvert-Lewin, who went down under Hugo Bueno's challenge and earned a
spot-kick. Calvert-Lewin hammered it home and Leeds had an unassailable 3-0
lead and three points.
Elland Road can be a cauldron of nerves when games are
unpleasantly tight and when the consequences of defeat are potentially
damaging. It is a jubilant place to be when the Whites take games by the scruff
and that is what happened here. Perhaps it should no longer come as a surprise.
Not under Farke, given his record as Leeds boss and arguably not under 49ers
Enterprises given how sensible so much of their decision making has been. Not
with Ethan Ampadu as captain, someone who has changed his personal narrative
from a relegation-afflicted youngster to the vital leader of a club lifting a
title, making a Wembley semi-final and making a real fist of the survival
fight.
Whatever your prevailing definition of 'doing a Leeds'
means, this was either not it at all or this was it. This was exactly what was
needed and exactly what the team had to do. They will and have played prettier
football, but sometimes you just have to win and 3-0 is a big win in anyone's
book. It's an even bigger win when survival is within your grasp.
