Scampering around, pressing, never giving up, with his black hair bouncing, Tanaka looked a lot like Brenden Aaronson out there in the most complimentary way. When on the ball he played clever incisive passes to move possession into dangerous areas, and he looked a lot like Ao Tanaka.
'A lady came up by the name of Louella Harrigan and she said, "Regardless, we got to take back our country from Kenneth Bates, and whatever we’re going to do we’re going to march this morning, and we are going to take our country back! This lease must be revoked, and Kenneth Bates must go!”’
-ista | a specialist, enthusiast or advocate of a belief or principle
Leeds United, in the end, kept a grip on their own transfer window sanity. But what of the nine-figure no-brained Premier League around them?
League One was an identity crisis for a club that had never been there. As supporters tried to work out who and what Leeds now was, Prutton was a reassuring sight. Six foot tall, long flowing hair, beard and sideburns: it shouldn't have worked but it worked.
Hopefully adapting until they got it right will help the players get it right sooner in future. But hopefully, too, the misplaced self-doubts that sent them into their first half shells will be cast aside as quickly.
Leeds United Football Club is being talked about as a home of sound common sense. But this is still football, where common sense is still very relative.
I usually just want to forget the Carabao Cup as early as possible, but this time I'm keener it should count: Dan James, James Justin, Lukas Nmecha, three goalscorers in a 2-0 win.
Stach, the hero, hadn't had a great game. Nobody had. But the cliché about a good team being one that wins without playing well can apply to players, too, and Stach got his reward for sticking to it.
Back in May, we wondered what Daniel Farke's ambitious talk was all about. Now we know, and his new project begins in the same place: 14th, but better.
O'Leary lined up for the next season's squad photo, and the next season's, looking increasingly anachronistic as his last appearances faded into obscure memory. Why was this Arsenal legend showing up for Leeds United's photocall every summer, never to be seen in a Leeds shirt on the pitch?
Was this ever part of the deal, as United's Welsh contingent sold Harry Wilson a bright future in Yorkshire? 'Yes, and you know how for Wales our Big Joe is always at the back? Well...'