There’s a risk, and I’ll just whisper it, that Farke’s Leeds might be shaping up to be, at times, in a tiny voice, a bit boring. But that’s okay. Because now we go back to the opening goal, because I want to explain it as the goal that made everything else in the game worthwhile.
All the signs are that Gruev is a good footballer. And, in a way, that's what I'm thinking about. Because what more does Ilia Gruev have to be?
The interesting stuff at this press conference was about how Bielsa was going to transform Uruguay into a Bielsa team, given he has almost no time with the players, and such a particular style of play to teach them. I think his answer is also relevant to how he did it in six weeks at Leeds.
It's Orta and Radrizzani's legacy that, in the end, they don't have one — everything they tried to build last season, when after Bielsa they really tried to build their own thing, has gone, and they've gone with it. The legacy of this for 49ers Enterprises is that they're still here.
If good coaching is education we must hope that Farke is a good coach, because the players he has here have a lot to learn.
Will Byram stay fit is one question, and will Leeds United break him is the other.
I’ve only ever been half joking whenever I’ve suggested over the years that Leeds should buy Mathieu Smith back, and this Carabao Cup match at Salford City demonstrated the serious half: Smith scores goals.
It’s almost too much to ask for – a roving striker who gets back to help and gets forward to finish half chances. We’ve been without that for so long I might actually cry.
When Leeds United were finishing 9th in the Premier League, I mocked Brighton for only winning nine games per season every season for four seasons. Now I can see what that stability was leading up to.
CEOs aren’t fun: they’re the boring looking guys, tense and sweaty, who are there to be screamed at when things go wrong, and to stay firmly out of the way when the team does cool things that have nothing to do with them.