Leeds United 1-6 Liverpool: Who thought this was a good idea?

There were two good bits. Leeds United’s goal just after half-time was one, when they threatened to tread on Liverpool’s nerves and fight into this game from 2-0 down. 

The other bit was after 25 minutes of the first half. Liverpool had kept the ball between 75-80% of the time until then but suddenly, after a dangerous mistake by Jackie Harrison, a game of football started. Liverpool threw players at the chance but couldn’t take it, and Leeds sensed an opportunity to counter. Liverpool won the ball back, almost made a chance, and by the time Leeds tackled them, both teams had lost their shape and United could try breaking again. This kept on for two or three minutes, two teams off their balance, slugging it out, end to end although more at the Leeds end. The score was 0-0, and this bit was fun. Leeds had barely touched the ball, but there were hopeful signs that Liverpool were losing patience, playing themselves into errors.

Fifteen minutes later the score was 2-0 to Liverpool and it was clear how Javi Gracia was trapped. The Leeds coach needed a reaction from his players after they fainted beneath the first whiff of flair from Crystal Palace last weekend. But they had to get that reaction against Liverpool. Not the conquering Liverpool of recent seasons, but an angrier Liverpool for that. Leeds stood off them, trying to stay compact and defend well, hoping for enough of those unbalanced moments that they could score. For a while, it was okay: Liverpool had the ball but few chances. But Liverpool’s dominance became its own factor. The United players conceded possession long before they conceded a goal, as if they were frightened of trying to play out through red shirts. Any passing move was swarmed upon anyway, so why not cut that part and boot the ball straight to them? The next logical step, after giving the ball to Liverpool, was not getting the ball back from them in the first place. 

The reason Gracia preferred this to the other option, of taking the game forward and bravely attacking Liverpool, was obvious after the visitors were helped into the lead by the VAR deciding Trent-Alexander Arnold was right to elbow Junior Firpo’s clearance forward to Mo Salah, who helped him set up Cody Gakpo to score at the back post. A goal down, now Leeds did attack Liverpool, and as such it was less than four minutes before Salah was in United’s penalty area, hammering the ball between Illan Meslier and his near post. Perhaps Gracia had been right, telling the players to be cautious, but the game wasn’t going to allow him that. And the idea that Leeds had to be careful for fear of Liverpool taking revenge on us for their underwhelming season doesn’t hold up because, in that case, what was our problem with Crystal Palace?

I still don’t know what other options Gracia had, though, apart from turning to Andrea Radrizzani, Victor Orta and Angus Kinnear in the directors’ box behind him and screaming at them, demanding to know what the hell they’ve been doing for the last two years. They, at 1-6, caught sight of themselves on TV and began mugging and miming their angst and frustration for the cameras, as if they were hapless victims of some vengeful god rather than reapers of their own harvest. It was grimly diverting, during this game, to wonder what these bozos wanted with Cody Gakpo back in August. A good player, yes, and given they’ve since bought Georginio Rutter for a similar amount, a good price. But what in the deep dark hell of the well beneath the pitch were they expecting Gakpo to do for the team we have? Did they imagine him chasing Rasmus Kristensen’s hectic bunts? Standing idly as Brenden Aaronson fluttered by him on the breeze? Waiting on the defender’s shoulder for Marc Roca to turn? Or would he have ended up like his bargain alternative Wilf Gnonto, sitting on the bench alongside all the other hybrid striker/wingers the squad is stuffed with, some of whom might be of some use if the board had paid the same attention to midfielders and full-backs, instead of adding to its slapdash stack of flimsy resale potential with Rutter in January.