Even heroes need something to do
The declines of Gelhardt and Meslier are regarded as mysteries but their underperformance might be quite simple: neither of them, in different ways, has had enough to do.
The declines of Gelhardt and Meslier are regarded as mysteries but their underperformance might be quite simple: neither of them, in different ways, has had enough to do.
Leeds would be a very different place after a century of intra-city rivalry, maybe solving professional Mancunian and Factory Records impresario Tony Wilson's 1990 assessment of Leeds as a city full of "fucking psychopaths".
If away form was that easy, Leeds United would have been the first Premier League champions as well as the last First Division champs.
Let's have a party and invite everyone. Even if they play for Middlesbrough now.
Daniel Farke's Leeds exist in an anxious atmosphere of TripAdvisoring the heck out of a pub before crossing the threshold but a football team can not, no matter how predictable it might seem, guarantee anyone a good time.
Referees are oddly positioned in football because refereeing matters a great deal to them, requiring great effort for much less reward than the players screaming at them, and what they do doesn't seem to matter as much to anybody else.
Brenden Aaronson, Thomas Tuchel, Bielsa against Suarez, Leeds against Sheffield United, surveys, bathroom facilities and cheap fans melting in the sun.
A lot of this is just wanting to cut and paste favourite players into highlights of history. Like Mateusz Klich who, ideally, would like to cut and paste United's 2020 promotion into another era altogether.
Fans will always be reassessing and reshuffling their chosen memories for as long as there is more football, and I guess more podcasts. In the meantime, Joel Piroe scored a great header.
A lot has to be right about your team for winning 2-0 to feel like a letdown. Like it or not, fairly or not, 2024/25 is demanding more of Leeds United.