Wolves 1-0 Leeds United: Minute by minute

This was a confusing night in the year of our football 2022, as measures of success were zapped in the magnetic field generated by these competing interests: winning a game, winning a cup, (re)building a football club, personal professional development of young footballers, appreciation and realisation of said young players as assets, and 'minutes'.

Of all the terms that have entered the soccer lexicon in recent years, fans copying coaches by talking about 'minutes' might be my least favourite. 'Minutes' are the necessary evil that cover up for any number of sins against entertainment, the dubious promise that if this game was a bit disappointing, that's okay, because those 'minutes' will ensure that the players will put on a much better show at some unspecified point in the future. Just, not in the later rounds of this cup this season. And maybe eventually at some other club.

At Molineux, Darko Gyabi, Mateo Joseph and Sonny Perkins made their senior debuts, assuming the Carabao Cup still counts for more than the Papa John's Trophy. Joe Gelhardt and Leo Hjelde were playing too, and Sam Greenwood and Wilf Gnonto came on from a bench of youth. Wolves' line-up was also altered but stronger than United's, giving those youngsters a sort of shadow Premier League experience, cast by the light show before kick-off. Think of it like a mock exam that thousands of people have paid to watch. The kids among the unused subs got to travel away on a posh bus to a big stadium, like a school trip to the theatre that's best remembered for the late night journey back, the weird feeling of being dropped at your school gates at 2am. As for the senior players chaperoning them — Mateusz Klich, Diego Llorente, Luke Ayling and Jackie Harrison have all harboured World Cup ambitions in recent seasons. Playing in the Carabao Cup must have felt like a dream deflating.

Leeds' assistant head coach Rene Maric was satisfied. "I thought that the performance of the young guys was very good," he said. He's right, it was. On the young debutants, he said, "I think that they did alright, they showed their potential. Obviously there are details that we are working on with them, and these games are important to show these challenges to them, and to us how they cope with it, but we were happy with all three of them."

Sonny Perkins was a skilful presence across the front positions, showing that he's more than just an astonishing goal statistic. One major goal stat nearly went to Mateo Joseph, breaking into the Wolves penalty area in the second half, but his Under-21s confidence left him as he tried cutting inside and was dispossessed. Darko Gyabi was a great example of the theory that quality is measured by the length of time between mistakes. He can be brilliant on the ball in midfield, but not yet reliably so. Leo Hjelde falls into that class at centre-back, sometimes strong and decisive in the tackle, sometimes holding his hands up because he knows he's done something wrong.

Rounding out the youngsters, Joe Gelhardt continued his concerning but hopefully temporary transformation from superhero to enigma, linking play well but wandering offside, then pulling up with another muscle injury to add to his unfortunate list. When Wilf Gnonto came off the bench, he was again showing up Jesse Marsch's comments from a couple of months ago about not being ready for the Premier League, by looking much more ready than the players around him who Leeds have been preparing for the level for years. Sam Greenwood offered good sense in midfield, and once from a dead ball when his elder peers weren't keeping him off them. Then in a giddy passage of play with six minutes left, as Leeds got carried away with some one and two touch keep ball in their own half, he gave possession away and Wolves won the match through a powerful shot from Boubacar Traore.