Manchester City 3-2 Leeds United: Ordering the chaos

Much smarter people than me understand that the nature of the universe suggests the closer you look at order you will find chaos, and the closer you look at chaos you will find order. Such discoveries have been made in biology, mathematics, quantum mechanics and philosophy, yet those nerds might have made the breakthrough much quicker by looking closer at Leeds United Football Club.

How else can you explain ending one season surrendering under Paul Heckingbottom and beginning the next in a pure burst of Bielsaball? Or reaching a Champions League semi-final as one of the most exciting young teams in Europe only for the path to lead to a fifteen-point deduction in League One and Tresor Kandol up front? The fact I’m not quite sure which of those examples are meant to represent chaos and which are meant to represent order might be the ultimate proof of the theory.

The latest instalment of Leeds United veering between the two states was not quite as seismic but was all the more dramatic for how quickly it occurred. Make no mistake, Leeds were as painfully dumb in the first half at Manchester City as we feared. Daniel Farke tried to instil order by changing the left-hand side of the pitch, swapping Noah Okafor and Gabi Gudmundsson for Wilf Gnonto and James Justin in an attempt to stop conceding the same goal that has haunted Leeds for the last few weeks, only to concede the exact same goal within the opening sixty seconds before Leeds had even touched the ball. Gnonto failed to track the overlapping Matheus Nunes, Justin stood off Bernardo Silva picking the pass marking nobody, and this time it was Phil Foden’s turn to run into the box from midfield and shoot past Lucas Perri.

It was a numbing goal to concede so early. Same shit, different day. Bunker down and prepare for the worst. Justin made an excellent block to stop Foden scoring a second after City repeated the same attack on the opposite side of the pitch. Perri and Struijk made similar interventions shortly before half-time when it felt inevitable the hosts were going to score — the only problem being it was already 2-0 by that point, Josko Gvardiol bundling the ball into the net after Perri flapped at a corner. While VAR, seemingly frozen, spent an age checking an offside nobody thought was offside, Leeds fans around the world were asking why it wasn’t checking Silva blocking Perri as the ball was swung in? As farcical as it seemed, Leeds hadn’t helped themselves. Gnonto and Ao Tanaka were lucky Gvardiol had headed into the ground after they stood still watching him attack the preceding corner unmarked — albeit a flag should have been raised at that point as Foden was clearly offside in being the first to race to Gvardiol’s header and force a save out of Perri.

Whether it is Farke’s fault that players can switch off so easily while defending is open to interpretation, but Leeds’ approach in possession during that first half appears entirely of their manager’s making and once again only invited pressure onto an already creaking defence. Attempting to play out from the back, passes either fell short or were hit too long. Sometimes they rolled behind their intended target, making the recipient turn around to retrieve the ball. On other occasions they were played to a teammate’s weaker foot, leaving them in a panic. In a slapstick sixty or so seconds immediately after going 2-0 down, Justin put Struijk under pressure from the restart, Jayden Bogle gave the ball away trying to chip a pass into Gnonto in his own half, Gnonto miscontrolled a pass from Justin after Leeds played a free-kick on the halfway line all the way back to Perri, and Joe Rodon topped it all off by kicking it straight out for a throw-in. Staying up this season was always going to be difficult enough; Leeds really ought to learn not to make things even harder.

Did that penny drop for Farke at half-time or was this one desperate last throw of the dice? Perhaps we will find out when Chelsea visit Elland Road on Wednesday night. Either way, some changes at the break (yes, really) transformed the game in the second half. On came Jaka Bijol and Dominic Calvert-Lewin in place of Gnonto and Dan James as Leeds went 3-5-2 and direct to a big man, big man pairing up front. It is what fans have been asking for, and had the effect we all hoped for too.

Rather than Nmecha being dragged into his own half of the pitch trying to help out teammates, Leeds now had a presence at the opposite end of the field. It immediately induced panic among the City players, suddenly misplacing passes in the same areas Leeds were guilty of. As Calvert-Lewin miscontrolled a Tanaka pass and a chance to get put through on goal, Nunes helped him out with a tackle that only put the ball back onto Calvert-Lewin’s toe in front of the net to halve Leeds’ deficit.

United had something to scrap for a plan that gave them a fighting chance. The away end responded in kind, Foden trying his best to whip up the home support that was drowned out by a roared rendition of Marching On Together. Calvert-Lewin was a menace up top, dragging Leeds up the pitch, while Rodon was alert in reading a Jeremy Doku counter, quick to intercept and rile up the rest of the City players by bollocking him for diving. Pep Guardiola was so spooked he asked ‘keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to go down feigning injury so he could call the rest of his players over and tell them what to do. The inability of players to think for themselves amid the cult of the bloke in the dugout is a scourge of modern football, but at least this time it was the opposition, rather than Leeds, who didn’t have a clue what to do.

As irritating as the break was, Guardiola’s words couldn’t change the momentum anyway. Perri hoofed a diagonal ball to Calvert-Lewin, who let it run to Bogle high up the right wing. Bogle nodded it back to Calvert-Lewin, who was wiped out by Gvardiol. Penalty! As the City players moaned, VAR confirmed it was as blatant as it looked, and I convinced myself Nmecha was destined to miss. He didn’t let me down, his spot-kick saved by Donnarumma, only for the rebound to run kindly into his path as he tapped in an equaliser with Ethan Ampadu already celebrating behind him. Having almost zoned out of the first half in apathy following the creeping death of defeats against Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, I was once again reminded that the Leeds United I love is the Leeds United that leaves me grasping my chest, fearing I’m about to collapse yet unable to take my eyes off the game.

From there on it was a matter of whether Leeds could hold on or even fashion a winner, but there were enough warnings that we needed to brace ourselves. Erling Haaland nodded a free header into the ground as Bijol and Rodon struggled to decide who should clear it. Struijk sliced a clearance of a dangerous cross behind him and almost into his own net. Silva dived so clearly trying to cheat a penalty he should have been sent off for a second booking, only to escape punishment. And, eventually, ten minutes were added on and we all knew, surely, what was about to happen. We didn’t even have to wait for the gut-punch. Foden found space on the edge of the area thirty seconds later, Tanaka slipped trying to close him down, and the ball was struck through a crowd of players into the corner of Perri’s goal. Bastards.

What comes next is anyone’s guess, but will no doubt determine the future of Daniel Farke if it hasn’t already been decided. The switch of formation and embracing of direct football appeared to be a blueprint of how Leeds should move forward and engage the crowd once again, only for Farke to scoff at the suggestion that playing 3-5-2 every week might help. “If it would be that easy then probably anyone can be a Premier League manager.” It seemed a weirdly contrarian take after such an encouraging second half that gave supporters an idea they can believe in and get behind. It could also prove a regretful choice of words if Farke reverts to type against Chelsea and it proves to be one of his last games as a Premier League manager.

But then why should I expect any different? After 45 minutes in which Leeds briefly rediscovered some order, I should know it’s only a matter of time before we return to chaos. Hopefully, with a bit of luck, someone will eventually be able to look back on this second half and make some sense of it all. ⬢