Leeds United 3-0 Wolves: Everybody loves the sunshine

Sometimes, just sometimes, the sun shines on Elland Road. Sometimes, apparently, James Justin scores an overhead kick and the constant chaos inside Brenden Aaronson’s brain briefly subsides, allowing a newfound crystal clarity to be distilled into the prettiest pass of his life. And sometimes Leeds are able to cruise through a second half knowing they can rely on Karl Darlow to produce the save of his season and a linesman to deny Adam Armstrong scoring and spare us all the psychodrama of play-off final flashbacks with a return to Wembley just a few days away.

The sun has been shining brightly on Leeds United in the last couple of weeks. A first FA Cup semi-final in four decades. A first league win at Scum in even longer. Premier League safety all but secured with five games remaining. At half-time against Wolves, I chatted to two fans on the Cheese Wedge concourse who were regaling me with tales about trips to Milan in the Champions League and how, at the time, they expected them to be annual events — which is why, they explained, we have to appreciate days like this before the sky is inevitably darkened by clouds. As one of them put it, “This must be one of the best fortnights in Leeds United’s history.”

That might be going a bit far. Or it might not. After all, Saturday afternoon was all about getting carried away with Leeds United. Having cemented himself in folklore at Old Trafford, Noah Okafor was being serenaded with his catchy new chant declaring ‘the Whites have never had a player like you before’. That might be going a bit far, too, but there was no need to be pedantic when Okafor responded to the song with a swagger that Leeds have wanted from him all season.

Leeds were ravenous in those opening stages. Within the first twenty seconds, Okafor tore onto a clearance that flicked off the head of a Wolves defender and put Dominic Calvert-Lewin in front of goal. Stretching, Calvert-Lewin could only toe the ball at the ‘keeper, but Okafor responded by imploring the South Stand to pump up the adulation. Before long, he was twisting past his full-back to whip a devilish cross into the box that had to be skewed behind for a corner that was nearly converted by Justin at the back post.

As Pascal Struijk and Jaka Bijol attacked each set-piece it felt like only a matter of time before a goal arrived. Struijk diverted one delivery to Calvert-Lewin, who squeezed the ball across goal from the far post and millimetres past Bijol’s boot for what would have been a tap in. Then it was Bijol’s turn to nod down for Ethan Ampadu to somehow hit the goalkeeper from inside the six-yard box. It didn’t matter, because as the ball bounced around the penalty area, Justin improvised with an overhead kick that sent Jayden Bogle, watching from the halfway line, sinking to his knees in either delight or astonishment.

If that felt too good to be true then seconds later things became truly absurd. Aaronson snaffled up a miscued pass out from Wolves’ defence and, faced with his old foe of time and space, waited patiently until he spotted Okafor pointing to where he wanted the ball put in front of him on the other side of the pitch. It wasn’t quite Pablo Hernandez to Helder Costa against Cardiff in 2019 but it was a bloody good impression and might even have been the best I’ve seen inside Elland Road since. Before you ask, no, I never expected to be writing that about Brenden Aaronson.

While Leeds couldn’t live up to my demands to stick seven past such hapless chumps, there was still lots to enjoy about how Leeds’ backline dealt with the rest of the afternoon. Shortly after Okafor made it 2-0, Justin added to his acrobatics by stopping Armstrong getting in on goal behind Bijol with a diving header. Justin is a manager’s dream but has presented Daniel Farke with a massive headache ahead of Wembley. As versatile as he is, his best position in this Leeds team is on the right side of the back three, and with Joe Rodon returning from injury off the bench Farke now has a difficult decision to make.

Likewise, there is a question over what happens in goal. Lucas Perri may have been the hero of two shootout wins, but there were still far too many moments at West Ham when his defence were left looking — or rather, shouting — at him and asking what the hell he was up to. Karl Darlow’s wonder save from a corner in the second half, let alone how much more settled the defence appears with Darlow behind them, was a reminder of his justified status as Leeds’ number one. As cruel as it may be, I’m all for Darlow starting at Wembley and, should the game be heading towards another shootout, Farke saving his final sub to bring Perri on to save some penalties rather than call for Joel Piroe to miss another.

They’re worries for another day, however. Right now, we can all sit back and enjoy a blissful weekend in which Leeds made the rest of the season so much easier and Spurs, thanks to our old mate Georgi Rutter, collapsed once again.

Or maybe not. Even after Calvert-Lewin’s late penalty rounded off a 3-0 win, there was still a surprising (or not) amount of grumbling online about a second half that Leeds had earned the right to take off. Whatever. There’s no pleasing some people, particularly old farts who have been yearning for Farke’s Leeds to take a leaf out of Howard Wilkinson’s book and get a game won early, only to still find reasons to be disgruntled when United do exactly that.

I spent Saturday evening briefly wondering whether some fans have twisted themselves into a predisposed position of picking fault with whatever Farke produces with a team that has been consistently upwardly mobile under his guidance, or whether as a fanbase we’ve become so addicted to stress that we don’t know how to react when things feel serene. But then I stopped caring and enjoyed the rest of my weekend, remembering that even when the sun is shining there are always some weirdos who insist they prefer the winter. ⬢