If a team is meant to reflect the personality of its manager, then credit where it’s due: Frank Lampard has clearly got his ideas across impressively quickly at Coventry City. From the opening exchanges, when one of their nobodies left a sly knee on the back of Joe Rodon’s head, Coventry played with a chip on their shoulder and a baffling self-assurance, despite the fact it was clear they were thin at the back and devoid of good ideas.

In the first half, Jake Bidwell (who?) was booked alongside Ethan Ampadu for sharing a cuddle at a corner, responding by growling in the face of Leeds’ captain with the expression of a man who deep down really didn’t want a fight. Wearing the number 5 shirt, Jack Rudoni was once again kidding himself that he has twice the talent and can play as a number 10, even though I only know who he is because he’s spent every appearance against Leeds conceding fouls and moaning at the ref.

Come the full-time whistle, Coventry’s number 4 Bobby Thomas (again, no idea) was having words with Jayden Bogle, who was happy celebrating the win and looked like he couldn’t care less. Meanwhile, Lampard was cupping his ears and fist-pumping in front of the Leeds away end, as if trying to prove that despite his team having just been played off the park and a few thousand people singing about him being a wanker, he absolutely, definitely, wholeheartedly wasn’t even bothered, actually, so how about you all shut up and fuck off, eh?

Maybe there was just something in his eye. Asked about his gestures to the Leeds fans in his post-match presser, Lampard replied, “I don’t want to talk about that,” with the conviction of someone who’d sprinted to catch a bus only to fall on their face and pretend they wanted the next one anyway while everyone onboard sniggered as they pulled away.

The only disappointment was that Leeds didn’t actually make Lampard cry, because make no mistake, this should have been a bigger shellacking than the 7-0 against Cardiff. Ever the managerial genius, Lampard seemingly watched that game and decided to double down on Cardiff’s approach, somehow deploying an even more moronic defensive line that Leeds spent all night chipping simple balls behind so the pace of Dan James and co could create chance after chance. It was reminiscent of Swansea’s senseless tactics against Leeds in recent seasons; or more frighteningly, Leeds under Jesse Marsch. At one point in the first half, three Coventry attackers charged towards Ampadu, leaving him with a choice of straightforward passes to his left or right to beat the ‘press’. Like teams that played against Marsch’s United, Leeds knew that as long as they didn’t shit the bed, chances in front of goal would appear from the ether. By the end of the night the Peacocks’ attacks were being started by Coventry players tackling each other.

Unfortunately, Leeds’ forwards appeared to have used up too many goals against Cardiff and were spectacularly wasteful in the West Midlands, guilty of shooting when they should have passed, passing when they should have shot, and hitting the ‘keeper when they needed to find the bottom corners. Coventry were helped by the dickhead ref ignoring a staggeringly blatant penalty when Brenden Aaronson was barged in the back while shaping to shoot — the defender would have been safer just letting Aaronson put the ball over the bar — and Wilf Gnonto having a stoppage-time goal incorrectly disallowed for offside after the linesman belatedly acquiesced to the hosts’ bleating. But hopefully Leeds can now find a finer balance between their ruthlessness against Cardiff and their profligacy four days later.

After all, there was still so much to enjoy in Leeds’ performance. Manor Solomon is finding more levels to his fitness and form with each appearance, tormenting defenders with his quick feet and quicker thinking, creating Joel Piroe’s opener with a first-time pass that Piroe finished with his trademark aplomb. Jayden Bogle is cementing himself as this side’s Gjanni Alioski minus the japes, driving from the halfway line into the box, via a nutmeg and some calamity goalkeeping, to score Leeds’ second with the Championship’s equivalent of Diego Maradona vs England — the Champodona? — at the 1986 World Cup.

The more I see of the rest of the Championship’s goalkeepers, the better I’m feeling about our Illan Meslier. Having looked so beleaguered at times this season, Meslier ended a resounding win in which Leeds’ attack continuously cut Coventry to ribbons as a legitimate shout for Player of the Match. Two stunning second-halves were a reminder of his Spider Boy peak, and meant Leeds’ frustrations up front never translated to nerves at the back. Meslier was once again helped by Rodon shaking off his customary bang to the head to relish the physical battle with Ellis Simms and continue his fine form of the last few months. He’s ace. I love him. There, I said it. Likewise, Ao Tanaka is quite simply a majestic midfielder.

The victory felt excitingly familiar to United’s performances during a fifteen-match unbeaten run that featured thirteen wins during the second half of last season — except this time around Leeds are top of the league rather than trying to overturn a seventeen-point gap to Leicester. Despite the nerves of fans going into the game and the fears of a post-January letdown, the result proved that for all the noise around Daniel Farke’s Leeds United and Frank Lampard’s Coventry City, one of those teams is a load of bark, and the other is full of bite. ⬢

(Photograph by Action Sports Plus, via Alamy)