For all it is preached as a virtue, by its very definition patience is not exciting or sexy. It gets overlooked that patience was an important quality in Leeds’ last promotion from the Championship. The zenith of Stuart Dallas’ winner at Manchester City in the Premier League was the culmination of three years’ graft stretching the axes on running graphs, of players going to sleep hungry so they could hit their weight targets the next day, of end-of-season collapses, play-off semi-final defeats, mid-season panics, and a global pandemic. Ultimately, it was worth the wait, and made ten-man Leeds beating the champions of England in their own backyard all the sweeter.

One of the criticisms of Daniel Farke’s Leeds is that, to steal a boxing analogy, they are too content to win on points and too risk-averse to try landing a one-punch knockout. But Farke’s job is to make sure Leeds are in the top two of the Championship after 46 games, and (as much as I wish there was) there is no threshold of scoreline that were United to stick, say, seven goals past Derby, the Football League would agree to promote us automatically to the top flight out of fairness to the rest of the division.

As a result, the entire season becomes a test of patience, of knowing the opposition have little intention in trying to score a goal and are only interested in defending their own eighteen-yard box, of knowing their ‘keeper is going to start wasting time in the first twenty minutes and the referee is going to point at his watch rather than book the bastard.

But when the season is reduced to ninety-minute chunks and a game is there to be won, there is a danger Leeds can verge on being too patient. After beating Derby, Farke suggested that with his players trying to bounce back from the defeat at Blackburn, the first fifteen minutes on Saturday were “a bit hectic”. It was a surprising description. Personally, I’d have gone for ‘uneventful’. After all, LUTV’s own ‘extended highlights’ package begins with Junior Firpo sitting down injured after twenty minutes such was the lack of action beforehand.

Thankfully, Joe Rothwell seemed to sense the sleepiness engulfing the entire stadium, waking everyone up by chasing after Derby defenders and clattering into a couple of tackles within seconds of each other. Derby might not have been trying to win, but Rothwell reminded his teammates that didn’t mean Leeds just needed to turn up to collect all three points. After having to remain so patient himself at the start of the season, warming the bench until injuries presented a route into the team, he played like a man unwilling to give up his place now captain Ethan Ampadu is returning to fitness, driving Leeds forward and spraying passes around the pitch all afternoon.

Only one Championship central midfielder has carried the ball further distance (1,917 metres) than Joe Rothwell since his first league start on October 4. Impressive part of his game to get us moving from midfield. #lufc pic.twitter.com/1W31lF0ggt

— Jonny Cooper (@JRCooper26) December 7, 2024

It was only fitting, then, that Rothwell’s delivery led to Leeds’ opener. I was still lamenting Joe Rodon’s earlier miss from a Rothwell corner, resigning myself to his fate of an Adam Forshaw-esque goalless Leeds career, when Rodon thumped his header into the far corner for his first goal in English football. “He’s so good at defending with headers, his offensive headers are horrendous and awful but we’re working on this topic,” Farke (sort of) joked afterwards, but all Rodon’s previous misses made the moment even better, as evidenced by his teammates slapping his head in delight and Sam Byram’s comment on Instagram: ‘Love it 50p head 🔥’.

The goal awoke a sense of urgency in Rodon, too. Shortly afterwards, Illan Meslier gained possession of a long clearance and was tempted to give Derby a taste of their own medicine by wasting a few extra seconds, only to be snapped out of it by Rodon screaming at his goalkeeper to give him the ball quickly so Leeds could start attacking again. With Derby dropping so deep, there were times when Rodon had the ball on the edge of their box, acting as Leeds’ quasi-playmaker. The build-up to United’s second goal started with Rodon getting the ball on the halfway line and picking the lock of Derby’s back six with a pass for Dan James that would have got a nod of approval from Pablo Hernandez, and ended with Firpo’s replacement Max Wöber finishing Brenden Aaronson’s deflected cross from close range.

With Rodon scoring a header from a corner, Wöber turning himself into a goalscoring hero, and Aaronson getting a long-awaited assist, it was such a game of firsts I was half-expecting a swarm of locusts to emerge from the storm battering Elland Road. At least one constant remained: having scoffed at the likelihood of all three of those things happening on the podcast through the week, it has once again been proven that I talk complete shite.

Leeds could have extended their lead at the start of the second half, Joel Piroe and Manor Solomon joining James and Aaronson in not quite getting their finishes right. Once those chances came and went, United seemed happy to settle for a 2-0 win that briefly took them back to the top of the league.

In truth, too many players had off days to make the scoreline any more flattering. Piroe was neither here nor there, either stuck in the middle of a crowd of players in the penalty area waiting for a cross that was never going to reach him, or dropping deep for a cutback when a ball was landing on the penalty spot to nobody. Aaronson was Aaronson, an improvement on recent performances but still allergic to shooting at the far corner. Jayden Bogle, meanwhile, seemed determined to add an element of slapstick comedy to the afternoon, at least choosing the right day to have a stinker against his former club, incapable of picking the right pass to a teammate and ending the game having lost possession nineteen times. (I’m no stats expert, but that seems like a lot.)

Still, the doziness of some players only makes Leeds’ utter domination more impressive. As is becoming customary, Farke’s side had almost two-thirds of possession and almost twenty shots. Sure, there are times when I want to press fast forward when Leeds are on the ball, but the way Rodon and Pascal Struijk so regularly win it back on the halfway line and are immediately into the opposition’s half is reminiscent of Leeds under a manager whose name I’m loathe to mention for fear of sparking unhelpful comparisons. Likewise, United can afford to take the second half off if they keep up the knack of winning the game in the first 45 minutes that got Howard Wilkinson’s Leeds promoted. By the time Derby were allowed to hit their first shot on goal with ten minutes remaining, Meslier afforded himself a wry smile after making a comfortable save.

Leeds still need to prove this season that they’re capable of winning enough back to back games to justify their status as the division’s best teams, but the craving for an instant hit of December dopamine at Elland Road will never match what is hopefully a delayed gratification come the end of the season. The night still ended with a TSB meet-up at The Griffin and a bunch of pissed-up Leeds fans cheering and laughing every goal being stuck past Scum at Old Trafford, which left us all feeling as satisfied as Joe Rodon after his patience was rewarded with a header we’d all be waiting for. “It was a great day,” he said, and he wasn’t wrong. ⬢

(Photograph by Danny Lawson, via Alamy)