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1)
A result passed from generation to generationLeeds United’s return to the Premier League has been outstanding. How will it be best remembered in 10 years’ time?
Much depends on how high the club goes on to fly in the next decade, but right now this stands out as that season they went away to the best club in Europe, which had lost three of its previous 48 matches in all competitions, and won despite playing with 10 men for 45 minutes.
This is the stuff that goes down in club folklore. Fathers will pass it onto their children and their children’s children. This rarely happens to newly-promoted clubs.
When was the last time Leeds United turned out a better one-off result than this? That would have been the debate in the pubs across West Yorkshire last night.
Some of the fans I spoke to suggested the Manchester City win was the best they had seen since the Champions League days, specifically the San Siro or the Deportivo La Coruna tie.
Wins like those at Swansea City last season, of course, mean more because of the direct impact they had on the history of the club.
I highly doubt there were anywhere near the same level of tears for yesterday as there were for Pablo Hernandez’s goal at Liberty Stadium, but in terms of a one-off match and the level of adversity overcome to win 90 minutes of football, this has to be right up there.
Prior to yesterday, City had won 27 of their previous 28 matches in all competitions. They are fighting on four fronts in mid-April and have a 14-point lead in arguably the most competitive league on the planet.
Leeds beat them with 10 men while playing a low block which was entirely alien to them. Just drink it in. Special days.
2)
Stuart Dallas: player of the yearAs we tick closer to the end of the season there are more and more debates being had around who should be the club’s player of the year.
LeedsLive ran its own poll recently and it was Stuart Dallas who came out on top by less than one per cent more than Raphinha.
Days like yesterday just cement that position for the Northern Ireland international. An extraordinary season goes from strength to strength and he proves to nearly always be the right man in the right place.
Aside from his goals, it was a tough match to shine in. Dallas was one of those tasked with closing people down on the edge of his own box. He was not one of those making the Hollywood headers out of the box.
You can’t ignore the goals, though. The composure on that second strike is ridiculous. He had what felt like 20 minutes to carry the ball, watch one of the world’s best goalkeepers coming out to smother him and think about where he was going to put it and how he was going to strike it, knowing they would not get another opportunity.
That’s seven goals in a season he has spent a large portion at left-back. More than just the goals, he simply never has a bad game. He has boundless energy and Marcelo Bielsa’s post-match comments were particularly striking.
“It (seeing him in on goal for the winner) gave me great happiness for him because he's a player whose game is based a lot on generosity,” he said.
“He is a player who helps all his team-mates to recover the ball and to not lose it. And the goal gives a lot of shine to whoever manages to score it.
“For him to have scored two goals is normally an anomaly. It's deserved, it's comforting, it's good. And this year has allowed Dallas to show a part of himself that we didn't know he had.”
3)
Cooper’s suspension and centre-back ranksFew people would have been happier watching United pick up the three points than Liam Cooper yesterday, though you don’t even need to imagine this based on his Twitter activity post-match.
Whatever your position on the tackle or the red card, everyone has to agree it was a challenge robust enough to give the officials a decision to make and in this day and age, with VAR, you are always running a risk.
Cooper will play the scenario over in his head a million times and as much as we know he loves a strong tackle, he has to wonder whether it was really necessary in those circumstances.
It seems highly unlikely the club will either appeal or see an appeal upheld, so it’s a three-match ban for the captain just as the big boys roll into town.
Liverpool, Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion will all face a Cooper-less Leeds, but, ironically, it’s probably the best time it could have happened.
As we saw with the substitutions made, Bielsa has a healthy quota of first-class centre-backs to choose from right now and Pascal Struijk would have taken immense confidence from being chosen ahead of Robin Koch after the dismissal.
The Germany international is still building his fitness after surgery, but it will still be a shot in the arm for Struijk to know he remains the first port of call.
As it stands, you would expect Struijk comes in for the Liverpool match a week on Monday based on how he played with Diego Llorente during Cooper’s Covid isolation and the fact he’s left-footed.
4)
Best form of the seasonAside from who Leeds beat and the connotations of that feat, the three points signalled the best run of form the team has been on all year.
For the first time in 2020/21, they have won three on the spin and gone four matches without defeat. Safety from relegation does not, it seems, mean this squad hits the beach and lets burnout was all over them.
Myths continue to be busted and while mid-table sides traditionally look to the summer when their tired bodies hit the run-in, Leeds are delivering their best run of results this season.
Despite feeling safe for weeks, the win at City finally made it mathematically impossible for Fulham to catch them. That’s guaranteed top-flight football next season.
There was a telling comment from Bielsa in his post-match press conference. LeedsLive asked where this performance ranked in his career, but his answer went in another direction.
“It's part of Leeds' campaign in the Premier League,” he said. “The position Leeds obtain in the Premier League this year will be above any one performance.
“Of course, for the players to have been able to overcome the difficulties of the game today, it adds value to each of the participants in the game.”
Bielsa is still looking at that league table and looking at the long game. This is three points to add to their total and to get them looking upwards and what may yet still be possible with 21 points still to play for.
5)
The icing on the cakeIf relegation and European football is off the table, one of the few things fans still wanted from this season was a scalp from one of the division’s elite.
Few expected it would be from the top of the tree. Maybe a misfiring Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur, but the continent’s form side, on their own turf, with a man advantage? Dreamland.
If United are to remain in mid-table until the end of the season, yesterday will prove to be a fitting final accolade to finish off a compelling year.
https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/marcelo-bielsa-leeds-united-ambitions-20362173
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