Tis The Season To Be Worried ⚽ Leeds United And The Relegation Run In

Barry Gilheany ⚽ It must be the Ides of March.

But a familiar but not less horrible feeling is knotting the collective psyches and stomachs of Leeds United fans. With seven fixtures left in the Premier League season, we find ourselves in 16th place; two places and four points (and superior goal difference) above West Ham United who occupy the third relegation place.

If one accepts that Burnley (19th) and Wolves (20th) are already Championship bound; then the third relegation place is between us, the Hammers, Nottingham Forest, and the rolling, 24-hour disaster show that is Tottenham Hotspur. Yes, we remain in charge of our destiny and, after this weekend’s results, we are now outside the margin of error (a statistical concept that I have borrowed from political psephologists meaning that just as in electoral forecasting pollster allow themselves a margin of three points in their analysis; so in football terms a three point advantage can by wiped out by a single defeat).

But as a fan base we are traumatised by memories of disastrous run-ins such as the 2022-23 season when a 5-1 rout at home by Crystal Palace on Easter Sunday presaged a rapid descent into the Championship in a run which saw just two points from eight matches and all sorts of unwanted defensive milestones. Now it is the paucity of goals at our end that is the cause of much of our angst; the last goal was another trademark free kick Exocet missile from Anton Stach at Aston Villa four matches ago. Since then, it has been a story of frustration at Daniel Farke’s apparent reversion to a defensive formation which has ground out two successive bore draws but is lacking the attacking verve we were displaying not so long ago.

But it has also been a tale of anger at the inconsistency of refereeing decisions which, rather than being echoes of Leeds United’s experiences in the 1960s and 1970s, reflect wider dysfunctions within the culture of football officialdom. Anyway, we are truly into the squeaky bum, sphincter twisting ‘business end’ of the season which is the annual challenge to the emotional resilience of football fans whether the goal are winning trophies, promotion or avoiding relegation.

While we have won a lot of plaudits for being competitive in the Premiership (except against Arsenal!) and for our uptake in form since the end of November; the statistical reality is that we have won just four games in thirteen PL fixtures; lost four and drawn the remaining five. Only Wolves have won fewer away games than our solitary victory at their gaff. But what is really concerning is that our last three home fixtures have yielded just one point and no goals. Yes, our football was exciting to watch where we have gone onto the front foot especially at Newcastle, Everton, and Aston Villa but we only accumulated a points total of only two from these journeys despite having led in all three games (three times at St James Park where we eventually lost 4-3).

At the Hill Dickenson Stadium and Villa Park, we could have been ahead by a bigger margin of one goal at half-time; but we played too much on the backfoot in the second half, inviting the inevitable onslaught and equaliser. But there was little cause for worry nor was there after our one goal defeat to Manchester City at the end of February, an outcome which could have been so different had Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted an early chance laid on for him by superb Leeds forward play. At this stage we were a comfortable six points clear of the bottom three, were we to maximise returns from our remaining five games we should be safe. But it is at this stage the worm begins to turn as it inevitably does for Leeds in the month of March.

The home defeat by City was overshadowed by some noises off. First of all, a Ramadan break at sunset for City’s Muslim’s players to take which had been pre-announced by Leeds United led to a cacophony of boos and jeers from the Elland Road stands. The optics looked terrible; were Leeds United being disgraced again by a fan element notorious for their racism in the 1980s? The anti-racist body Kick It Out condemned the crowd’s reaction and the club expressed its disappointment as did many Leeds fans on social media. It looked and felt embarrassing for those of us who want Elland Road to be an inclusive space and never want a return to those dark days.

However, what was the booing really about? For during the FA Cup tie at home to Norwich City there was a Ramadan break to facilitate our forward Joel Piroe. What had aggrieved the home crowd at the City game was that City manager Pep Guardiola had used the Ramadan break for an informal coaching session for his players, surely a violation, at least in spirit, of the laws of the game. Of more serious consequence were other decisions taken by the referee Peter Bankes. He and that supposedly failsafe mechanism VAR failed to see a stamp by City’s Cherki on Paschal Struijk which would surely merit a straight red. Instead it was manager Daniel Farke who saw red when after the final whistle he walked onto the pitch to protest that Bankes had not added on additional time to take account of two substitutions that Pep had made in stoppage time; the ref had obviously rehearsed his reaction as he had the card in his pocket primed for instant, almost reflexive, impact. Fortunately, his touchline suspension was reduced on appeal from the mandatory three games to one which was the next game at home to Sunderland.

It was this fixture against the Black Cats that birthed the latest Leeds United crisis of confidence. Sunderland, who secured their Premiership spot through a dramatic stoppage time winner in the Play Off final against Sheffield United who were in the automatic promotion spots for much of last season, have defied the laws of promotion gravity by securing Premiership safety well before the automatically promoted sides, us, and Burnley. Their style of play is markedly physical and ‘in your face’ with Northern Ireland defender Dan Ballard, a particularly uncompromising stalwart. That night the Makems deployed the Dark Arts symbolic of their nickname or in less elegant football parlance “shithousery.” We were muscled out of almost every opportunity we tried to create; their high line and low block would not allow us to stamp any authority on the game. We lacked the fluency that had become a defining feature of our play for the last three months or so.

The game turned on two VAR decisions around the mid point of the second half. First, in the 64th minute, Joe Roden raised to head into the net a free kick from Anton Stach. The joy and relief felt by us all soon turned to disappointment and frustration as VAR ruled that Joe was marginally offside. Worse was to come when captain Ethan Ampadou was adjudged after a typically prolonged VAR check to have handled in his penalty area. Habib Diarra in the 70th minute converted the spot kick to take all three points back to Wearside. All our possession and shots we peppered on their goal were met with blocks, last ditch tackles, and heroic goalkeeping. It was definitely not our night and a stonewall penalty denied when Sunderland’s Luc O’Nien as much as strangled Struijk in the six-yard area at a corner kick left a bitter taste in the mouth.

Worse was to come on the following evening when a plucky 2-2 draw earned by Forest at the Etihad and, worst of all, a West Ham victory by 2-1 at Fulham meant that the gap between us and 18th place had been cut to three points. Cue panic alarms among the more excitable and doom mongering of the fan base.

So it was down to London for a Sunday 2pm encounter with Crystal Palace and another chance to break our hoodoo in the capital city where we have not won a Premiership match since the 3-2 victory at Highbury in May 2003 which guaranteed our topflight safety that season while simultaneously dashing Arsenal’s hopes of retaining their Premier League title. Both Forest and West Ham had drawn on the Saturday so a victory would increase the gap from us to 18th place. The first half was for the most part uneventful until another double disaster just before the break. After Palace’s Will Hughes inexplicably handled in their penalty box, we were presented with an opportunity to break our clean sheet record at the wrong end and put more distance between us and the drone. Eager anticipation turned to horror for Leeds fans, as Dominic Calvert-Lewin dragged the resultant spot kick to the left of the post and wide. This ghastly miss has not deterred Thomas Tuchel from recalling him to the England squad, however. Then, in a comedic moment (except for Leeds fans) before half time, referee Thomas Bramall after drawing back from issuing a second yellow card to Jakob Bijol, then hesitatingly gave a yellow to Gabriel Gudmundsson for a mistimed but innocuous challenge before realising that as he had already booked him, he would have to issue a red card to arguably our star performer of our season. Cue a thoroughly unprofessional and frankly contemptible act of applause at Gabriel’s departure by Palace’s Jaydee Carvot. In the circumstances, Farke’s decision to park the bus for the second half was entirely justifiable and we survived a marginal offside call for a Palace close range effort to take what we all recognised was a valuable point. A late equaliser for Spurs at Anfield was mildly irritating. So the status quo remained at the bottom of the Premiership.

So onto last Saturday’s 8pm Elland Road encounter with Brentford in 7th place and chasing the prospect of European football next season. Again we fired blanks but fortunately so did the Bees and we did an excellent containing job on their 19 goal Brazilian international striker, Igor Tiago. Both defences were dominant but Brentford’s tactics particularly its liberal use of the “Garryowen” made it very difficult for us to play fluently. But the main talking point in a match devoid of any serious goal scoring opportunities was another flagrant violation of the spirit of the beautiful game when the Bees’ keeper Caoimhín Kelleher sat down at the edge of his penalty area convincingly feigning injury and affording another opportunity for an opposition coach to hold an informal, no let’s call it out, illegal session.

The brand name and reputation of the Premiership is being damaged by the reluctance of match officials to enforce, for example, the maximum eight second possession of the ball rule for goalkeepers; the exploitation of false stoppages by coaches and their failure to stay within their confines and the persistent infringements in penalty areas at corners or other dead ball situations. Anyway, rant over for another time. What felt two points dropped turned into a point gained with West Ham’s loss at Aston Villa revitalised by the return of John McGinn and with Spurs’ 3-0 home collapse to Forest. Now we stand four points plus a superior goal difference ahead of the Hammers in 18th place.

But the questions are not going away. Why is DCL misfiring and dropping off the pace? Why are those players who can make things happen like Gnonto and Tanaka continuing to warm the bench? Is Farke reverting to a passing game which is not delivering the goods? It is my hope that Dan James makes a full recovery to match fitness by the time of the resumption of the Premier League in three weeks’ time after the international break and FA Cup quarterfinals in which we go to West Ham and will hopefully be a bit of R&R for us. When business does resume, it will do so on the second weekend of April which has proved so consequential for us in the past, ref Palace collapse cited above. What a time then to visit Old Trafford to renew acquaintances with the Auld Enemy! We have to get those survival wins from somewhere.

Paris Update

This splendid documentary about the European Cup Final that football tried to forget is being shown again at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin on 26 and 31 May. Tickets are available from the documentary.

⏩Barry Gilheany is a freelance writer, qualified counsellor and aspirant artist resident in Colchester where he took his PhD at the University of Essex. He is also a lifelong Leeds United supporter.