CARROW ROAD — When Anthony Taylor’s whistle confirmed victory for Leeds United, Marcelo Bielsa paused for a moment of reflection at pitchside.
Crouched on his haunches and with his head bowed, the Argentinian appeared temporarily lost in the moment before Norwich counterpart Daniel Farke walked over and shook his hand.
It was classic Bielsa.
“The games always generate a lot of tension,” the 66-year-old said when asked to sum up his emotions.
“When it finishes it’s a moment to relax. The performance was a deserved victory, but it was not an easy game for us.”
Certainly it was difficult to put a price on this result for Bielsa’s side.
They started the day in the bottom three having struggled badly to rediscover their sparkle of last season when they finished ninth – their highest position for 19 years.
This match was billed as a relegation scrap, which was only a slight exaggeration.
Bielsa’s side had won just once in nine games amid growing fears they could be dragged into a serious fight for survival.
If Leeds could not see off a doomed Norwich side with a pitiful two points to their name, could they really consider themselves ready to start climbing away from danger?
It needed a goalkeeping error to earn Leeds victory as Tim Krul allowed Rodrigo’s hopeful 25-yard strike to squirm into the net on the hour mark.
It was the game’s third goal in five minutes after the supremely-talented Raphinha opened the scoring with a delightful individual effort before Andrew Omobamidele equalised moments later.
Leeds and their raucous travelling army headed back to Yorkshire with three points but this was not the freeflowing football which carried the team to such heights last season.
For large periods of the game, passes were undercooked or overhit and crosses simply misplaced.
With Patrick Bamford (17 Premier League goals last season) currently absent through injury, Leeds are struggling for a serious goal threat.
Winger Jack Harrison has failed to recapture the form which marked him out as one of Bielsa’s best performers last term.
Rodrigo, a club-record £27million signing, has yet to justify his price tag, even if his goal here proved the difference.
Even England midfielder Kalvin Phillips, a player who has come to symbolise everything good about Leeds’ Bielsa-inspired renaissance, was some way below his formidable best against the Canaries.
Injuries have played a major part in Leeds’ early-season inconsistencies, of course.
Bielsa fielded a back three at Carrow Road with captain Liam Cooper alongside Diego Llorente and Pascal Struijk.
But aside from Raphinha’s touches of class on the right flank, Leeds failed to sparkle during a first half which lacked genuine quality from both teams.
Dan James, who began out wide before being moved into a more central role, went close when he rounded Krul before his shot was cleared off the line by Grant Hanley.
There was precious little to inspire in the opening 45 minutes, although Raphinha always threatened to make his class pay and so it proved in the 56th minute.
Collecting possession from James’ fine pass, the Brazil winger showed brilliant skill to outfox three Norwich defenders and drill a low shot past Krul.
Leeds were still celebrating when 19-year-old defender Omobamidele headed home from a corner needlessly conceded by Illan Meslier.
It summed up the uncertainty within Leeds’ game, but Rodrigo soon settled the match on the hour when his low piledriver flew past Krul, who should have done better.
For Norwich this latest defeat was another knife in the side of a team who showed far greater desire than in their 7-0 hammering at Chelsea but who, ultimately, still moved another step closer to relegation.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2ZCqaS7
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