Ten minutes of added time. But for Fulham, the onslaught was like being savaged by a wheelie bin. Crysencio Summerville almost slipped behind their defence. Goalkeeper Illan Meslier came up for a corner — that roll of the dice which (almost) never works. Aside from that, curtains drawn without a whimper, drawn on the game and who knows what else… Time was when Leeds United made the Premier Leaguemarvel, as running, competing, surviving and fighting with them took teams into the red zone. ADVERTISEMENT Now, punching down in Leeds’ direction offers all the satisfaction of abusing an easy target. Even for a club with so many historical enemies, so many people who love their implosions, what pleasure to be taken when the club are walking into it themselves? You might call it sleepwalking but nobody sleepwalks for two years. Fulham away was Fulham away and there is not a lot of point in going at it forensically. Fulham were better. Fulham were clinical. Meslier made two mistakes and they seized on both. Leeds were blitzed in transition because that’s how it goes, Javi Gracia took too long with his substitutions and Willy Gnonto got all of the last 10 minutes. An own goal making the end of the game interesting would not have papered over a hairline fracture and the end of the game was only interesting because well, you never can tell. Long story short: set fire to the 90 minutes, again. The real tale at Craven Cottage revolved around what was going on up in one corner of the ground — the closest to the River Thames if there was any temptation to jump into it. One-nil down after 63 minutes and chants from the away end brewed against Victor Orta, Leeds’ never-far-from-the-talking-shop director of football. Rapidly the dissent spread its wings to encompass the club’s whole board and then zoned in on Orta again when 1-0 became 2-0. Was it this season or last? Were the club stuck on repeat? A neutral rubber-necking might class it as a cycle with nowhere left to go. Gracia will suffer like everyone else in this mess because a head coach in the Premier League does not ever get off scot-free. His experience during the past fortnight has been the equivalent of moving foxes into the hen house and though Leeds have the time and the games to fend this crisis off, it will be some achievement if anyone escapes the season with credit to show for it. ADVERTISEMENT But Gracia is a pawn in the timeline which has dragged the club to this point, save to say that the manner of his appointment was itself symptomatic of Leeds losing control. Third choice? Fourth choice? Fifth? It hardly matters beyond underlining the fact that his job was about picking up the pieces. Over two grinding years, Leeds have sacked Marcelo Bielsa, recruited Jesse Marsch and altered their squad from one which was supposed to work for Bielsa — and did, spectacularly, for three straight seasons — to one which was supposed to work for Marsch. Very little about their football was the same, just as there is little about Gracia’s football which mimics Marsch’s fundamentals. Three philosophies and, if results are analysed fairly, none of them have gone to plan since the beginning of last season. It was good for Gracia initially, a bounce for a while, but maybe the wall Leeds have hit since was unavoidable. If thinking is disjointed, ideas don’t align and recruitment makes a poor job of joining the dots, doesn’t life catch up with you fast? Whatever the board at Leeds think of the restlessness in the away end at Fulham, it is pointless and disingenuous to argue against it. Football is not a game where exact lines can be drawn when it comes to who is responsible for which errors of judgement but there is no way in which Orta as director of football, Andrea Radrizzani as chairman or anyone else at executive level can feasibly expect to be absolved of blame for the club circling the relegation plughole for a second season running. Much as the game is fickle, and much as there were insanely good times, the relationship between the boardroom and the street has been rupturing for longer than good humour can sustain and in accepting that the Premier League takes no prisoners, the facts are plain. ADVERTISEMENT The succession plan after Bielsa has not worked, not even remotely. The attempt to make the squad adequately competitive has not worked either, this season or last. Even hiring Gracia involved camping out in Andoni Iraola’s garden for a bit, flirting with Alfred Schreuder and then ending Michael Skubala’s caretaker stint as rapidly as it was given a vote of confidence. For a while, the critical narrative sticks to looking at on-pitch mistakes, errors in tactics or the selection of a team, the attitude of the men actually kicking the ball. But as one year becomes two, it boils down to whoever is ultimately running the show. And somewhere along the line, faith in the process runs too low to feed on. On Thursday, Gracia spent half an hour being grilled by journalists about the things Leeds seemed to be lacking, beyond their very obvious dearth of Premier League points. Did the squad want it enough? Was leadership in short supply? Were critics of those things getting it wrong, despite drillings by Crystal Palace and Liverpool? How did he see it? Desire and leadership are two of the sport’s intangibles, very real emotions but not always easy to quantify, and they bother people most when a club start to look as if they have had their teeth extracted. Gracia made the effort to shield his players, careful not to slide anyone under the bus, but he did not resent the inquisition either. “You tell me all these things,” he said, “and I agree with you.” Because black is not white and it is better not to play dumb, especially with a crowd who have been through it all before. Where Leeds go from here is what Leeds seem to have spent most of the past 20 years asking themselves. They are looking for the great escape mark two but this is bigger and more complex than dodging relegation again. What was heard from the away end on Saturday — including chants for Bielsa, which were not aimed at Gracia — reflected what many people are seeing: a club and a model which are at the end of the cycle, have been at the end of the cycle for a while and need fresh blood, fresh ideas and an overarching reset. ADVERTISEMENT Call it ‘the takeover’ because if Leeds stay up, that should be coming. But nobody involved in that transaction should be in any doubt about how it will be perceived if a new dawn arrives, only for the new boss to look like the old boss.
That first line summed up the game for me resembling being ravaged by a wheelie bin in extra time.in Bielsas day we would have at least gone down fighting. Would probably create five chances in that ten minutes. Didn’t raise a gallop yesterday
'Like being savaged by a wheelie bin' - that's hilarious.... We lack creativity - why only use Gnonto as an impact sub.
Never did understand that Shaks, as i have said on numerous occasions, might not have been the best footballer, but was the glue that held that early great Bielsa side together, which promptly fell apart (with other reasons i know) fell apart when he left.
No idea, disappointing if he did, but i guess if he did it was possibly a poor contract renewal in his and his agents eyes, wouldn't surprise me at all that, as we hand out ridiculous long lucrative contracts, to the undeserving.
Heard Victor Orta say he had been pleading with Alioski to sign the new contract, but he said Alioski was able to walk on a free transfer that meant he could get a 3 year contract and a big pay rise, whereas Leeds were only offering a one year deal
One YEAR DEAL FFS , no wonder he walked, with others offered such stupidly long ones, Just reinforces my opinion that this club don't know what their doing football wise.
Have you noticed that Rutter only gets game time AFTER Leeds are dead and buried. If there's an incling that Leeds could get anything out of a game, Rutter won't get anywhere near the pitch.
Yep and last season a young talent called Gelhardt came from the bench and was our saviour against Norwich and Brighton. Those extra 3 points kept us up.
Yes but Alioski was a terrible defender and he left to line his pockets. Even firpo is a better defender than him.
