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Leeds given a lesson in the right way to top the league

Daniel Taylor at St James' Park Monday January 14, 2002 The Guardian

Football's equivalent of bodyline may yet win Leeds United their first title in a decade but, as Douglas Jardine discovered, it may also lose them a few friends along the way. If Newcastle's performance conjured up the most delightful emotions, David O'Leary's kickers presented an image of alley cats playing the role of aristocrats. Not only were Leeds given a lesson in how to pass the ball, they were also reminded that the game is often contested in an area measuring no more than four or five inches, namely the gap between a player's ears.

Sadly too many of O'Leary's seemed intent on depicting themselves as the type who get their kicks from chucking rocks at the moon. Right now they seem to be revelling in their notoriety rather than cringing at the damage it is doing.

Trophies have never been handed out on the basis of popularity but, then again, disciplinary points have never helped a team climb the league. Leeds's behaviour, with six yellow cards, a red for Danny Mills and, finally, a white flag at the end of a spiteful performance, will result in a £25,000 fine from the Football Association. A mere pinprick, perhaps. But what price the real damage in the following weeks and months?

A list of Premiership suspensions is pinned on O'Leary's office wall and the updated version this morning will tell him that Leeds, already ravaged by injuries, will be unable to call upon Mills for four games. Another senseless booking means Alan Smith will be banned for the next five matches, ruling him out until March 3. And Lee Bowyer, like Mills, already faces another enforced spell on the sidelines when they answer FA disciplinary charges on February 5.

Perhaps O'Leary was only trying to protect his players. "We're a competitive team, not dirty," he argued. "I'm not worried we're getting a reputation." Maybe behind closed doors he does not skirt the truth. Or maybe it is just a Leeds thing. "Have you ever seen a referee like that?" Norman Hunter wanted to know afterwards. "There wasn't a bloody tackle in the game."

Graham Barber admittedly had his moments of whistle-happy ineptitude but the players hardly helped. David Batty's scything lunge into the side of Andy O'Brien, shortly after Michael Duberry's own-goal had begun the Leeds downfall, could not be filed under "tackle". Nor could the forearm smash with which Mills split open Laurent Robert's lip in the first 10 minutes.

Mills, statistically the Premiership's dirtiest player, proudly revealed to the Guardian on Saturday how he would "bend the rules, not break them", but that assault, and the hack at Craig Bellamy's shins that precipitated his dismissal, were about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

All of which detracts horribly from the most endearing aspects of the match. Newcastle were simply magnificent. "We gave a performance that had everything," enthused their manager Bobby Robson. "We had great desire, resolve, skill, pace, everything."

Most of all they had Kieron Dyer. "I've played with Ryan Giggs and some other great, great players but Kieron's the best I've seen," said Bellamy. "He will be at the World Cup and he will be a superstar. Real Madrid and all the top Italian clubs must all want him."

"He's a will-o'-the-wisp, a little genius," said Robson, and Sven-Goran Eriksson, watching from the stand, must have tingled with appreciation at the way Dyer, bursting from midfield for the umpteenth time, put Newcastle ahead on the hour before setting up the goal for Bellamy that the Welshman's zestful display deserved.

Robson may be right when he says the championship is beyond Newcastle but in this form, and with a relatively easy run-in, a Champions League place is attainable.

For O'Leary it is time to return to basics. Eriksson will have appreciated the manner in which Smith belted in the opening goal, after only 25sec, and Jonathan Woodgate's stout performance will not have escaped his notice either. But, as a team, Leeds are about as endearing as a bluebottle in a loaf of bread.



-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Answers

Agree with every word, hopefully the beginning of the end with the football pundits' love affair with Leeds. With Liverpool generally accepted as the dullest team in the league and Wenger going off his head who will the press get behind now. Chelsea of course!

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

"Leeds are about as endearing as a bluebottle in a loaf of bread." Excellent - couldn't have put it better...

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

"...... as endearing as a fart in a lift", might have been a more appropriate metaphor in this particular case!

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Can anyone enlighten me as to the average width of someone's heed? "...the game is often contested in an area measuring no more than four or five inches, namely the gap between a player's ears."

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Only if it's not one of your own Clarky. :-{E}

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002


..... just out of interest, since when did you have a tache never mind a beard, PB? ;o{I

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

It's not a tache nor a beard. If only PB could master HTML, you'd realise it was lipstick. :-{E}

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Oh dear. A good report from the Grauniad - if he keeps this up (like when we're not playing a Yorkshire team) I shall have to eat my words.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

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