Here’s Aaron Bower’s report from Elland Road.
Patrick Bamford speaks.
The most important thing is to get three points. It’s nice to get to 100. It’s probably long overdue. It’s important to make the home ground like a fortress. It’s difficult with out our pitch being like it is at the moment. It’s better than it was. It’s hard to stand up, that’s all I’ll say. I had to put rugby studs on at halftime. The defending starts with me and constantly mixing it up. It’s physically demanding, I can’t deny that. I have to go for a little walk for a few minutes.
Blocks?
2:35 - Jack Harrison's opener (2 mins 35 secs) was Leeds' fastest Premier League goal since Steve Caldwell netted against Blackburn Rovers back in April 2004 (2nd minute). Blocks. #LEECRY pic.twitter.com/76haRUogi2
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 8, 2021
Well done, Sir Patrick.
💯 Patrick Bamford scores the 100th goal of his career (282nd app)
— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) February 8, 2021
21 MK Dons
8 Derby
33 Middlesbrough
38 Leeds pic.twitter.com/olqJyYZUmS
Full-time: Leeds 2-0 Crystal Palace
Leeds utterly dominated from the start, with Palace sorely missing Wilfried Zaha but never given a moment’s rest. Leeds step up into the top half of the table. Raphina was excellent while Bamford and Harrison took their goals well.
90+3 min: Leeds almost get a third when an Alioski run causes havoc. The ball is cleared and that’s the last of the action.
90 min: Leeds playing keep-ball against a well-beaten Palace, with just three minutes more to play of time added on.
89 min: Benteke gets a header on goal. It’s saved by Meslier, who has looked assured all night. Though he has also been well protected.
88 min: Phillips down again and his problem appears to be a calf problem, as it was before. On comes Jamie Shackleton and the worry for Leeds is that Phillips will miss the Arsenal game at the weekend. That might not be so winnable without him.
86 min: Palace seek a foothold but Ayling clears any danger. Raphina keeps the ball, buys time. He’s been outstanding. Townsend falls over this time and Bamford comes back to sweep up the danger.
85 min: Leeds sitting back a little? Not a bit of it. A long ball causes problems for Nathaniel Clyne, who lets the ball go and Harrison toe-bungs it against the bar. That was close. Palace almost caught napping but Harrison had to dig the ball out from the pitch.
83 min: Cahill climbs highest to the corner but he can only head it down into the undergrowth. Meslier takes it with ease.
82 min: Raphina wins a corner. Take it himself before Benteke heads behind again. Palace beat the second corner away. Batshuayi settles for a Palace corner. He could have done far better than that.
80 min: Struijk slips over now, but Batshuayi, probably watching his step after falling over himself, cannot take any advantage.
79 min: Batshuayi is the latest to slip on the Elland Road pitch.
78 min: Leeds have not given up the chase which reduces Palace’s chances of getting the ball hoiked up to Benteke.
76 min: Milojevic loses the ball to Dallas, and then fouls immediately. It’s time for some Bentekkers, as Ayew vacates the scene.
75 min: Benteke is imminent for Palace.
74 min: Darren gets in touch: “Townsend long range shooting - has he improved? There was many a time during his spell at Elland Road where such an attempt would trouble the traffic on the M621.”
I’d say he’s improved.
73 min: Gary Naylor is a Raphina fan: “The most redundant question of the day coming up - “Time for your Man of the Match Andy.’
Luke Ayling in with a shout for me, Clive, but Raphina has been excellent.
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71 min: Dallas, seeing that Guaita may be unsighted, launches one at goal. The Palace goalie gets down well and makes a fine save.
70 min: Townsend whips in a sidewinder from his usual long range. Meslier is happy it was straight at him.
69 min: Raphina and Ayling link up but cannot get the ball down in the area. Within seconds, Ayling is rushing back to stop Eze. The energy levels are hugely impressive.
68 min: Phillips looks to be OK to carry on. He’s swiftly involved in the press. Suddenly there’s a Palace chance. The ball is played back to Eze from the byline and he whacks it into the night sky. That was a waste of a precious resource.
66 min: Kalvin Phillips is down, which is a worry for Leeds. Looks like a muscle injury.
65 min: Off goes Mateta off what was not an easy debut. On comes Batshuayi.
64 min: Leeds utterly dominant here. This has been hugely impressive.
63 min: Klich plays the ball across to Alioski, and Bamford falls over when the pass goes behind him.
61 min: Palace are pressing, just not frantically and effectively as Leeds.
59 min: Bamford goes close again. Guaita makes a fine save. Without him it could have been ugly for Palace.
57 min: Palace briefly get the ball forward but Leeds soon get it back. They have not been allowed to settle.
55 min: Ayling bounds to the line on to a Raphina pass. Bamford’s header down is not the strongest.
54 min: Cahill comes across to deny Bamford, who looks very confident at the moment. Palace less so, as Leeds are pushing up on them.
53 min: The best-laid plans of Roys and men: that’s torn up Palace’s plan.
Goal! Leeds 2-0 Crystal Palace (Bamford, 52)
Phillips wins the ball in midfield, it comes to Raphina whose shot is saved by Guaita and then Bamford converts the rebound for his 100th career goal.
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50 min: Palace picking up speed with an attack. Townsend and Eze combine before Ayew takes rather too much time and has his shot blocked.
49 min: Palace do seem to be pressing up far higher. If you can’t beat them, join them?
47 min: Roy is muttering away at something or other. His team do start on something of the offensive until Ayew legs up an escaping Bamford when the ball breaks back loose.
46 min: Back away we go. Palace have made a change, with Van Aanholt off and Townsend on against the club he was once loaned to. A tactical shift by Roy. Leeds’ players were warming up before the half started and their stutter steps were ripping up the turf.
Half-time: Leeds 1-0 Crystal Palace
An excellent display from Leeds, and Palace have been hanging on for dear life. Since Harrison’s early goals, Bamford has had two decent chances while Pascal Struijk has missed two sitters with his head.
45 min: Leeds seeking another, the extra goal their dominance demands. Palace rocking on their heels. Then suddenly Ayew escapes only to fall over under a challenge from Ayling. Nothing doing. He went down too early.
43 min: Raphina wins a corner off Cahill. Then the ball comes back to Phillips and Struijk heads wide, and inexplicably. He pounds the turf in rage. Which will not please the groundsman.
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42 min: Guaita has to palm away a Raphina cross. Leeds really piling it on here.
41 min: Bamford is fouled by Mitchell, and Raphina can launch in another free-kick. Cooper climbs on to a pacy ball and nods over. Did he? No, it was Cahill but the officials missed that.
40 min: Leeds might fancy they could have had more than a two-goal lead here. They have been by far the better team.
38 min: The free-kick is at the sideline, and Raphina takes it himself. Struijk climbed high but too high and he heads over. Milojevic had let him go.
37 min: Raphina spins and makes Gary Cahill look very silly. A foul and a yellow card ensues for Cahill.
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36 min: Palace on the attack. But Ayew loses his footing on Levy’s lawn. Ayew eventually gets the ball back and gets a shot on goal. Meslier is in the right position and claims it with his full body behind the ball.
35 min: Bielsa working his quads as he sits in contemplation of his team’s performance so far. He ought to be pretty happy but almost certainly isn’t.
33 min: Leeds pass it around calmly. Wonders never cease. They work it across the back with Palace not exactly busting a gut to chase it down.
31 min: The stats show Leeds as having 65% of possession to Palace’s 35%. Though the pitch must have had at least 10% of the ball.
30 min: Eze sets off on a run but Liam Cooper steps across to stop him. Looks like Palace are relying on their soloists. And are without their leading axeman in Zaha.
28 min: Gary Naylor gets in touch: “The Elland Road pitch was bought from Tottenham Hotspur? Worst buy since Winston Bogarde.” Cost £300,000 too. Daniel Levy’s not lost his touch.
26 min: Dallas attempts to send Ayling down the wing. Leeds keep pushing and pushing. It’s as relentless as ever.
25 min: Raphina whips his free-kick too hard and high. Palace did not bother with the voguish man under the wall either.
24 min: Raphina is fouled by Riedewald. Free-kick chance for Leeds.
22 min: Bamford turns and scoots all the way from the halfway line after picking up an errant pass. It’s him versus Guaita, but his shot is not good. He seemed to be attempting a Poborsky-style lob. It wasn’t as good as that and ended up somewhere in the Beeston area of Leeds.
20 min: Some Palace possession at last. Leeds back in numbers and concede a corner. Danger for Leeds? Eze whips in the ball with Dann the target. It’s headed away.
18 min: Dallas tees up a cross that Bamford heads over, having failed to get the direction on the ball when he had stolen a march on a lagging Cahill.
16 min: Leeds swarming all over Palace, who are rather clinging on at the moment.
15 min: Simon McMahon gets in touch: “Evening John. David Hopkin was until recently manager of Greenock Morton, his home town club, in the Scottish Championship, having led Livingston to consecutive promotions to the Scottish Premiership, where they currently occupy fifth place and play in the Scottish League Cup final later this month. If he’d sat on a bucket like Bielsa, it’d have been like being managed by Oor Wullie.”
14 min: Raphina and Ayling try to combine but the ball runs away from the manbunned one. Like Palace’s previous attack the pitch did seem to catch the ball and speed it away.
12 min: Ayling, one of the Leeds manbun crew, pulls up. He is ok to continue. The pitch does seem a tad treacherous. As do Leeds for Palace. The home team have started very strongly.
10 min: Bamford slips as he tries to knock in a rebound after a fine header on goal is stopped by Guaita. He looks highly confident at the moment, the former Palace loanee.
8 min: Lovely skill by Ayew down the wing, but in his own half, is the first glimmer for Palace. They’ve begun very slowly. But an attack by Palace in which Van Aaaholt and Riedewald combine almost comes off. The final pass from Dutchman to Dutchman is not quite good enough.
6 min: Klich is down, and it looks painful. He slipped on that new Elland Road pitch. His hip looked to take the brunt but he is OK to continue.
4 min: That didn’t take long at all. Scott Dann and Gary Cahill, with their combined age of 178, were slow to get out to that. Palace’s problems started when Mateta gave the ball away very cheaply.
Goal! Leeds 1-0 Crystal Palace (Harrison, 3)
Leeds press the ball and it comes to Harrison, whose shot takes a deflection off Gary Cahill and in.
Updated
2 min: An early cross is claimed by Guaita. Palace not exactly starting at a lick. They will be wary of being caught by Leeds’ speed on the break, though Leeds ought to fear similar from Palace.
1 min: And away we go...
Reminder: Palace have lost all three matches without Wilfried Zaha this season.
The players are on the field and warming up after the Premier League anthem. They will need warming up. It’s -1 degrees in Leeds today.
Marcelo Bielsa is brief but to the point.
The players are the same but no two matches are the same. The players have to be aware of set pieces and how their full backs attack.
When last we met it was all too Eze for Palace. (Apologies)
Roy Hodgson speaks.
We know what we want to see from them. Mateta is an unknown quantity. This is a his opportunity to show what he can do. I’m hoping he and Jordan [Ayew] will combine well. We had to wrk unbelievably hard that day, we have done the same work on this occasion. Leeds will feel at home and more convinced of their abilities.
Matt Muir emails in: “Nothing to contribute to your MBM whatsoever, but David Hopkin was my favourite Chelsea player for a while, mainly for slightly cultish reasons. You really don’t see footballers who look like that anymore.”
Have yourself a Fiver.
Zack Lawrence emails in: “It hurts me to say this but I’ve been impressed by Leeds this season. The way they play, even when they lose they still go at the opposition. They have done a lot better than I expected this season. Wish we could have some of them players such as Bamford at Boro...”
Marcelo Bielsa makes no changes from the team that lost to Everton last week. Roy Hodgson has no such luxury, as Wilfried Zaha is missing and Michy Batshuayi dropped to the bench as Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell come in. Palace have been hit badly by injuries and whatever else, and could only name six subs tonight.
Roy’s also eight years older than Steve Coppell, who became Palace manager in 1984.
Roy Hodgson is Crystal Palace manager in 2021 and is older than Steve Kember, who became Crystal Palace manager in 1981.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) February 8, 2021
Here are the teams
📋 Your #LUFC Starting XI...
— Leeds United (@LUFC) February 8, 2021
COME ON YOU PALACE#CPFC | #LEECRY
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) February 8, 2021
Leeds: Meslier, Ayling, Cooper, Struijk, Alioski, Dallas, Phillips, Klich, Raphinha, Bamford, Harrison.
Subs: Casilla, Roberts, Costa, Davis, Gelhardt, Cresswell, Shackleton, Jenkins, Huggins.
Crystal Palace: Guaita, Clyne, Dann, Cahill, Van Aanholt, Mitchell, Riedeald, Milivojevic, Eze, Ayew, Mateta.
Subs: Butland, Kouyate, Townsend, Benteke, Batshuayi, Kelly.
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Preamble
Well hello there. Here’s the latest spin on the eternal whirligig of football. Leeds Leeds Leeds’ revival came crashing last week when losing to Everton, while Roy Hodgson continues to maintain Palace in resolute mid-table after winning their last two matches against Wolves and Newcastle. Palace have also been freed from the traditional 3pm Saturday kick-offs where they have been tethered for much of the season. Or so it has felt. Though who knows anymore? Palace can climb above Marcelo Bielsa’s team with a win as both teams are level on 29 points, a healthy total at this point of the campaign.
When one thinks of Crystal Palace and Leeds, David Hopkin’s gap-toothed grin comes to mind. Neil Warnock managed both these clubs too, hardly an exclusive club but one to conjure with. Then there was Thomas Brolin, who also managed Palace, of course. Nigel Martyn was a superb servant in the goals for both too. Patrick Bamford will be playing against his former loan club tonight, as also will Andros Townsend. Again, there’s not much exclusivity there, either.
Kick-off at 8pm. Join me.
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