Leeds United 1 v Birmingham City 0 - EFL Championship

Saturday 19th October 2019
SkyBet EFL Championship
at Elland Road Stadium
Leeds United (0) 1
Kalvin Phillips 66
Birmingham City (0) 0
Attendance: 35,731
Point & hope photo gallery: click HERE

Leeds United: 

Casilla, Ayling, Berardi, White, Dallas, Phillips, Alioski, Klich (Roberts 62), Harrison, Bamford (Nktiah HT), Costa (Douglas 84)
Unused subs - Miazek, Gotts, Davis, Clarke.

Birmingham City:

Camp, Colin, Pedersen, Dean, Roberts, Crowley (Maghoma 66), Sunjic, Bellingham (Gary Gardner 76), Villalba, Gimenez, Jutkiewicz (Bailey 76)
Unused subs - Stockdale, Harding, Clarke-Salter, Davis.

Once again, as the Championship season careers headlong towards it's halfway point, there is very little to choose between the runners and riders at the business end of the table, in a league where any given team can beat any other on their day.
In fact going into today's twelfth game(s) of the campaign, only four points separated the top ten clubs, which was exactly the same number, as the pre-match margin of differential, between today's two teams, hosts: Leeds United, and their esteemed and universally popular visitors: Birmingham City.

Marcelo Bielsa's side will have been mindful of the fact, that Blues won the corresponding fixture between these two teams 1-2 at Elland Road last season, when the visitors tore up the form book, while a nation of punters screwed up their fixed odds coupons as a consequence. On a day that the home faithful bemoaned Birmingham's strategy of running the clock down by any means necessary at times.
As I recall, Don Revie's version of Leeds United, a vastly underrated and massively talented team, even if I do say so myself, were actually responsible for importing such gamesmanship. skulduggery and black arts to these shores, to employ as a means of 'gaining an advantage', of sorts, should the need ever arise.
So hey ho! What goes around, comes around n' all that.

Although, to be fair, on many occasions, Leeds have been the victims, and on the receiving end of such tactics and no small amount of 'shit-housing' themselves, especially on their travels abroad, during several high profile European games, back in the day.
If you can't beat 'em join 'em, appears to be the adage that manifested and impregnated itself into the psyche of Don Revie's Leeds, and was embraced by the West Yorkshire club, gaining them a reputation that had nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of play that they were capable of, both as a great footballing side and as an astutely assembled collection of outstanding individuals.

But that was then and this is now... a completely different place in time, where Marcelo Bielsa, the current Leeds manager, is the fourteenth person to occupy the Elland Road hot-seat, since they were relegated from the top flight, way back at the end of the 2003-04 season.
In the interim, the Whites have fallen from grace so dramatically, that they even spent three years in League One (Division Three in old money).
But any empathy, or indeed sympathy, from the wider football public at large, outside of the clubs own fan base, has been in very short supply elsewhere, while they've never really received anything like the amount of credit that they've been due, for any of their past successes, apart from a slither of scant praise that's been given very grudgingly.

Instead, it seems to be a more popular option to dismiss any of the glory years, by nicking a quote from Brian Clough, purportedly about their players chucking all of their medals in the bin, because they'd 'won' them all by cheating.
It's small wonder, that the city of Leeds, has developed such an ingrained, 'us against the world' siege mentality and became such an uncomfortable place for opposition football fans to visit over the years, as the hostility that the locals felt directed at them and the football team that represents the region in which they were born, from all quarters, was reciprocated... with interest.

Even now, it would seem, that any relegation, promotion or play-off failure, or any other kind of problems that beset Leeds, are universally celebrated elsewhere, across the nations football outposts.
I'm not personally going to pretend that I have a soft spot for Leeds United, but I don't actually hate, or even dislike them; nor have I ever jumped on the populist bandwagon where people refer to them as 'Dirty Leeds'. To my mind, they're just a.n.other team, just like any number of clubs that I have no particular feelings for, or towards, either way.
But from my impartial and (almost) indifferent perch, even I can recognise that they've suffered outrageously, when it comes to having a disproportionate amount of crap and draconian heavy handedness aimed in their direction by the football authorities over the years, in my living memory... and I'm getting on a bit these days.

Blues have suffered heavy sanctions at the hands of the EFL too, even as recently as last season (under the same circumstances, that certain other clubs are seemingly on the verge getting away with identical wrongdoings), but perhaps not quite on as severe a scale that the powers that be have seemingly wilfully, nobbled the Elland Road outfit at each and every available opportunity.
Suffice to say, I know quite a lot of people with ingrained persecution complexes, bordering on advanced paranoia. And their collective conditions have stemmed from the fact that they support either Birmingham City or Leeds United... and there is stacks of evidence to show that this phenomena isn't a mere coincidence. #FucktheEFL

Anyway... happy birthday Leeds United FC, because as of Thursday 17th October, the club are now officially 100 years old, having been formed, all phoenix like, from the ashes of the former Leeds City FC, in 1919. Which meant that this would be the second time in just over a a month, that Birmingham had travelled to a team who were in the midst of centenary celebrations; having also visited the Valley, the home of Charlton Athletic, in September, where they beat the Addicks 0-1, a side who are of course, managed by the former Leeds and Birmingham player Lee Bowyer, and in doing so gave the south London club a dose of the 'birthday bumps' courtesy of a Jude Bellingham goal.

Last night Sheffield Wednesday picked up a point when they drew 1-1 at Cardiff City, and climbed into sixth place, on the same points as fifth placed Leeds, who still had a game in hand and a marginally better goal difference than their Yorkshire rivals. Wednesday would've gone level on points with West Bromwich Albion, at the top of the table. if Neil Warnock's Cardiff hadn't scored an equalising goal inside the final three minutes.
The high flying Owls (apologies for the pun) are, of course, managed by a certain Garry Monk, who was Leeds boss for eleven months, from June 2016, and also took over at Birmingham for fifteen months, between March 2018 and the end of last season.

Pep Clotet, who is currently Blues caretaker manager, was Monk's assistant during the two aforementioned managerial stints, as well as teaming up with him, at Swansea City, prior to their tenure in West Yorkshire. Clotet took over at Oxford United for six months, after leaving Leeds, a career move that didn't really work out for him, while Monk spent even less time than that, in the hot seat at Middlesbrough.
I hope you're taking notes, because there's a quiz amount this perpetual managerial merry-go-round at the end of this blog overview of today's events, but there won't be any prizes... it's just for fun.

After all the razzmatazz of Leeds pre-match centenary celebrations; featuring loads of former players and managers being paraded to the crowd, fireworks being let off, young ladies dressed as space aliens on the forecourt of the ground dancing to Daft Punk songs (I thought this might be the drugs kicking in, but I've seen all of the selfies on Twitter, confirming that this did actually happen), and having to listen to what seems to have become an ironic/iconic club anthem: "I predict a riot!"  by West Yorkshire's very own Kaiser Chiefs, blaring out over the PA at wearingly frequent intervals, this afternoon's main event got underway, with a season's best attendance of 35,731 (I told you that Birmingham City were popular... cough) in attendance at Elland Road, to soak up the occasion and make a right racket.

Clotet's Blues are still at an embryonic phase of their puberty and development, where ball caressing, foreplay, fancy positioning and posturing are all well and good... but, to all intents and purposes, they're still at the heavy petting stage. And as of yet, possess neither the thrust, or maybe even the confidence in their abilities and prowess, to go the whole hog, as regards actually indulging in full penetration more often... and imposing themselves inside the box, so to speak.
Possibly, they're already beyond first and second base now, but they need to focus on mounting the real challenge before them, and start hitting the spot at ramming speed on a regular basis, because I'm sure that nobody would want their season to end in a premature mess.
Aesthetics are always an attribute to be admired, but football is a results based industry.

The hosts began the afternoon on the front foot, but Blues are very adept at absorbing and frustrating opposition teams and work very hard at absorbing the most gung-ho of opponents... and today they found an unexpected ally in their quest to keep the home side at bay, in Patrick Bamford, who looked low on confidence and out of sorts in attack for the Whites.
As half time arrived, with the game still goalless, I would imagine that even the most uber optimistic of the Blues fans present, would've been content, to take a draw there and then. Especially when Bamford was replaced during the break by Eddie Nktiah.
But as Birmingham grew into the game more, after the restart, it began to look as though they might even gatecrash Leeds celebrations and take on the guise of party-poopers, and nick a win along the way.

Francisco José Villalba and Álvaro Giménez, both had decent chances to put the visitors ahead. but they were thwarted by "Kiko" Casilla, in the Leeds goal.
In the sixty sixth minute, Jude Bellingham stroked a pass back towards Maxime Colin, deep inside the Blues half, because he evidently didn't want to over hit the ball, which would put his teammate under undo pressure to clear it away, from just outside his own area, as a consequence. But alas, Bellingham's honourable intentions, had the reverse effect... and his delivery allowed Jack Harrison to nip in and nick the ball away, before surging forward and knocking it to his right, where Kalvin Phillips had just enough time to slot his shot under Lee Camp's dive, before Harlee Dean make a block.

Blues responded well to going behind, while Marcelo Bielsa was seemingly intent on seeing out the game with a single goal advantage, instead of going for Blues main artery, while they had to commit bodies forward.
Bellingham and Jutkiewicz had chances to level things up, while Villalba tried his luck from long range, with Casilla caught in no-man's land outside his area, to no avail.
Deep into stoppage time, Dean delivered a dipping cross towards the back post, for Kristian Pedersen, but the big Dane directed his header just wide of the upright.
And that was that... game over!
FT: Leeds United 1 v Birmingham City 0

As today marked a centenary celebration, it was perhaps apt for Leeds United that a local player, who had grown up supporting his hometown club, scored the winning goal. 

But Blues will be disappointed, that their second half upbeat performance, hadn't been enough to claim at least a draw... shades of their last away game at Derby County methinks.

Both teams are in action again on Tuesday night when Leeds travel up to Preston North End, while Blues welcome Blackburn to St. Andrew's.

This coming weekend, Birmingham have a home game against Luton Town and Leeds have a 12.20PM kick off away game, against Garry Monk's Sheffield Wednesday. 

You've probably already heard elsewhere already, because bad news travels fast, that after the game, there were crowd disturbances, both inside and outside the ground.

Ten arrests were made, stewards, emergency workers and police were hurt, though thankfully, none of their injuries were serious... and amidst the ensuing chaos, several untrue stories began doing the rounds.

Updated BBC Leeds & West Yorkshire report: click HERE

The real facts about what actually happened will emerge, in time... though it would seem that while speculation and gossip (mainly of the second-hand sort) is still rife, people are posting video footage of various incidents on YouTube and social media, while claiming either: i) a victory for their respective 'lads' (there wasn't one), or ii) some kind of moral high ground for one side of the equation or the other (there wasn't one of those either). 

However, this isn't a blog that caters for 'hooligan porn', so I'm not going to comment any further on the scenes that escalated all around me at full time.

I hope that none of the @AccessiBlues and @blues_4_all who were present at today's game were hurt, and that getting caught up in the cross-fire, won't put any of them off of travelling to home and away games in the future.

Football is an emotive game and people do get carried away in the heat of the moment... we all do at times, in a variety of different ways.

If you want to fight, then fight, but FFS have a bit of consideration for those around you who don't want to be involved in that sort of thing... just saying.