What a performance and even better what a result, if this does keep Farke in a job he deserves it ( unlike Marsch's job saving results) as his players gave him everything In the pub prematch (apart from discussing whether Sebastian Bernabau or whatever he's called really existed or was a finance scam ( he does indeed exist and was on the pitch for all of one minute) we agreed that teams who come off the pitch with nothing but bemoan the fact that they " deserved something " are teams that get relegated. There was also total agreement that the 3 5 2 formation best suited this squad but we were in some doubt as the whether DF would go for it- Jack Charlton and Ireland and the Wimbledon crazy gang both getting favourable mentions and the idea we should play similar to them We were pleased then to see the line up but whilst happy there was no real belief that we would do much with it, a draw our best outcome How wrong we were as we battered them from start to finish in the best performance by a country mile this season . What a display of guts , determination and no little skill as we dismantled one of the tops teams in front of a lively Elland road. Chelsea did nothing as we snapped to tackles and made blocks, everyone giving their all in a brilliant display. I can only recall them having one decent chance ( palmer shot wide ) apart from the goal all game as we harried, chased and totally out fought them. In between the chasing and harrying we also played some good football and created plenty of chances . My mate early doors said he fancied Tanaka to do something special but that belief started to wane as he fluffed 2 decent chances. We got the breakthrough we already deserved when a corner was headed superbly by Bijol and into the net , 1-0 up and from a corner. We were then in dreamland as my mates vision came true , the ball fell to Tanaka on the edge of the box and he lashed it home giving the diving keeper no chance " A o, A O, AO" - Amazing scenes At half time there were some jitters in the crowd wondering if we could hold on. I said we shouid blow for full time now and we could all have an early finish to celebrate. The great Howard Wilkinson was brought on the pitch at half time " sergeant Wilko's barmy army" to be inducted into the hall of fame, well deserved and quite right. With typical Wilko modesty/ dry wit when asked how he felt about it he said " embarrassed " . What a bloke
Second half the clock slowed down and time stood still but our players didn't, they kept going and going running themselves into the ground. The 2 up top kept their defence occupied and our midfield and defence gave them very little. Nerves were jangling when a cross beat all our players and was tapped home, then came Palmers miss which could have equalised. We then thought we had the game won when we had the ball in the net but the flag went up for offside and VAR confirmed the decision. Then we really were in 7th heaven , Gudmondson lost it on the edge of their box but as the 2 defenders passed between themselves Okafor playing as a striker ( having replaced Nmencha who had run himself into the ground) nipped in and robbed them, his touch gave the keeper half a chance to dive at his feet but the ball squirmed past to DCL who tapped home from inches away into an empty net.VAR check gives us a bit of worry but correctly the goal stood 3 1 , 3 f*King 1 , against the Chelsea scum who we want to shoot, it does not get much better. There was pandemonium in the crowd plus a bit of nerves, the players were dead on their feet, but Gruev ( a sub on the obligatory 70 mins - DF can't change everything he does) did a great Battyesque impression being all over the place taking the ball off them. Time slowly went by , too little time now for them to win?, too little now for them to draw ? Too little time now for them to even pull one back as the final whistle went, Cue more amazing scenes of delirium as the opening bars of I predict a riot blasted out and the players got a brilliant ovation as they did a lap of honour, the biggest cheer ( " heh heh heh") for DF and his arm rasing celebration. In that moment there was no thought of sacking him To a man the players were great and gave everything, and more importantly than all that they got 3 points ,no could have / should have , we DID Great night and still buzzing Roll on the scouse b*stards on Saturday, although I can see tiredness from tonight affecting us, but who cares, what a night,If we are going down we are now going down fighting, and even have a chance of staying up Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/leedslist/ Rest In Peace Steve "Score one, score one more!" Gillen.
