Getting back to winning ways, Crysencio Summerville's main character energy, the Georginio debate and Willy Gnonto's potty mouth whilst looking ahead to Friday at QPR.
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00:00 Hello, welcome back to the Inside Elland Road podcast.
00:11 Calm down from Monday night yet have we?
00:13 It's still on, leads still have goals in their boots.
00:15 Patrick Bamford still knows where the net is.
00:17 Crescencio Somerville responded to suggestions Sammy Smodics was robbed of player of the
00:21 season in the best possible fashion and Junior Firpo nearly did a David Beckham versus Ecuador
00:26 at the 2006 World Cup and threw up on the pitch.
00:29 But seen as Firpo is actually a better crosser than Beckham, he didn't actually hurl.
00:33 Graeme, have you ever come close to needing to make an emergency evacuation during a game
00:39 of the aforementioned kind or maybe even Gary Lineker at a tally of 90 variation?
00:46 No never, never, never have I needed that.
00:50 I did very nearly throw up in your car on the way back from Bournemouth because...
00:58 Your performance?
01:00 Well yes that was enough to make anyone queasy.
01:03 No it was more that I get slightly car sick, slightly bit of motion sickness if I read
01:10 too much in the car and there was so much to read after Bournemouth because Twitter
01:15 was absolutely on fire.
01:18 There was some back and forth with the club and I think the whole heady mix of the realisation,
01:27 I think I said to you in the car, it probably just can't be Javi Garcia.
01:32 It has to be more than that because I was starting to think, hang on a minute, this
01:36 probably needs to be Victor Orda as well.
01:39 I don't know, just the drama of it all, Joe, just the drama, it all just whipped up my
01:45 innards.
01:46 That was the same game where the young fan appeared to have been ignored by the players
01:55 on the way as they were getting on to the coach for the game.
01:58 And that was properly kicking off as we were coming back.
02:03 There was so much going on, I think I was just excited, I was tired, I'd probably eaten
02:07 too much sugar.
02:09 Your driving's very ironic.
02:11 So yeah, that's probably the closest I've come to hurling in and around the football
02:17 team.
02:18 In the line of duty.
02:19 Yeah in the line of duty.
02:20 What about you?
02:22 Me?
02:25 It's definitely bodily, but it wasn't any sort of evacuation.
02:29 It was playing football in a junior game years ago and I had what was called an ocular migraine.
02:37 Now if anyone listening has had one of those, they'll understand the fear that is induced
02:44 when you first have one.
02:46 So basically just the bottom half of my vision just disappeared.
02:50 So I could see the ball coming, but I couldn't focus on it.
02:53 And if I was trying to dribble with the ball, which was never my game anyway, then I couldn't
02:59 actually see it if I was looking ahead.
03:01 So I had to tell my football coach, I'm going to have to come off, I can't see.
03:08 And went to A&E, they said, you've had a very bad migraine, sort yourself out.
03:15 And yeah, that was it really.
03:16 But very, very scary, very odd.
03:19 Was this the closest you ever came to feeling like P.J. in Biker Grove?
03:25 He went blind.
03:26 I'm blind.
03:27 Very good reference.
03:28 Yeah, yeah, that was the closest that I came to that.
03:36 Yeah, no, nothing like junior.
03:38 I did quite enjoy the fact that Firpo volunteered that information after Middlesbrough.
03:46 So we're in the mixed zone with one of the Leeds press officers, obviously shaking hands
03:53 with junior and been stood there speaking to him for five minutes.
03:57 And he goes, you know, I've had a fever for three days.
03:59 I was nearly sick during the second half.
04:02 And I was like, great.
04:04 Yeah, cheers.
04:05 Thanks for bringing one of the two ill players to come speak to us.
04:08 But no, he was good value, had lots of interesting things to say.
04:13 And he also had one of his best games in a Leeds shirt.
04:16 And I mean, you can't really pick a better game to have a bit of a blinder, can you?
04:23 Where did he go when he played on international duty recently?
04:27 He went to Peru.
04:30 And I think the first game was at home in the Dominican Republic.
04:34 Mosquitoes, any mosquitoes there, do you think?
04:37 You're trying to say that I've got malaria now?
04:39 I'm just trying to say, yes, you might have dengue fever.
04:41 That's all.
04:42 But whatever Junior has, I would like some for the next time I play Monday Night Football,
04:49 because if that's the desired effect, fair play to him.
04:53 Like that was for me one of his best performances.
04:59 And not just because he provided two assists, Joe.
05:03 We're not just going to reduce this to very base end product terms.
05:07 Of course, the end product was important, but I thought he played quite well generally
05:11 too.
05:12 I thought the fullbacks did all right, actually.
05:18 And yeah, his contribution was really important.
05:19 Was it what a game, what a game of association football we had before us.
05:24 And I've been wondering since, had Daniel Farke not ruined it, had he not come in and
05:32 turned the music down and said, right, party's over everyone at halftime, what score might
05:36 we have got?
05:37 What score line?
05:38 There were more goals, even though Farke pulled the plug.
05:43 We could have ended up with a seven, eight or a nine, six scoreline.
05:47 It felt like one of those.
05:48 Great game.
05:49 I am going to quickly Google the most goals in a championship fixture because it did,
05:55 honestly, five goals in the first half.
05:57 It did feel like it was heading that way.
05:59 Let me guess.
06:00 I'm going to say 10.
06:01 I'm going to, no, 11.
06:02 I'm going to say somebody won like seven, four or six, five.
06:10 You know what?
06:11 This is going to take a little bit of time, so we'll probably have to come back to this
06:15 later in the episode.
06:16 Should we just sit in silence until you find it?
06:20 Yeah, that'll be really good for the listeners.
06:22 Yeah.
06:23 No, we'll come back to that.
06:24 But yeah, it did feel as though we could potentially get another five or six in the second half
06:28 if things carried on that way.
06:30 Yeah, not one for, not a game for the goalkeeping coaches to say the least.
06:36 It was so chaotic.
06:38 Even the first goal, the Borough goal, where it kind of takes a deflection and Pardew steps
06:43 out and it's like, "Oh, he's threw on goal from one pass."
06:49 It was, yeah, it was an incredible watch.
06:52 I mean, we're definitely biased in saying it was an incredible watch considering the
06:56 outcome.
06:57 If it was 4-3 to Borough and it was Leeds sending Melier up, if it was Leeds deploying
07:04 Melier as sort of like an attacking midfielder for the six minutes of stoppage time, I don't
07:10 think we would be saying it was such an incredible game.
07:13 And the tone of this podcast would be a lot different, but we don't have to worry about
07:17 that.
07:18 Yeah, just a mind-bending game in which you couldn't take your eyes off it, but you wanted
07:27 it to look a way.
07:28 You wanted it to be over and done with.
07:29 There were periods in the second half where time was just moving slower.
07:34 But yeah, incredible stuff.
07:37 Yeah, first half, really good fun.
07:43 I think what impressed me the most was Leeds' response to going behind because when that
07:47 goal went in, I think everyone thought, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear," because
07:54 it was the worst possible start.
07:56 Early concession, kind of ugly, scrappy defence torn asunder by that deflected pass.
08:04 N'Anto it was, gave the ball away, wasn't it?
08:08 Yeah, yeah.
08:09 Well, he was tackled, wasn't he?
08:11 Yeah, tackled and robbed, dispossessed, coughed it up, and then Borough take full advantage.
08:17 And at that point, you're thinking, "This could all go horribly wrong."
08:21 Because my feeling before the game was, "They'll win this game and they'll be back, and then
08:28 they'll roll through QPR because they'll be back and they'll be fine."
08:33 My other thought was, "If they lose this game, it's playoffs.
08:38 That's it.
08:39 That will be that because they won't beat QPR, and then they're sliding backwards into
08:45 the playoffs."
08:46 I went on a water slide quite recently, and I don't know what I did, but I find myself
08:53 travelling backwards for the final 30 metres of the water slide.
08:57 And I have to tell you, Joe, it was nowhere near as pleasant as travelling forwards.
09:04 The impact was difficult.
09:07 And that's how it is with the playoffs.
09:08 You don't want to be sliding backwards into the playoffs.
09:11 You want to be romping into the playoffs.
09:14 You almost want to be the side who makes the playoffs on the last day because you've put
09:19 together an incredible run and you've squeaked in because you've got all the forward momentum
09:24 and all the belief, and you've almost got nothing to lose because no one anticipated
09:29 you being there.
09:30 If you've had all season to think about the playoffs and think about trying to avoid the
09:34 playoffs, and then suddenly you find yourself crashing into them backwards, then it is not
09:40 a dignified entry and the mental state is not good.
09:44 And I honestly think that was a real...
09:48 Can I just ask what everybody must be wondering right now?
09:52 Where on earth did you go on a water slide recently?
09:55 It was indoor.
09:56 It was at Lisburn Leisure Centre in Northern Ireland.
09:59 I would heartily recommend it to any visitor to Northern Ireland.
10:02 Some terrific slides.
10:03 My tip would be go when the Northern Irish kids are still at school because then it'll
10:08 be empty and you won't have to queue for any of the slides.
10:15 I felt like that was a possibility if Leeds lost that game.
10:17 So when they went a goal down, I wondered what the players were thinking.
10:22 I wondered what the away fans were thinking.
10:24 I know what people at home are thinking because they tell me relentlessly.
10:32 None of it was good.
10:33 And then Leeds United's response was perfect.
10:38 It was note perfect, the response.
10:41 To not only go and get a goal as quickly as they did, but then to get another four minutes
10:46 later said a great deal about their character.
10:49 I think they didn't go under.
10:50 And they could have gone under because Borough wanted to attack.
10:54 Borough wanted to go for it.
10:55 They've got a striker who's in unbelievable form.
10:58 One of us said that he would score in this game.
11:00 One of us said that he couldn't score in every game, Joe.
11:03 So well played.
11:04 You win this one.
11:06 And he was dangerous.
11:08 He was, even though Rodon and Melie tried to combine to nobble him in that challenge,
11:13 he was still very dangerous.
11:16 So they could have gone under and they didn't.
11:18 And instead, Routier did something really good.
11:21 Picks up the ball, runs it at the defence and takes Dykesteel with him and stayed so
11:29 far ahead of him that any challenge was always going to be a foil.
11:32 The fact that Dykesteel waited until it was the penalty area before making it was curious.
11:37 Great decision making.
11:40 Great for Leeds.
11:42 And then all the Middlesbrough fans around us were all very gleeful because they thought
11:47 Bamford had backed out of the penalty.
11:52 Obviously not unaware that this is now the routine.
11:55 Bamford took the penalty in order to draw any unnecessary heat out of the Middlesbrough
12:00 defenders and keeper and then handed it off to Somerville.
12:04 Pressure kick, wasn't it?
12:06 Yeah, very big moment.
12:08 But again, it feels as though he seems pretty undisturbed or unperturbed by the pressure.
12:14 Absolutely thwacks it into the corner, into the side netting.
12:17 That's how you take a penalty.
12:20 That was a real confident kick.
12:25 And you didn't really want anybody else on the pitch taking that at that moment, did
12:28 you?
12:29 No, I don't think there's anyone I'd rather at Leeds take a penalty.
12:35 Maybe a Pascal strike, but he's injured at the moment.
12:40 Second goal reminded me a lot of Sheffield Wednesday.
12:43 Junior Farpo sliding that.
12:46 That kind of cross is just a nightmare for defenders because if you go and try and attack
12:50 that, the chances are you're going to put it in the back of your own net.
12:55 And all Bamford had to do was time his run, stay onside, make contact, which he did.
13:01 He does make those runs quite a lot.
13:03 He scored quite a few goals, either getting in between the left back and the left side
13:09 of the centre back or position himself between the two centre backs far enough away from
13:14 either that they can't affect the challenge and it can't affect him when the ball comes
13:17 in.
13:18 And he made the run perfectly, got the required contact and it felt important for him to score,
13:24 didn't it?
13:25 Yeah, yeah.
13:26 It felt I mean, it was six games without a goal for Bamford.
13:30 I mean, Farker has mentioned it several times already this season, hasn't he?
13:34 Strikers like the going when they're scoring goals because it's easy for them to, you know,
13:42 they're not facing criticism.
13:44 It's what they're paid to do.
13:45 It's what they like to do.
13:47 So six games without a goal during such a crucial period of the season, you know, he
13:52 will have been feeling the pressure, you know, whether he likes it or not.
13:56 And I think you could see that that release and that relief in his celebration and also
14:00 in his post-match interview with Sky.
14:04 Very smiley, wasn't he?
14:07 So yeah, I think it was very important for him to score that because we were saying before
14:12 kickoff looking at his previous seasons, he's a very streaky striker, someone who will go
14:19 six games, for example, or longer without a goal.
14:22 And then what was the sort of the onomatopoeia that you did when, I don't know, you scored
14:27 like five in six for Borough?
14:31 I can't remember.
14:32 I think you imitated a machine gun, which I'm sure everyone will be keen to hear.
14:37 I am not some performing monkey for you, Joe, just to produce sound effects as and when
14:45 the mood has to take.
14:48 Yeah, he is a streaky striker and that much is not really in doubt now.
14:55 It's proven.
14:57 So here's to his latest streak because it would be a fantastic time to hit one, wouldn't
15:03 it?
15:04 You know, just to finish off the season, maybe goal, brace, goal, or goal, goal, brace.
15:12 Goal, hat-trick, hat-trick would be nice.
15:14 Goal, hat-trick, hat-trick, yeah.
15:15 Goal, hat-trick, hat-trick, that would be some end to the season.
15:19 Yeah, that would be good.
15:21 I'm going to have to interrupt you because I know people who are very keen on stats and
15:26 that sort of thing who listen, they'll have been Googling the record-breaking game in
15:31 Championship history and they'll be screaming, just going, "I know it, I know it already!"
15:35 And I do know it.
15:36 And it's quite an interesting one.
15:38 There were 13 goals when Charlton Athletic played Huddersfield Town on the 21st of December
15:44 1957.
15:45 7-6 to Charlton, right?
15:47 7-6!
15:48 7-6, right?
15:49 Listen to this.
15:50 Goals were scored, and this is how incredible this game was, okay?
15:58 So Huddersfield go 5-1 up.
16:01 Bear in mind that they lose 7-6.
16:02 They go 5-1 up in the 62nd minute and then concede in the 63rd and 64th, then eventually
16:10 lose 7-6.
16:12 Bonus points for you, Graeme, if you can tell me who the manager of Huddersfield Town was
16:18 that day.
16:19 It'll be Herbert Chapman.
16:20 Oh, that was very quick.
16:21 It's also very wrong.
16:23 I thought if I said it confidently I might just take you by surprise and I might manifest
16:31 that it was true.
16:32 Okay, Huddersfield in '56.
16:33 Again, '57, so you know.
16:34 '56 and '57.
16:35 Real details, man.
16:41 No, it's actually the '57/'58 season.
16:45 Yes, that's right.
16:47 '57/'58 season.
16:48 I mean, I know that Willie Duff was goalkeeper for Charlton around that time.
16:56 And of course, Alex Benn, another Scotsman, was up front for Huddersfield.
17:03 Ray Wilson was probably playing for Huddersfield, probably around that time.
17:07 Yeah, he was, yeah.
17:09 You're not surprising anyone here because you do realise that when you turn to your
17:13 side and then Google who the manager was, the difference in how you come across audio-wise
17:25 is quite apparent.
17:26 I don't know.
17:27 Who was the manager?
17:30 It was none other than Bill Shankly.
17:33 Really?
17:34 And I can't imagine why it was a 7-6 game because he set them up in a 3-2-5 formation.
17:43 So yeah, that is the record.
17:45 In fact, sorry, the joint record highest scoring game in championship history.
17:51 It's sad to think that he never really went on to do anything after that.
17:57 Yeah, I mean, being 5-1 up in that game kind of just ruined his career to lose 7-6.
18:03 That was it for him, a highlight.
18:07 He was cancelled because of Woke.
18:09 7-6 is just sensational.
18:12 I've seen 5-4s, multiple 5-4s, but I've never seen, I don't think I've ever seen a 7-6.
18:20 Have you seen a 13-0?
18:21 Yes, I have.
18:22 Of course you've seen a 13-0.
18:25 You were probably at this game October 5th, 1946.
18:31 I saw a 13-0 in the Sheffield Senior Cup, works up against Worsbridge, I want to say,
18:38 someone like that.
18:39 And yeah, that wasn't that much fun, to be honest.
18:47 But 4-3 at the Riverside was, you know what it felt like to me?
18:50 It felt like a playoff game.
18:52 It did, yeah.
18:53 It was a playoff semi-final, second leg.
18:58 Yeah, second leg, where they both just go for it, you know, and they have to.
19:03 It's knockout football, essentially, and nobody is playing for a draw.
19:10 Of course, Farke then did set up very differently in the second half, but it still had the drama
19:17 of a playoff game.
19:19 Almost like Leeds-Derby, the second leg, that game that I watched very much as a neutral,
19:26 just felt like chaos, carnage.
19:27 And there's been others down the years that you just think, "Oh, the playoffs are so good
19:32 for this kind of thing."
19:33 And that's what it felt like.
19:35 And I suppose, in a way, it was.
19:38 Leeds had so much to gain, Borough had nothing to lose.
19:44 So they both, you know, they went toe-to-toe for 45 minutes at least.
19:50 It's probably why I can understand that the Newport County manager hasn't been listed
19:55 on this website that I'm on, because when they lost 13-0 to Newcastle, which is obviously
20:00 the joint record number of goals, I can see why he's left his name off there.
20:05 In terms of the modern day, or relatively modern day, 2003 is the most recent one in
20:13 which there was an absolutely barnstorming high-scoring game.
20:16 That was Burnley 4, Watford 7, which is pretty interesting.
20:22 That's class.
20:23 I'm trying to see, is there any players in here who are quite renowned?
20:29 Michael Chopra was playing up front for Watford that day.
20:32 Ria Lewington was the manager.
20:35 I was really hoping that Sean Dyche was going to have been involved in that game, given
20:39 his links to Burnley and Watford.
20:41 But no, he wasn't.
20:44 Yeah, interesting.
20:46 Very, very interesting stuff.
20:49 We talked a lot about goals there.
20:52 Could we discuss the final goal of the game that was conceded by Milan-Melié?
20:58 No, let's talk about Borussia's second, first of all, because they made it difficult, didn't
21:05 they?
21:06 Even after Leeds went 2-1 up.
21:08 Latte Lath, is that just a really good strike, or was Ampadu not tight enough and was Melié
21:16 not good enough in reacting?
21:20 At the time, I thought Ampadu maybe gave him that extra yard that he was able to sort of
21:27 feint and then go again.
21:31 I don't know whether I'd be too critical of Melié there, although I am going to check
21:36 to see what the xG on target was from that game.
21:41 Because obviously, I know that Borussia's xG for the whole game wasn't three goals,
21:47 which would be in line with how many goals were actually conceded.
21:53 So I mean, Melié didn't have his best game, I think it's fair to say.
21:59 The xG on target for that one, yeah, not great.
22:04 It's 0.32, which means that two times out of three, you'd expect a goalkeeper to save
22:09 it.
22:10 I think it's the change in direction, because he's moving to his right, he's on his right
22:16 foot, you are thinking he's going right-hand side, top corner, or the right-hand side of
22:21 the net.
22:22 Shooting back a cross goal took me by surprise, and it obviously took Milan Melié by surprise
22:29 as well.
22:30 I thought it was a great strike.
22:31 I felt like Leeds were too generous to a man who doesn't really need any generosity right
22:37 now.
22:38 He's fine, he's absolutely fine, lads, without your kindness.
22:42 He was very, very good in flashes and spells, I think in particular the first half.
22:48 I don't think he's a 90 minutes player though, latte-lat.
22:52 He did, I don't want to say go missing, because he scored twice, but he did have a period
22:58 in the second half where he didn't really impact the game.
23:01 I think that's probably why he'll stay at Borough this season, oh sorry, next season.
23:05 You're saying he's still like a decaf?
23:09 Yeah, hey look, some people like decaf coffee, right?
23:13 I drink decaf coffee.
23:15 So do I.
23:17 And then the third goal, are Leeds United owed a little bit of officiating incompetence?
23:26 I feel like they probably are.
23:29 When you have Luke O'Neill, Superman punch in the ball into the sky, when you have moments
23:37 like that, and we've had quite a few non-penalty awards this season for Leeds.
23:44 We've had decisions against them that you didn't really agree with at the time.
23:52 I feel like enough has gone against them that you could say, yeah, these things, they even
23:59 out, although Farker still believes that they've had 52 against and about three in their favour.
24:06 That one, from a Borough point of view, was pretty unforgivable.
24:11 It's not like we're talking Haji Wright's toenail, is it?
24:15 Nyonto was a whole body offside.
24:19 Clearly a whole Willy Nyonto width offside.
24:23 So Lionel definitely should have got that.
24:27 But the move for the goal was fantastic.
24:32 If ever there was a reminder of what Leeds can do going forward, after three games of
24:37 doing precious little going forward, that was it, wasn't it?
24:41 If you give them an inch, they take a mile.
24:44 They were all involved.
24:46 Gray wins it, Routier's involved, Somerville gets on it, just turns the corner the way
24:51 he does.
24:52 That ball through for Nyonto was fantastic.
24:54 Great finish too.
24:59 I do like that you decided to finish talking there, just as I decided to take a drink.
25:04 So there's a nice section of dead air there.
25:07 Yeah, great, great finish.
25:09 And I do think that is one of Nyonto's strong suits, is that he doesn't need many shots.
25:15 That was his only shot of the game and he put it away.
25:18 He's very composed when it comes to hitting the back of the net.
25:21 I think about the goal against Bristol City.
25:25 Was there a one?
25:26 Did he score against?
25:27 No, no, he didn't score against Peterborough.
25:28 I'm thinking of the Bristol City game.
25:31 But this season, I think before a couple of weeks ago, I saw a statistic that he'd scored
25:36 with six of his last 10 shots, which is exactly what you need going into a crunch period in
25:43 the season.
25:44 As someone who, if you can get him one-on-one with the goalkeeper or in behind, you've got
25:51 a very, very decent chance of putting them away.
25:54 He generates a lot.
25:55 I'll talk about the last two goals.
25:56 Do you want to go on?
25:57 In fact, you know what, this is your podcast, Graeme, go on.
26:01 He generates a huge amount of power from not a great deal of space or backlift.
26:07 And he's not a very big chap, but he strikes the ball incredibly hard and really sweetly
26:12 off both feet.
26:13 Now we've seen him beat goalkeepers from distance with his right and his left.
26:18 That one he swept home with his left, but I'm always quite impressed with how hard he
26:22 hits it.
26:23 Yeah, he's clearly got, he packs a punch.
26:29 I mean, I'm sure he's practiced that a lot.
26:32 Third, or was it the fourth goal for Leeds that was next in the game, wasn't it?
26:38 Somerville's second.
26:39 You like to say that that's him in his office.
26:43 That's very much his trademark strike.
26:45 Again, great work in the build-up by Junior Firpo.
26:49 The hold-up from Patrick Bamford and Jorginho Ruta.
26:54 And again, the finish is just exquisite.
26:57 There aren't too many players who have a trademark goal, who have a goal that is just so synonymous
27:04 with them.
27:05 And what's impressive is that Somerville has made this goal synonymous with him in one
27:10 season essentially, like one season of regular football.
27:13 Last season he only had 12 starts in the league.
27:17 And he didn't do this all that often.
27:19 But so many times this season, somebody needs to go and count how many of his goals have
27:25 been cutting in from left to right and find in the far corner.
27:30 I really like the goal against Borough because it felt like his route to goal was largely
27:36 blocked.
27:37 Like Borough had bodies there and yet he still manages to whip that shot past defenders,
27:43 past the keeper, into the net, gives them no chance whatsoever.
27:47 It looked like a goal.
27:48 You know when he came inside, it just looked like a goal was coming.
27:51 There's been a couple of times recently when he's gone for that.
27:55 I don't know whether it was the conviction in the strike or his positioning with regard
28:00 to defenders around him, but it didn't feel like it was coming.
28:03 But it just felt like a goal.
28:05 It was a goal all the way on Monday night.
28:08 And that ability to win the game is something that's made Somerville the player of the season.
28:17 The amount of times Leeds have relied on him for moments like that, that's probably what's
28:20 clinched him that award.
28:22 We talked about the award and the timing of it laying down a challenge for Somerville
28:27 to go and finish the season like the player of the season, like the best in the division.
28:32 And that's a great start.
28:35 Two goals and an assist is a phenomenal start to the last three games of the season.
28:41 And the celebrations said a lot, didn't they?
28:45 In the dugout, the technical area, the fans, Willy Nyonto doing his level best to break
28:51 his neck and end the season in full body traction.
28:55 I hope everyone's seen his leapfrog of Somerville that he got sensationally wrong and landed
29:03 on his head.
29:04 He was lucky he didn't land head first on the advertising boards.
29:08 If he was taller, he probably would have.
29:11 If he was three or four inches taller, we'd probably be talking about, he'd talk in quite
29:16 sombre tomes about the season ending injury for Willy Nyonto.
29:21 I'm sure he could go to Joe Gerhart and ask who his dentist is if he wanted to get his
29:27 teeth fixed.
29:29 At 4-2 up, I felt like it was done and dusted.
29:34 I felt like Leeds would hit them on the break for a fifth, but it didn't turn out that way.
29:40 You've been absolutely champing at the bit to talk about the last goal of the game.
29:44 Go on then, what would you like to say?
29:46 Do you think it was the best goal of the game?
29:48 Ooh, no.
29:50 From a difficulty perspective.
29:54 Very, very few people saw that coming, least of all Elan Melier.
30:00 Or Ethan Ampadu, who lost him, let's remember.
30:04 It was his man and he ran off Ampadu.
30:06 But I think if he tries to take that down, Ampadu has him covered.
30:10 Yeah.
30:12 It was a great moment of improvisation or a great moment of recognising your surroundings
30:22 and taking full advantage of them.
30:26 Realising Melier was completely stranded and just nodding the ball over the top of his head into the net.
30:34 If you're a Borough fan, you're absolutely delighted with a striker who can do that.
30:38 You're apoplectic that your defence and your goalkeeper have conspired to make the ending as nervy as humanly possible.
30:48 We were in palpitation territory, weren't we, once that went in.
30:52 Because it felt largely in control.
30:54 It felt like Leeds were fashioning chances.
30:58 Routier, we should definitely talk about him.
31:00 He'd made a lot of people very angry with his ball concessions.
31:04 But I felt he really came into his own.
31:06 When the game was stretched, when Borough were pouring forward and when Leeds got the ball around halfway
31:14 and had a chance to spring clear, it was his pass that put Bamford in and Bamford finished for the disallowed one.
31:20 It was his pass that put James in and then James got absolutely crunched in the penalty area with a phenomenally timed tackle.
31:26 Yeah.
31:28 And then all of a sudden it's not in control, is it?
31:32 And shots are coming in and Mellier's having to make a save, Rodon's having to make a block, Firpo's having to head one clear at the back post.
31:38 I think Farke was pleased with how they defended in the second half apart from that goal.
31:44 But it was definitely nervous. It was definitely far too nervous.
31:47 You know that early part of the second half when Leeds were inviting pressure?
31:51 It didn't actually concede a shot.
31:55 No. And that's why Farke can say it worked.
31:59 I've seen a lot of people saying it might not have worked out, it was 50-50.
32:03 I don't think Farke felt it was 50-50.
32:06 I find it fascinating that with three games to go we've seen something new from Leeds.
32:12 I don't recall them playing. It's such a pronounced low block.
32:20 Was there a period during the game against Norwich at Elland Road where they sat back and invited pressure?
32:29 Potentially. But something in the back of my head tells me that that was Norwich having a spell more so than it was Leeds folding back and sitting deep.
32:41 You might be right. But it's certainly uncharacteristic.
32:45 If it's not unique to this season, it's very, very rare that we've seen Leeds set up like that and play like that.
32:52 Yes, a lot of people were saying, "Absolutely doing their nut," and saying, "Why are we inviting pressure? They're going to score."
32:59 But I guess Farke was content that if the crosses were coming in from wide areas that they could defend them.
33:06 The difficulty with that is that I don't think Melies looked very comfortable under some of the crosses and the aerial balls.
33:14 The upside was that they weren't being played through and the chances weren't central.
33:19 They weren't really chances, were they? They were crosses and balls into the box.
33:24 But it was a fairly chanceless period until Leeds scored their fourth.
33:29 You've always got that in your locker to hit teams on the break at pace.
33:34 Was it worth it? Well, it worked. So, yes.
33:39 I'll happily hold my hands up and say that I was saying to you in the press box, "They're not going to hang on here."
33:48 They will concede just because of the way that the game had gone previously.
33:53 But ultimately, it did work. And when they did concede, it wasn't exactly because Borough were piling on pressure.
34:01 It was just a hopeful lump forward and then, as you say, improvisation.
34:07 It is interesting that we've seen something different, but I think it's a positive because you don't want your manager being too stubborn.
34:15 Or you don't want your manager being, I don't know, you want to exert control over the game.
34:22 And Leeds exerted control by ceding possession, at least in that early portion.
34:26 It sounds sort of counterintuitive to say, but they did go up the other end in a very quick vertical move and score their fourth
34:34 because of the pressure that Borough had put on and the spaces that had opened up.
34:39 Firpo was allowed to just gallop through the middle, wasn't he?
34:42 Somerville was on the shoulder of the last man when Leeds scored that fourth.
34:48 So, it did work. And I'll tell you what else.
34:52 It's incredibly gratifying that, I don't know if somebody from the YAP wrote that Leeds wouldn't face a low block at Borough in the week preceding the game
35:01 and then didn't face a low block actually and had the lowest possession share of the season
35:08 after saying that actually Leeds tend to do better when they don't have possession. Was that you?
35:14 Joe, I think even PJ Posakson would have been able to see that Borough were not going to set up in a low block.
35:23 Why would they? You know, the playoffs might be gone, but Leeds at home, you know, Michael Carrick's not going to have them sit three games to the end of the season.
35:33 They want to score some goals and win some games, don't they?
35:36 I mean, if you want to get a result against Leeds though, the blueprint was there, wasn't it, in the last three games?
35:41 Yeah, it was. So, credit to them for going their own way. And it wouldn't make any sense to me to…
35:49 If you're going to say to your players, "We want to play football. We want to score goals. We want to be attacking. We want to have control,"
35:54 it would be counterintuitive to say to them, "Right, Leeds are coming. We're going to sit in a low block at home with three games to go with nothing really riding on it for us."
36:02 It certainly wouldn't send a good message to the players or the fans. And I think that's what made it for such a good game.
36:10 And here we are then. Leeds held out three enormous points and they move on to QPR now.
36:18 And I think they're in a very, very good place compared with where they were going into Borough.
36:23 Yeah, very good place. I mean, obviously last night, we're recording this on Wednesday the 24th, two days before the QPR game.
36:32 Last night, we had Leicester versus Southampton, which was a close game up until it wasn't.
36:38 Leicester winning 5-0 in the end. Saints just looking as though they'd thrown the towel in by the second half of the second half.
36:46 And that does make it seem as though Leicester kind of are away now, given how few games there are left,
36:55 given how they do have a four-point lead on Leeds, with both teams having played 44 matches.
37:02 Scoring five goals really did help their goal difference there. And at this stage of the season,
37:08 having a four-goal swing in goal difference is almost like an extra point. Are the title hopes gone, Graham?
37:16 It's not over until it's over, but it's incredibly unlikely. I think we're looking at a battle for second place now, aren't we?
37:28 Which is fine. Do we get an open boss parade for second place? Potentially.
37:38 I think after the season that they've had, I think they deserve something.
37:42 And also the backdrop of the fans not getting the opportunity to go around the city and celebrate.
37:51 I think maybe after the season they've had, what is required is for them to find a massive open space
37:57 and everybody just to sit down in the sun and be quiet for an hour or two.
38:02 The team, the players, all just sitting there, just recovering together.
38:07 It might be more apt than everybody getting on it. I suspect I know which of the two the city will choose if Leeds do go up.
38:18 Leicester turned it on, didn't they? And Southampton couldn't handle it.
38:23 I always enjoy football maths. When people think that we beat so-and-so and so-and-so beat Team C,
38:31 so therefore we should beat Team C. It's just funny how things work out.
38:35 Leeds quite handily beaten by Southampton earlier in the season, weren't they?
38:40 And Leeds beat Leicester, but Leicester absolutely thrashed Southampton.
38:47 What does it mean, Joe? What does it all mean?
38:50 Well, I'm going to turn your attention to something I've just sent you on WhatsApp.
38:54 And it appears to be the Instagram story of one of the Leicester players,
38:59 Eunice Atkin, in the dressing room after the 5-0 win last night.
39:06 And it's got a caption and it says 'loading' and then the trophy emoji.
39:12 You've got all the players dancing around in a circle. You've got Enzo Maresca joining in.
39:18 You've got Abdel Fattahou doing a dance in the middle of the changing room.
39:24 They're not there yet, but it certainly looks as though they feel they are.
39:30 What would you make of that? If that was Leeds, for example, and they weren't mathematically up,
39:36 but it looked as though they were, and there were two games to play.
39:39 Ipswich have got three to play. Would you like that?
39:44 No. Let me just unblock you on WhatsApp and have a look at the...
39:51 Joke that you've made several times before. It's still not funny.
39:54 The video. You know where I think this comes from? I think they're too emotional.
40:01 Yeah, I think so too, yeah.
40:03 And I think that comes from the manager. I think he's up and down like a yo-yo.
40:06 I think he's just a very, very emotional character, and I think that probably is where that comes from.
40:14 It would make it tremendously amusing if they were to not.
40:19 Well, the quote tweet that I've seen is "Preston and Blackburn have the chance to do the funniest thing"
40:26 because they're less than two remaining games, which, you know what, is true.
40:31 And I'm going to nominate it tweet of the week this week from Liam Bruce,
40:36 who does appear to be a Leeds fan. So congratulations, Liam, on tweet of the week.
40:41 But yeah, I think they are there. I think 94 points is enough.
40:48 And then, you know, they probably will win.
40:51 I mean, given how Preston rolled over against Southampton, they'll probably win that.
40:55 And then obviously, last game of the season, Blackburn probably will be safe by then.
41:01 They'll not have too much to play for there.
41:04 Yeah, it could be quite processional for them, couldn't it?
41:08 And if they finish on 100 points, then you just have to take off your hat and say,
41:16 "What an incredible season," even if it felt like their world was coming to an end
41:22 and the football wasn't quite as pretty as they wanted.
41:25 You know, they have had a truly remarkable season.
41:29 All of the top three have had a fantastic season.
41:32 Southampton put together a really impressive – they're on 84 points,
41:37 and they might not even finish – well, they probably won't finish in the top three.
41:43 You know, that's remarkable. It just shows this season the standards that have been set.
41:48 Does it suggest that it's a very much two-tier league
41:52 and that the top four are miles ahead of everyone else?
41:55 Yes, but the championship is still very, very competitive,
41:59 and we've seen a lot of results go against the top teams,
42:03 enough to suggest that what they've done is still impressive.
42:07 All four of them have put together incredible records,
42:12 which have only lost six times in the league this season.
42:18 Just incredible.
42:21 Graham, that's not what anyone wants to hear when they've still got Coventry and Hull to play.
42:26 Yes, those are difficult, difficult games, both of them, aren't they?
42:32 Yes, difficult games, but again, it is not my topic to discuss the fortunes of other teams.
42:41 It's not my topic.
42:44 Yes, so discuss Leeds United then, QPR.
42:48 Actually, can I interrupt you?
42:51 Fine.
42:52 We were talking about how you think Enzo Maresca is just overly emotional,
42:58 and it's clearly not because he's a bald man, because you're emotionless.
43:02 Could it be something to do with his Italian nationality, do you think?
43:09 Because Willy Nianto appeared to be quite filled with emotion, shall we say,
43:17 as he was re-entering the dressing room after Leeds had won at Borough.
43:21 Effervescent, wasn't he?
43:23 Effervescent.
43:26 Effingvescent.
43:27 I didn't need you and your Italian heritage to translate that,
43:31 because I, as a 14-year-old boy, went on a school trip to Italy,
43:36 so I was very aware of most, if not all, the swear words to be had,
43:47 because we did a lot of research before we went on that trip.
43:52 I found that very, very amusing.
43:53 I find it even funnier that Leeds just punted it out on social media.
43:59 Yes, I think it's great.
44:00 I think whoever made the decision to put it out there should, in fact,
44:03 be rewarded and encouraged that this is exactly scenes that everybody wants to see.
44:10 If it had been Joe Rodon, right, speaking in--I suppose he could be speaking in Welsh.
44:18 Right, if it had been Sam Byrom, mild-mannered Sam Byrom,
44:28 and he had come down the tunnel effing and jeffing and effing be this
44:33 and great big C that, do you think they would have just left it and put it out?
44:40 No, absolutely not.
44:42 No, it's a shame, really, because I'd really quite like to see Sam Byrom
44:47 go on a hugely X-rated rant.
44:50 It just seems so beyond the steady, eddy character that he seems to be.
44:56 Yes, I think that win meant a lot to Leeds.
44:59 Farke said afterwards--it's funny because I asked him if he'd seen any nerves
45:03 in his team, expecting him to say, "No, nothing has changed in our mood.
45:08 We've been quite calm," and actually quite the opposite was true.
45:12 He said, "Yes, they were nervous.
45:13 They were very nervous for this game because they're young lads,
45:16 and this is uncharted territory.
45:19 Most of them haven't won something or won a promotion before
45:23 or finished something off of this magnitude with the consequences
45:27 that there are, so yes, it's weighty.
45:30 It's a very, very weighty time for them, and so that win felt particularly big.
45:36 I wonder if that's a weight off the fact that they won that one
45:41 because I wonder if that has a great big psychological effect on them now,
45:47 a big boost for QPR where they will be without Daniel James, sadly.
45:54 Yes, unfortunate injury that he sustained.
45:58 What was it?
45:59 An oblique abdominal muscle tear and costal cartilage injury.
46:03 Basically, he's ripped his abs.
46:07 Yes, he's basically been torn asunder right down the middle,
46:11 and you can actually--Rob Price can push his hand through Dan James
46:16 and out the other side in a hilarious medical room prank.
46:21 It looked--it's funny.
46:23 It looked to me and to all of Middlesbrough that Dan James was wasting time
46:29 because Leeds were actually in time-wasting territory
46:33 and had begun to do what other teams have done so often to them,
46:37 and James went down after a collision and kind of sat on the pitch
46:41 or lay on the pitch and wasn't looking too keen to get up.
46:46 And then he did get up.
46:49 He played on, but he didn't look comfortable at all.
46:52 He was kind of--
46:53 He was holding his side the entire time, wasn't he?
46:55 Yes, holding his side, favoring that area.
46:57 He went down again, sat down, and a Borough player picked him up.
47:00 I can only imagine the pain.
47:02 If you've just torn an oblique and you've ruptured your coastline
47:07 or whatever it was, then somebody grabbing you around the middle
47:11 and hauling you to your feet must have hurt so much.
47:14 The fact that he played on, though, because I imagine it's quite difficult
47:17 to breathe, you know when you pull like a little muscle in your back
47:20 and you just don't want to watch anything funny
47:22 or spend any time with your funniest friends because it's agony.
47:26 You just want to lie there.
47:27 I don't know that feeling yet.
47:28 I'm not of a certain age.
47:30 [laughs]
47:32 Neither is Dan James, and he did it.
47:35 He's still older than me.
47:37 But he played on.
47:38 He kept running.
47:40 So fair play because that says a lot.
47:45 But you could see at the full-time whistle that he was in bother,
47:48 and it wasn't good because he didn't--he sank straight to the turf.
47:51 [music]