When opposites collide in terms of footballing style it makes for an interesting game. Tactically it felt like a game of chess last night, Marcelo Bielsa and Tony Pulis are polar opposite and both showed they can match the other in terms of cancelling them out. Would Leeds stand up physically to the power of Boro? Could Boro stop Bielsaball for 90 minutes? Yes, and yes.
When the Boro team was announced last night it didn’t take a genius to work out what was coming. Playing for fouls in wide areas, corners, throws, the lot. A back five, and that’s what it was, of staggering physical ability and power. George Friend and Ryan Shotton, full-backs, not wing backs. The central three of Fry, Ayala and of course the biggest of the lot Aden Flint. Up against Kemar Roofe, Gjanni Alioski and Jack Harrison, backed up by Samu Saiz, could it be more contrasting?
Leeds and Boro went into war from the off. How the players kept their heads in that atmosphere is beyond me, but most did throughout. Barry Douglas, Adam Clayton and Mo Besic all put in big tackles of note, Gaetano Berardi, Daniel Ayala, Luke Ayling and Aden Flint went into battle at every set-piece and Baily Peacock-Farrell showed that all the nightmare goalkeeping situations we’ve had have come to an abrupt end, he held his own.
In the middle Mateusz Klich and Samu Saiz have roles that mean they are all over, they aren’t always in the middle of the park, they drag players around and last night was no different. That leaves a huge hole in the middle of the pitch, a hole that Kalvin Phillips is expected to navigate and patrol, and he did it emphatically given the opposition. Jonny Howson, Adam Clayton and Mo Besic, the most experienced central three you’ll see at Elland Road all season, and a top-end Championship midfield, and Phillips took them all on.
He didn’t outplay the three, but he found room to get on the ball and he chased them down, barged them off the ball and got his tackles in throughout. For me you couldn’t have asked more of Phillips off the ball last night. Every player put in a shift, even those who didn’t play well but Phillips led the fight. When Ayala went back to his old tricks in the box Phillips squared him up and gave him a mouthful, and that was exactly what was required last night.
I couldn’t watch Tony Pulis football every week, well I would struggle to enjoy it that’s for sure, bit I respect what he does, as Marcelo Bielsa pointed out before the game. I’ll have Bielsaball all day long.
