Following Leeds United’s 5-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday, former England women’s team stalwart Karen Carney claimed the North Yorkshire side, promoted to the Premier League this season, could have benefited from the COVID-break. 19 that helped the players recharge. Leeds plays a high pressure game that saps energy.
However, the club did not like Carney’s opinion. His social media team took an 18-second clip of his comments and uploaded it to his Twitter account, reaching out to keep his face as the central image, adding the caption: “’Promoted by Covid.’ Won the league by 10 points. “
The post sparked an avalanche of online trolls insulting Carney. The comments were mostly sexist in nature and questioned the 144-game starter’s reading of the game for England.
Carney ended up deleting his Twitter account on Friday.
🤔 “Promoted due to Covid”
🙂 Won the league by 10 points
👋 Hello @primevideosport pic.twitter.com/Ctz18sksZA– Leeds United (@LUFC) December 29, 2020
The analysis
During the post-match analysis for the Amazon Prime Sport coverage, Carney was asked about Leeds United’s high-pressure game.
“(Leeds) leaves everyone behind and gives them credit. My only concern would be: would they explode at the end of the season? We saw that in the last few seasons and I think they were promoted by Covid in terms of it giving them a little breathing space. I don’t know if they would have gone up (to the Premier League) if they hadn’t had that break.
Carney’s thoughts were based on the tactics of coach Marcelo Biesla, nicknamed ‘Biesla Ball’. It is a direct attack game, at a high rate, maintaining possession of the ball.
The style of play
There have been cases in the past where the style of the veteran Argentine coach has resulted in a quick and fruitful start to a campaign, but has led to a slump towards the end. It happened when he was coach of Olympique de Marseille in the 2014-15 season.
Similarly, in his first season (2018-19) in charge of Leeds United, in the English Championship (2nd division), his team was in the lead until matchday 32 (out of 46) and then dropped to third. This meant that Leeds had to compete against Derby County in a playoff to win the promotion, which they lost.
As for the 2019-20 season, Bielsa’s team got off to a stronger start and led on March 7, before the season was brought to a halt by the pandemic. They briefly dropped to second place after losing their opener on June 21 after the game was resumed, but then they followed an eight-game unbeaten streak, ending with six straight wins and winning the title by 10 points.
Trolling
Trolls targeting Carney challenged her legitimacy as an expert, despite the fact that the former Chelsea and Arsenal player had won 144 games for England and was part of the national team that reached the semi-final of two consecutive World Cups, finishing third in 2015. More However, the abuse was sexist in nature. “Go back to the kitchen” or “put down the microphone and (her) go home, there are dishes to wash and clothes to iron” were some of the kindest messages.
I take responsibility for the Club’s tweet. I consider that comment to be completely unnecessary and disrespectful to our Club and, in particular, to the fantastic work of our players and coaches, who were understanding on the field during the last two seasons of the championship by all statistics.
– Andrea Radrizzani (@andrearadri) December 29, 2020
Leeds stand
Following criticism, the club’s owner, Andrea Radrizzani, posted a message of support for the team’s post calling Carney.
He tweeted: “I take responsibility for the Club’s tweet. I consider that comment to be completely unnecessary and disrespectful to our Club and, in particular, to the fantastic hard work of our players and coaches who were understanding on the field during the last two seasons of the championship by all statistics. “
On Wednesday, however, the club backtracked a bit and released a statement condemning the abuse Carney had been receiving. However, the video has not been removed.
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