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Patrick Bamford scored again, Sean Dyche turned incandescent with barely contained rage and much of the football was as crisp as the bitter but brilliant West Yorkshire weather.
A combination of debatable refereeing and VAR involvement added an unnecessary dyspeptic touch to an afternoon of sometimes smart and always engaged passing, movement and pressure, which saw Leeds hit the 20-point milestone and left Burnley stuck at 13. , too close to the drop zone for comfort.
Marcelo Bielsa spent 41 minutes of Christmas Eve delivering a monologue designed to explain that, after all, he did not put style above substance. Evidently beaten by a 6-2 win against Manchester United, the Leeds manager told his audience of journalists that he knew good results were imperative, but believed the best way to ensure them was to play in his cape mode and preferred sword.
The message between the lines seemed to be that Bielsa would not compromise, but even the Argentine accepts that stubbornness can only get you so far. Possibly in a rare nod to pragmatism, he duly took the precaution of offsetting a central defensive injury crisis by switching from 4-1-4-1 to 3-5-1-1, with Kalvin Phillips reverting to the sweeping role at heart. from the house behind three.
The game had barely started before that trinity’s right-hand component Luke Ayling threw a long pass in the direction of Patrick Bamford, causing Nick Pope to sprint off his line, feet first and wrap to the striker. Dyche thought, possibly with some justification, that his goalkeeper had won the ball, but Robert Jones, the referee and the VAR disagreed, leaving Bamford to send Pope the wrong way from the penalty spot. It was Bielsa’s 10th goal in 15 Premier League appearances this season and a new response to those who predicted Bamford would be out of reach in the top flight.
The Burnley manager’s mood deteriorated further when Ashley Barnes had a goal disallowed under the most contentious circumstances. Once again, he started off with a run from goalkeeper off his line, Illan Meslier, this time charging forward in an attempt to catch Ashley Westwood’s high free kick and hitting Ben Mee’s back as he jumped down the center half.
Although Ashley Barnes pounced on the loose ball and, courtesy of a flashy spin and foolproof half-volley, deposited it into the empty net, no goal was scored. To Dyche’s considerable dismay, the referee had launched a Leeds free kick for a perceived foul against Meslier before the half volley left Barnes’ foot and thus the VAR could not be deployed to rectify an apparent error by arbitration.
Again, with some justification, Dyche was adamant that Mee was the real victim and that Barnes’s “equalizer” should have been kept, but there was no way to press the reset and he was left infuriated in the technical area, leaving everyone to the task. scope of hearing certainly as to injustice.
All of this controversy detracted from an absorbing, often fairly uniform contest. While most marks of artistic merit went to a typically handsome Leeds, even if Westwood tried to address balance courtesy of a flashy second-half rabona, Barnes and Chris Wood made sure that Bielsa’s central defensive trinity never I could relax, offering them a complete workout. Kudos to Phillips, who impressed, looking far from out of position as a defensive midfielder.
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Of course, Jack Harrison probably should have scored twice after connecting with high-caliber crosses from Raphinha and Rodrigo, while Pope subsequently saved substitute Pablo Hernandez well, but Burnley improved as the game got older and they switched from 4-4 -2 to 4- 3-3.
Leeds looked increasingly tired, but while Meslier saved very well from Barnes and Westwood while substitute Jay Rodriguez missed a volley opportunity, the home team held on to the ultimately energetic kind of victory not always associated with Bielsa.
