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Kalvin Phillips may curse his luck for being Leeds’ best player and being the unfortunate one whose deflection ensured that Raúl Jiménez’s shot resolved this contest and allowed the Wolves to move from 15th to 6th place in the Premier League.
All in all, Nuno Espírito Santo’s team deserved the victory, having changed the initial dominance of their opponent, which they did so convincingly after the break. A satisfied Wolves coach said: “It was a good performance with some areas to improve. We were better in the second half, but at the beginning it was very difficult for us ”.
Marcelo Bielsa’s verdict on the defeat was contradictory. “I don’t think they were better than us, but they neutralized our game better,” said the Leeds manager, these last words summing up why the Wolves took the points.
Bielsa was forced to make a late switch with Pascal Struijk in place of captain Liam Cooper after the warm-up. “I have no information [regarding how serious]”Said the manager.
In Leeds’ early dominance, Helder Costa caused the Wolves all kinds of trouble on the right. Rodrigo firmly headed a cross and, although misdirected, no visiting defender challenged the forward. Then a landslide play that featured Jack Harrison, Patrick Bamford and Rodrigo moved Leeds into the Wolves’ area, the latter placing Costa whose shot was deflected.
This prompted the maroon-shirted visitors to capture the mood in a sequence where Nuno’s men rushed the ball until Maximilian Kilman tried to emulate Rodrigo’s defense divider, but hit badly. One more sign that the Wolves ended the contest sent Neto running to the right, and Leeds stretched out precisely where they didn’t want to.
After a hiatus, the competition reawakened: Luke Ayling’s attempt slid across the grass and Kilman stabbed him. Then Neto once again forced trouble for the Lobos and won them a rare corner, as as boxers the teams traded blows. Joâo Moutinho pinged from the right quadrant and the unmarked Jiménez rejected a golden opportunity to score. Patrick Bamford was soon guilty of the same charge: Harrison’s ball found number 9 with the goal open, but missed. And, at halftime, Illan Meslier made a first save, beating Daniel Podence’s 10-yard shot.
Leeds began the second half with Phillips continuing his lead orchestrator act, finding Harrison on the left, before a free throw was claimed that No. 23 entered. But this did not threaten and Wolves responded.
A counterattack by Neves-Podence sent Leeds back down and, a little later, Romain Saïss’ shot beat Meslier before VAR canceled it due to Podence being slightly offside before receiving on the right of Conor Coady. David Coote, the referee, was the VAR. official who controversially missed Jordan Pickford’s challenge to Virgil van Dijk in the weekend’s Everton-Liverpool draw which caused the latter a serious knee injury. Coote also ruled that Jordan Henderson’s last strike was offside, back to some dispute.
Here technology came to Coote’s aid. As Nuno said: “There was a proposal from Arsène Wenger [Fifa head of global development] for offside daylight, the VAR has good margins and we want them to make good decisions. It is a challenge for the referees to improve, be better, be faster and let the game flow ”.
Podence’s growing influence forced him to force Meslier to make a strong second save, though the resulting corner was a disappointment: Ruben Neves’ touch lacked poise.
The wolves began to dominate as the middle progressed. Neves ran through the Leeds area and only one slip prevented him from unloading a shot.
Leeds had lost the rhythm that had bewitched the Wolves before the break. The previously incisive Phillips came down to hitting a dead ball from the side and when the midfielder returned this time he went backwards towards Meslier. Still, the home team stayed on terms. It took a flash of inspiration, a moment to elevate one of the protagonists to a winning position. Instead, Phillips’ misfortune gave the Wolves an advantage they clung to despite a late recovery from Leeds, which should feel like they allowed this match to slip.
