Isn’t it great that football’s fun again?
After two drab seasons of negative tactics and discontent between club and fans, the new era is now starting to produce results to back up the promise shown in the early games.
Derby looked like a tricky fixture given the Rams’ excellent home form, but City looked confident in their system and were well worth the three points, having dominated possession. While their first goal was courtesy of a howler by the officials, so was Derby’s second, and I suspect that few neutrals would argue that the win wasn’t fully deserved.
It was a good test for this developing team to have to deal with a hostile atmosphere, particularly when they lost their lead, but they came through it with flying colours, aided by some vociferous support.
It's been a long time since I’ve been in an away section that was so loud and so engaged, particularly after half-time when the home fans were incensed by their sense of injustice, and it’s clear that the bond between players and fans is back to the levels of the Daniel Farke era.
For all the criticism of supporters since Farke left, the simple fact is that if fans are given something that they can really get behind they will do so, and that’s what we’re currently seeing.
While the win at Pride Park was impressive, Tuesday night was an even sterner challenge, against a side who had totally outclassed City in last season’s play-offs and, despite some injuries, are packed with expensive signings.
The fact that they had the luxury of leaving Patrick Bamford and Joel Piroe on the bench is an indication of the strength in depth available to Farke at Elland Road, so for City to go toe to toe with them and come out well worth a point is testament to the progress that is already being made under Johannes Hoff Thorup.
In fact, had City’s passing been better they could have got more from the game, but the final pass is still very much a work in progress, despite some excellent build-up play, in which the midfield three of Kenny McLean, Marcelino Nunez and Anis Ben Slimane were all prominent.
However, what has really stood out for me so far this season is this side’s ability to react to opposing breakaways. That has been a big problem over the last couple of years, and I well remember the Leeds winner at Carrow Road in the league last season, when Crysencio Summerville picked the ball up from a poor City free-kick and ran three quarters of the length of the field untouched to slot past Angus Gunn.
This season has been a very different story, aided by the pace and power of Jose Cordoba, but even after he was withdrawn on Tuesday, Leeds had a breakaway with a three-man overload through the centre, but a combination of Kellen Fisher’s positional sense and Nunez’s desire to track back saw it simply result in a corner.
Fisher has made a remarkable impact since taking a starting role and there is more than a hint of the young Max Aarons about his style of play, and particularly the way in which he has just come into the side but looked like an established starter.
His level of desire has been impressive, but it’s the fact that it’s been mirrored by everyone in that squad that has really excited the fans, and the noise in the second half as City players relentlessly harried their opponents was reminiscent of the latter stages of Farke’s first Championship season, and yet we are only just at the start of October. Who knows what will happen if this upward progress continues?
However, today will be another tough contest against a Hull City hitting form after a shaky start, but three points would round off an excellent week.
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