Leeds United 1-4 Tottenham: Sam Allardyce's side relegated
Leeds United 1-4 Tottenham: Sam Allardyce’s side are RELEGATED from the Premier League with a whimper as Harry Kane strikes twice to seal their fate
- Leeds United dropped down into the Championship without much fight
- Sam Allardyce was unable to complete a great escape as Tottenham won 4-1
- Harry Kane scored twice, with Pedro Porro and Lucas Moura also on target
Next to the doorway of the Elland Road Café and Sandwich Bar, across the road from the stadium, an image has been stencilled on the wall.
It depicts a bespectacled middle-aged man in a track-suit, his hands behind his back, watching something intently. It is, unmistakably, Marcelo Bielsa.
Bielsa was sacked as Leeds United manager on February 27th last year but Leeds have never been able to let him go. They have never been able to move on.
Bielsa represented something pure and visceral and exciting and everything that has followed has been confused and bland.
Under Bielsa, Leeds had the most vivid identity in the Premier League. Now they have no identity at all, apart from a club that has lost its identity.
Leeds United were relegated from the Premier League after a 4-1 home loss to Tottenham
Leeds went down with a whimper at Elland Road as the fans turned on the players
Brenden Aaronson slumps to the turf after Leeds saw their relegation confirmed
Sam Allardyce was parachuted in but wasn’t able to save Leeds from the drop
They have been a confused mess for some months now and when they were relegated on Sunday afternoon, there was an overwhelming feeling it had been a long time coming.
Bielsa finally took another job earlier this month when he was appointed the manager of Uruguay but his presence is still everywhere here.
The fans sang his name over and over again in the closing stages that was part tribute and part lament. Maybe relegation will be the shock the club needs to realise it is back at square one.
If Everton and Leicester City fought to the end to avoid relegation in their respective matches, Leeds went down with a whimper.
Late in their 4-1 defeat to Spurs, when a home supporter ran on to the pitch and angrily tried to resist stewards’ attempts to restrain him, the fans used him to send a message to the players. ‘He showed more fight than you,’ they sang.
In the fifth minute of time added on at the end of the game, Lucas Moura, playing his last game for Spurs, was allowed to run from the half way line past most of the Leeds team without facing a challenge. He waltzed into the penalty area as if he were on an afternoon stroll and poked the ball past Robles.
Where was the fight? If Leeds’ latest panic appointment, Sam Allardyce, was supposed to have brought anything, it was that, surely.
But there was very little fight from Leeds and very little quality, too. Big Sam had promised a Big Sam Samba if they stayed up but this was no time for a dance.
An angry Leeds fan who’d invaded the pitch is carried away by stewards and security
The anger at Leeds’ relegation boiled over as fans invaded the pitch during the second-half
Leeds fans scramble to get onto the pitch as tensions and tempers spilled over at the end
Leeds gained one point from Allardyce’s four games in charge. The desperate gamble on appointing him for the last four games of the season failed miserably.
The reality of this game was that Leeds were outclassed by a Spurs side that has had a dreadful season and particularly by Harry Kane, who scored his 29th and 30th league goals of another outstanding individual campaign.
There is still speculation this might have been Kane’s last game for Tottenham. If that turns out to be the case, it was a fine farewell.
Leeds are unlikely to face the same vicious reckoning that fell upon them when they were last relegated in 2004. They were exiled from the top division for 16 years until Bielsa led them back up but even if their prospects are better now, they are still beset by uncertainty.
The US investment company behind the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers were thought to be ready to complete a £450m buy-out of current owner Andrea Radrizzani if Leeds had stayed up. Now, it is thought they will only be willing to pay around £150m.
Leeds fans hold up a banner praising former manager Marcelo Bielsa in the stands
Harry Kane celebrates scoring Tottenham’s opening goal of the contest after two minutes
That is quite a hit for Radrizzani to take but the mood against him soured quickly inside the stadium as relegation was confirmed. ‘Sell the club and **** off home,’ rang around the ground. Radrizzani may not be minded to hang around for too much longer.
Leeds need a new manager, a new owner, new players and new direction. Well, they need some direction at least. They have not had any since Bielsa left and they have paid the price. They need a rebuild of the club from top to bottom.
Leeds had not even started the game well. Instead of roaring out of the blocks, charging into tackles and projecting the positive energy the home crowd were hoping for, they looked timid. Weston McKennie gave the ball away carelessly with almost the first pass of the game. They looked sloppy, not sharp.
Spurs were ahead inside two minutes. Emerson Royal drifted a ball forward with the outside of his right foot and when Pascal Struijk admired it aimlessly, Pedro Porro darted in front of him and got to the ball first.
Kane sweeps the ball home to give Leeds the worst possible start in their relegation decider
England striker Kane tests the Leeds defence again as Tottenham searched for more goals
Porro played it inside to Son Heung-Min and Son moved it on further to the left to where Kane was waiting. Kane did not even take a touch, even though he had more than enough time. He just swept the ball past Joel Robles into the corner of the net.
Leeds should have equalised five minutes later. Jack Harrison, one of a dwindling number of Leeds’ better players, curled a brilliant ball into the heart of the box and Robin Koch, who was unmarked, flung himself at it.
He was only six yards out. He had to score. But he mistimed the header and it dribbled harmlessly wide. Not for the first time on this Sunday afternoon, Allardyce prepared to celebrate and then clasped his head in his hands in despair.
Leeds tried their best but it was hard to escape the conclusion that their best is nowhere near good enough for this division any more. When Dejan Kulusevski turned away from Max Wober in midfield, Wober looked like he was walking in treacle. The Leeds defender has the turning circle of a super tanker. All he could do was haul Kulusevski down and take the yellow.
One hundred miles down the M1 to the south, Leicester took the lead against West Ham but it seemed immaterial. If Leeds had been winning, it would have been a hammer blow. But it felt as if hope had already been extinguished.
Pedro Porro celebrates after doubling Tottenham’s lead shortly after the interval
Leeds’ Rasmus Kristensen rues a missed opportunity as they sought a route back
Harry Kane grabbed his second and Spurs’ third just moments after Jack Harrison replied
Lucas Moura rounded off Tottenham’s win by scoring a late fourth goal
That feeling became reality two minutes after the interval. Kane lobbed the ball over Liam Cooper on the half way line and wriggled away from him. He looked up and tried to curl a ball to Porro but it went straight to Struijk.
Struijk tried to control it but somehow he let it roll over his foot and into the path of Porro. Porro took the ball on a couple of steps and then lashed his shot across Robles and into the far corner.
Disillusion set in quickly among the home support now. The mood began to turn ugly. ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt,’ pockets of Leeds fans sang. Others turned on the club’s board. ‘Sack the board, sack the board, sack the board,’ they sang.
Leeds got one back midway through the half but by then Leicester had scored again and Everton had taken the lead at Goodison. As if to emphasise the hopelessness of the situation, Spurs scored a third a minute later when Porro broke from defence, Son’s run dragged Leeds’ defence out of shape and Kane stroked a simple finish past Robles.
It was left to Moura to administer the coup de grace with his wonderful solo finish although the goal said as much about Leeds’ deficiencies as his brilliance. It was a fine end to a dreadful season for Spurs. Leeds were denied even that consolation as the Championship beckons the club back into its cold embrace.
Match facts and ratings
Leeds (5-2-3): Robles 5; Ayling 5, Kristensen 5, Cooper 4.5, Wober 4.5 (Firpo 60, 5), Struijk 4 (Aaronson 59, 5); Forshaw 5, Koch 4.5; McKennie 4 (Rutter 60, 5), Rodrigo 5, Harrison 6 (Gnonto 88).
Subs not used: Meslier, Roca, Summerville, Greenwood, Chilokoa-Mullen.
Scorer: Harrison 67
Booked: Cooper, Wober, Struijk
Manager: Sam Allardyce – 5
Tottenham (5-2-3): Forster 6; Porro 7.5 (Moura 90+1), Royal 6.5, Sanchez 7, Lenglet 6, Davies 6; Skipp 6.5 (Abbott 90+1), Bissouma 6.5 (Craig 77, 6); Kulusevski 6.5 (Sarr 67, 6), Kane 8.5, Son 7.5 (Richarlison 76, 6.5).
Subs not used: Austin, Danjuma, Tanganga, Alonso.
Scorers: Kane 2, Porro 47, Kane 69, Moura 90+5.
Manager: Ryan Mason – 6.5
Referee: Anthomy Taylor – 6.5
Man of the Match: Harry Kane
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