Leeds were playing well, certainly better than Bournemouth for the first 30 minutes until James Trafford committed his grievous error. The goalkeeper made a horrible mess of a pass to an unwitting Ao Tanaka. In stole Justin Kluivert to set up Evanilson for a fifth goal in six matches.
Where Leeds’s confidence sagged, Evanilson continued to find the best form of his time on the south coast. The continued rise of Bournemouth, celebrating a sixth successive win, is testament to changing times, thoroughly modern football scoring 16 unanswered goals in those victories. They are now matching the standards of Andoni Iraola’s regime.
Trafford fell victim to a determination to chase everything down as Leeds followed three former European champions in Milan, Manchester United and Aston Villa in submission to the swarm. Eli Junior Kroupi supplying Amine Adli for the stoppage-time goal that confirmed victory was the latest example of a club finding players others cannot reach. For Leeds, there is no need to press any panic buttons.
Talking of panic, recent transfer speculation has linked Dominic Calvert-Lewin with Manchester United. The striker’s career revived in West Yorkshire, he is surely too sensible to join Eric Cantona, Rio Ferdinand, Gordon McQueen and Joe Jordan in crossing the Pennines to join English football’s elephants’ graveyard. Leeds remain a different model to the analytics-led disruptors, but with serviceable, solid recruitment.
At Bournemouth, promising beginnings, solid foundations were not built upon. Tyler Adams, booed by away fans for the manner of his departure from Leeds, was a reminder of the 2022-23 relegation season. Within that promising early spell, Leeds’s defence broke up Bournemouth’s three-match sequence of scoring in the first eight minutes at home.
That laid a platform for Calvert-Lewin to get the ball in the net, converting a cross from James Justin. Celebrations were soon curtailed. An inadvertent rebound off the striker’s biceps as he bundled home called the video assistant referee into play.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
