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Match report: Life after Gus is nothing to fear for Leeds United
Leeds United's post-match huddle has become symbolic of the collective mood which is breeding inside Elland Road this season.
In the aftermath of what threatened to be their biggest victory of the campaign on Saturday – and what should, in the circumstances, be seen as their most satisfying – the habitual gathering lacked its usual euphoria. It appeared as if something, or someone, was missing.
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The absentee was Gustavo Poyet, who it seems has taken his seat in United's dugout for the final time as the their assistant manager.
The Uruguayan was still to confirm his departure to Tottenham Hotspur this morning, but the crisis at White Hart Lane is such that Spurs' offer to Poyet will be beyond his refusal.
* Click here to have your say on who you think should replace Gus Poyet as the club's assistant first team coach.
Dennis Wise knows, as he must have known on Friday, that their professional partnership is at an end.
It is not a scenario that Wise would have envisaged this time last week, nor a development that aids the order and continuity that he has established at Elland Road.
But United are that type of club, and if Wise has not learned already to predict the unpredictable then he never will.
Poyet's departure seems like a problem. Wise, in reality, has dealt with far worse.
The instruction to his players in the minutes before kick-off on Saturday will have been to avoid missing a step.
Poyet was purposefully absent from both the touchline and from Elland Road, a decision intended to minimise the attention on the doubt surrounding his position, and United's response was masterful.
As they sat on a 4-0 lead with half-an-hour remaining, it was worth remembering that the whole of a club should always be greater than the sum of its individual parts.
With or without Poyet Leeds are now in a position to decimate League One.
Saturday's win moved Wise's players into the play-off positions for the first time this season, and next weekend's visit to leaders Carlisle United is another opportunity to creep towards the summit of the table.
It is likely that, by the end of November, they will be there or thereabouts.
United are not infinitely superior to the rest of the division, but the gulf created by both results and momentum is tangible.
Wise's line-up was below full-strength on Saturday, and the speculation surrounding Poyet did not lend itself to calm preparation.
The fact that Radostin Kishishev had strained his hamstring in Leeds' final training session on Friday complicated an awkward situation.
It may, on reflection, have been the best opportunity so far for an opposing team to damage United's unbeaten league record, but Millwall were throttled by three goals inside six minutes soon after half-time.
In the most difficult of circumstances, the victory provided enormous satisfaction; Poyet, it must be said, was barely missed.
Millwall competed gamely for the first half-hour, but once David Prutton opened the scoring with a screaming finish in the 37th minute, the result was a formality.
The visitors imploded in a manner which does not bode well for the remainder of their season, and caretaker manager Richard Shaw will have a hard job of making the position his on a permanent basis if future results follow suit.
Two late replies softened the scoreline, but Leeds were coasting to the finishing line by the time Ahmet Brkovic reduced their lead to two goals with 14 minutes remaining.
As if to demonstrate how reluctant he was to dwell on Poyet's departure, Wise's reaction in the dressing room afterwards was to criticise his players for their late concessions.
United's manager pays close attention to detail, but when Jonathan Douglas established their four-goal advantage in the 60th minute, United's performance was beginning to border on perfection.
The Republic of Ireland international delivered his most effective display of the season and was rewarded with two opportunist, but clinical, goals in the space of only three minutes.
Douglas struck once with a shot on the turn and again with a low free-kick, taking advantage as Millwall's composure deserted them.
Had Leeds not settled for their commanding lead and allowed Shaw's side back into the game, the visitors would have endured a horrible run to the final whistle. Still, highlighting United's failure to protect a clean sheet seemed like picking fault for the sake of it.
Without Alan Thompson and Andrew Hughes, and then deprived of Kishishev, Wise had turned to Ian Westlake to fill the vacancy alongside Douglas in the centre of midfield, and an unfamiliar partnership underpinned a comfortable victory once Millwall's threat had been extinguished.
The visitors had the ball in the net in the third minute after Will Hoskins finished off a quick exchange involving Gary Alexander, but Leeds were bailed out by an offside flag, and once Danny Senda had guided a measured lob a foot beyond Casper Ankergren's post, United began to exert themselves.
Jermaine Beckford pulled a left-foot shot wide of Millwall's goal, and Tresor Kandol failed to trouble goalkeeper Lenny Pidgeley with a free header from Frazer Richardson's cross which was begging to be finished.
Prutton, however, proved more exact with the searing strike which brought the opening goal after 36 minutes.
Sebastien Carole lost Senda on the left wing with a clever piece of skill and whipped the ball into Millwall's box. Shaw's weak header fell to the feet of Prutton, who took a touch to control the ball before driving a rising shot from 10 yards into the top corner of Pidgeley's net.
Millwall's keeper came under immediate pressure and was forced to beat away a shot from Douglas at the foot of his right-hand post five minutes before the break, but having excelled himself once Pidgeley was guilty of gifting Leeds their second goal in the 53rd minute.
The former Chelsea trainee drilled a straightforward clearance against Kandol, and was helpless to prevent Beckford from running the rebound into an empty net.
The floodgates opened quickly, and two rapid finishes from Douglas put the result beyond doubt with an hour on the clock.
Millwall's willingness to struggle on spoke highly of their attitude, and Hoskins reduced the lead with an easy finish in the 65th minute after Jay Simpson's run had opened up Wise's defence. Brkovic then guided home a glorious glancing header which dipped into the net at Ankergren's far post, but the goal served to shake Leeds from their temporary slumber and ensure a quiet finish.
After the week that was, Wise would not have welcomed another nasty surprise.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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