As football considers standing still again Leeds United batter West Brom to keep moving forward - Graham Smyth's Verdict

Manchester City’s clash with Everton, a Championship fixture, seven games in League One and three in League Two had all fallen victim to COVID cases before reports of Premier League talks concerning a ‘circuit break’ emerged not long before kick-off at the Hawthorns.

The pandemic’s not-so-subtle, highly unwelcome but sadly inevitable recapturing of centre stage, evidenced by the Premier League’s highest ever tally of positive tests - 18 in the latest round - gave this game an enjoy-it-while-you-can feel.

So Leeds did just that, playing like it was the last game of their lives and rendering West Brom an irrelevance with a four-goal half-time lead.

By the full-time whistle it was 5-0, a scoreline that flattered the hosts.

Sam Allardyce had an idea of how to beat Leeds, he said beforehand, but this was not it. The Baggies didn’t lay a glove on their visitors in the opening 45 minutes, their 4-5-1 attempt to pack the middle of the park failing dismally as the Whites zipped the ball around them at pace and with ease.

The only real input from the hosts was the comical own goal that opened the floodgates, Romaine Sawyers’ attempted back pass on the turn finding the net instead of Sam Johnstone.

Two philosophies that could not have been more different were playing out and only one was working. It was never clearer than from goal-kicks, West Brom sending it, every player inside a small portion of pitch as if huddling for warmth, almost every second ball falling to a burgundy shirt.

Leeds’ restarts went short with centre-halves inside the area able to pass the ball around under no pressure, building attack after attack from back to front.

And, afforded such room, they grew in confidence and eventually grew their lead.

Gjanni Alioski started the party with a wonderful strike, running onto a loose ball and smashing it back across goal and into the far corner.

Jack Harrison had been showing the effects of two games in quick succession, his hands finding his knees as his lungs tried to find breath, but he found the energy to dart forwards, play a lovely one-two with Patrick Bamford, twist back onto his left foot and slam a shot into the top corner.

When Mateusz Klich found Rodrigo and he found the net via a deflection, Leeds had scored three in nine minutes and left an ultra-defensive side asking what now?

The answer, for Allardyce was to go to a flat back five in the second half. But Leeds refused to stop asking questions that flummoxed the Baggies. There was no let up and no mercy.

Bamford shot wide via a deflection as Bielsa’s men streamed forward in search of a fifth

Still the home side refused or were incapable of pressuring the ball with any intensity, allowing Luke Ayling, Pascal Struijk and Kalvin Phillips to pull the strings from deep.

There was one sequence of play that was as bizarre in nature as it was out of keeping with the pattern of play, a clearly struggling Klich passing the ball to Meslier and going to ground, the goalkeeper lazily playing it straight to Grady Diangana and having to redeem himself with a fine save.

Klich departed, limping a little, giving Jamie Shackleton a richly deserved half hour of Premier League action.

The academy graduate has been nothing short of trustworthy in his top-flight cameos and should Klich have to miss a game or two, Leeds have a piece that can slot straight into the puzzle.

His tidiness on the ball, understanding of where he needs to be and the pace that gets him there make him an able replacement for the present and an exciting prospect for the future.

He underlined that with a touch worthy of any midfielder, the one in a one-two with Stuart Dallas who then fed Raphinha, the winger cutting inside and curling goal number five into the top corner. It was the pick of the bunch, a goal finished with Brazilian flair, but made in Thorp Arch.

The beauty of ‘Bielsaball’ and the way Bielsa runs things at Leeds is that a Leeds-born player who came through the youth ranks can play a part alongside a player bought from a Champions League club for millions.

There were other chances after that, Bielsa sent on Pablo Hernandez to further torment a beleaguered, beaten Baggies, Bamford shot over and Ayling did too with a nice flick, but the lasting memory of this game should be that wonderful goal.

If there is to be another insufferable break from one of our only existing forms of entertainment and joy, at least Leeds went out with a bang. The problem is of course is that when the football is this good, you just don’t want it to stop.

If it comes to it, however, no one will mind looking at the Premier League table as it stands, for a week or two.

Leeds have 23 points, just three fewer than Chelsea but far more importantly, 12 more than Fulham, 15 more than West Brom and 21 more than Sheffield United.

If it all comes to a standstill again, Leeds are in good shape because they did not stand still in the summer - the additions of Raphinha and Rodrigo strengthend an already functioning attack - and have kept moving forward since their promotion.

They have responded to that beating at the hands of Manchester United and the beating they took in the media in its wake, by moving forward with two wins and two clean sheets, playing exactly the same style which was ridiculed.

Now 16 games into their first Premier League season in 16 years, Bielsa’s ‘Plan A’ looks more than good enough and Leeds look right at home.