'I try to be calm' - Pablo Hernandez has good advice for dream-chasing Leeds United

“I try to be calm,” said the player whose composure, vision and technical skill made Saturday’s game against a Fulham a far more relaxing affair than it was prior to his arrival at half-time.

Hernandez gave Leeds time on the ball, which was priceless given their struggle to deal with the Fulham press and the pattern of the match prior to the interval.

He gave them quality too, his first-time curling pass over the top of defenders and into the path of Jack Harrison was another addition to an ever-growing Hernandez Elland Road highlight reel.

To be able to do so in a match of such high stakes, says a lot about his outlook on football at this time of year.

“Obviously when you know you need to win games to achieve your goal maybe some people put some pressure on themselves.

“I try to transmit calm around me to the players because we need to do the same thing we’ve done in the past in the last games, nothing different.

“I try to be calm, obviously these are important moments we’re in now, we know, but we need to face the games like the other ones.”

Hernandez, say his team-mates, is not a man of many words but when he speaks he is listened to.

His four years at Leeds, the nutmegs, double nutmegs, sliderule through balls and goals mark him out as a key player.

But his attitude to hard work and his standards in training make him a leader.

Last week in The YEP, sports psychotherapist and Leeds fan Gary Bloom put forward the theory that Bielsa’s team would need individuals to step up and provide energy, to compensate for the lack of supporters in the stadium.

Hernandez did just that, with each deft swing of his boot that caressed the ball towards its intended target.

When a member of your team is doing everything you need him to do, with a minimum of fuss, and the opposition appear powerless to stop him, there is positive energy to be harvested in abundance.

Leeds, with the 35-year-old in irresistible form, were supercharged but, crucially, controlled – it was Fulham, after all, who finished the match with 10 men.

And that is how they must be every time they play until the end of the season, with or without Hernandez because, as he himself admits as he manages a hamstring issue, he isn’t always going to play.

His mere presence in the dressing room and in the matchday squad might be enough to settle the nerves and gird the loins of the whole club, fanbase included, now that the crunch game with Fulham has been won.

Off the pitch, Hernandez has a reassuring way with words, even in his second language.

Everything he says about the promotion run-in is logical and difficult to argue against.

These next seven games, starting with Luton Town tonight, are all difficult, they are all important, but they are games of football.

And Leeds know how to win games of football.

Hernandez certainly talks like a man with his head fully wrapped around the situation and what it requires.

He believes everyone at Thorp Arch is on the same page, however, thanks in part to the heartache they experienced together last season.

“I think it’s a little different [this season],” he said.

“We learned a lot from last year. This year we manage the situation better. I always say in the bad moments you need to take positive things, we took the positive things from last year and we need to put these things in this year to take advantage.

“The group, the players, the staff have managed this very well until now.

“We are together to achieve the goal and we know it’s an unbelievable chance for us.

“Everybody is 100 per cent focused, excited to play, to help the team. We are in the right way.”

If Leeds continue on ‘the right way’ then Hernandez will achieve his dream and realise the culmination of four years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears.

He has, undoubtedly, fallen in love with a club that adores him back but a place in history, not just hearts, could be his.

“I am very happy from the first day here in Leeds,” he said.

“When I came four years ago I knew I was coming to a big club, I knew some things about Leeds, like when they played Valencia in the Champions League semi-final.

“When I arrived I was surprised, it was bigger than I thought.

“Going to the Premier League with this club, if we achieve this, it’s the best trophy for me in my career.

“If I could play in the Premier League with Leeds it is a dream.

“I try to put in 100 per cent every day to help the team with this goal.

“We are close to achieving our target but we need to continue working, fighting to win points to achieve the goal of the Premier League.”

If his dream comes true and Leeds do it, calm might not be felt for some time.