Leeds 0 Tottenham 4: Kane and Son break all-time Prem combination record with Marcelo Bielsa now under mounting pressure
ANTONIO CONTE could head for dinner with a spring in his step while Marcelo Bielsa merely slid further down the table.
A five-star feast for one of them, but a result – and performance – painfully hard to stomach for the other.
Four clinically crafted, but woefully leaked, goals for Tottenham and the points in the bag before we had even reached the half hour.
And for Leeds, yet another caning that left manager Bielsa looking every one of his 66 years.
For Spurs counterpart Conte, though, no such worries. The smile had replaced the scowl and he was licking his lips, rather than baring his teeth, at the battle for fourth place.
After a midweek meltdown following defeat to Burnley, Conte admitted he is a shocking loser who no-one would invite to dinner when the result hasn’t gone his way.
Well it’s safe to say that after this he would have been the perfect company. If only he could play Leeds every week, he’d be the happiest Italian in town.
What a contrast, then, to Bielsa, rated the best in the business by the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, but increasingly looking like a man on football’s death row.
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And the worst thing of all for the Leeds gaffer and all those Elland Road supporters?
Well if the defeat itself wasn’t bad enough, the performance at times was frankly pitiful. Errors might be acceptable, but effort – or lack of it – is non-negotiable.
And there were occasions when could certainly put a gun to certain heads wearing white shirts on that score. Until it was all too late, at least.
Goals from Matt Doherty – his first for the club – Dejan Kulusevski and Harry Kane had the points in the bag long before half-time.
Son Heung-min simply rubbed salt in the wound when he set a new Premier League record alongside Kane - the pair have now combined for 37 league goals.
Ten minutes was all it took before Spurs had sliced Leeds apart for the first, yet far from last, occasion, started in the middle of the pitch by Harry Winks’ neat ball to Ryan Sessegnon.
The Spurs wing back whipped in the most delightful and devastating of crosses and Doherty produced the most clinical of side footed far post finishes.
Just over five minutes later and the lead was doubled – and Leeds couldn’t have done more to usher Spurs through than if they’d all held “this way to goal” banners.
Kulusevski was pinned in at corner flag, with nowhere to go and no-one to pass to. A simple enough situation, surely, for a defender like Junior Firpo, once of Barcelona, to handle.
But first Firpo allowed the Swede to find Doherty, then did nothing to stop the return ball – any more than Diego Llorente did in letting him come inside.
Luke Ayling was never remotely close to getting in a challenge, as Kulusevki’s impressive strike was the direct opposite to those laughable attempts at defending.
On the touchline the squatting Bielsa simply stared at the ground. Probably wishing it would open up, to be honest.
Rather like his backline was doing every time Spurs went forward. And exactly like it did for a third time on 27 minutes, when it really was game over.
Admittedly Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s ball over Llorente was magnificent, although the Leeds centre back had shown he could do a good job of making himself look daft regardless.
But what a marvellously improvised finish it got from Harry Kane, jabbing out a foot to volley across Ilan Meslier and into the far corner.
So Spurs out of sight, Conte on cloud nine…and a Leeds backline with more holes than Jack Duckworth’s vest.
One point from the last six games for the Yorkshiremen, and a staggering 21 goals conceded in that time. And a Premier League worst of 60 this season.
Too good to go down? Don’t believe that for one second. Right now there isn’t a worse team in the Premier League.
Bielsa reckons it has reached the stage where his players are starting to lose belief in him. Well unless they rediscover it pretty sharpish, they’ll be back in the Championship.
Even when Spurs had their own little rush of blood – or at least keeper Hugo Lloris did, in racing from his goal – Leeds couldn’t stick it in an unguarded net.
Lloris had dashed 30 yards to deny Stuart Dallas, yet only struck his clearance against the white-shirted midfielder.
The chance of a facesaver at least. Or it would have been if Dallas had got his shot away before Ben Davies got back to block…and all that with an unmarked Rodrigo waiting.
For his part, Rodrigo took out his frustrations on Kane, crudely lashing out and earning a yellow card for hacking down the England skipper. He was lucky it was no more than that.
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Kane’s revenge came with a magnificent long ball that brought an equally impressive control and finish by strike pal Son.
I guess that means the pasta’s on you, then, Antonio?
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