Leeds United and Kalvin Phillips show they are ready to battle way out of Premier League trouble

Marcelo Bielsa’s side were far from free-flowing and exhilarating against Crystal Palace. It was far removed from their joyous efforts of last season which wowed neutrals across the land and not just their own supporters.

But in a decidedly difficult moment, character, togetherness and a willingness to run and fight for each other, which are priceless commodities when you reside at the wrong end of a division, were evident. It showed that Leeds are up for a scrap and have a bit of steel to go with the silk.

A vital 1-0 victory felt like a seismic evening in United’s season from a psychological perspective.

It could very easily have gone another way had one or two late chances to Christian Benteke struck the back of the net before the most dramatic of denouements after Marc Guehi was penalised for handball and Raphinha converted from the spot in the third minute of stoppage time as Elland Road held its breath.

The explosion of relief at the final whistle was self-evident and, as a Leeds United fan, Kalvin Phillips felt it was as good a time as any to now go and get something off his chest and dispel some rumours. It was as timely as one of his passes.

The grapevine had been awash with suggestions that the England international was unhappy at Bielsa recently electing to play him in defence as opposed to his usual midfield position.

It was not helped by some comments from TV pundit Jamie Redknapp, who suggested that something was not right in the relationship of head coach and key player.

Phillips crunched that talk as emphatically as he challenged Palace rival Conor Gallagher with a hard, but fair tackle to set the tone early on Tuesday.

It set the pulses racing among Leeds fans and his words afterwards were also defiant.

He said: “Listen, I will play in any position that the manager asks me. If he asks me to play centre-back, I will play centre-back, if he asks me to play goalkeeper, I will play goalkeeper. As long as I am playing, I am not bothered.

“There’s been a lot of talk about me and the manager falling out, but there has never been such a thing. I respect him so much, I’d never fall out with him.

“When people are saying that, you kind of get the fans thinking something is not right. But that is not the case. I just want to put that one to bed.

“I feel like I needed to, to be honest. I saw a lot of things on social media and television saying me and the manager had a falling-out, but that has never been the case.”

Phillips remains – and always will be – a vital cog in Bielsa’s Leeds side and the player who lined up next to him in central midfield in Adam Forshaw continued to provide conclusive evidence that he is the best option to operate next to him.

Forshaw’s story of renassiance has been a stand-out one in a hard season for Leeds and Bielsa is full of admiration for his redemption after being in the injury wilderness for the best part of three years.

On the former Middlesbrough player, who was again in top form against Palace, Bielsa commented: “I was very, very impressed with him. To be fair and sincere, I did not expect him to come back to who he was before.

“To have achieved it in a succession of games deserves to be valued by those who helped him get healthy.”

The performance of those in white jerseys across the pitch, while by no means collectively dazzling, possessed industry and honesty if not necessarily quality over the course of the piece.

Sometimes seeing that other side of the game – the ugly side – when things are hard and players are prepared to selflessly run for the cause is just as revealing.

They were appreciated by Bielsa, who earmarked praise in that direction for Tyler Roberts, whose efforts were unstinting in that regard.

The Argentine continued: “It was important. He did not ever stop fighting. He kept our team alive and present and I didn’t imagine he could run as he did throughout 90 minutes. It was a performance that allowed him to show he was an option.”

Leeds, meanwhile, have condemned homophobic chanting directed at Crystal Palace’s on-loan Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher. England international Gallagher was subjected to taunts of “Chelsea rent boy” during the first half.

The game had promoted the Premier League’s Rainbow Laces campaign against homophobia.

A club spokesperson said: “Overall the support from Leeds United supporters was magnificent. Once again the fans got behind the team and played a huge part in pushing the players on to get the late winner.

“However, we are aware of a homophobic chant directed at a Crystal Palace player and we want to be very clear that this is unacceptable.”