Leeds United have a job to finish, despite lack of Elland Road faithful

The Whites’ season got going again last Sunday with a 2-0 defeat at Cardiff City, but tomorrow will be the day which hammers the new realities home to many supporters.

For some it will be the first time in years, for others decades, their beloved team has played at Elland Road and they have had to stay away, but they must. Much as they will ache to be there, sharing the highs and lows with fellow fans, they will surely be even more desperate not to do anything to jeopardise Leeds’s chances of returning to the Premier League after a 16-year absence.

The players will feel it too, but coach Marcelo Bielsa says they cannot hide behind it as an excuse in a game which could either uncomfortably liven up the Championship’s automatic promotion race, or seriously damage Fulham’s chances of catching Leeds.

Saturday’s will be the first game in front of the Norman Hunter Stand, but it will be empty and joyless. The legendary defender, who died in April, will only be there in spirit.

As for the fans, 15,000 will be present in cardboard form having paid £25 each to be seen but not heard on matchday.

Bielsa has experienced most things in his distinguished managerial career but cannot remember managing behind closed doors, and acknowledges it will change the dynamic – even, he thinks, the “obligation” on the home team to set the pace.

“Playing without supporters is not the same,” he accepts, “playing at home or away without fans is also a difference. The feeling I have is the home team is not forced to win because the fans are not there but on the other hand, this match is so important both teams are going to go for the win.”

The gap between Leeds, second in the Championship, and Fulham, third this morning but fourth tonight if Brentford avoid defeat at home to leaders West Bromwich Albion, is seven points. A second straight defeat for Leeds would be game on, reducing the gap to four with seven matches to play. A second successive Fulham loss, and 10 points from seven is approaching unbridgeable.

Bielsa understands how important supporters are to the way his team plays, and hopes the authorities realise their contribution to the game too. The evidence of some largely lacklustre post-resumption football has surely underscored that.

“It would be unfair if we don’t evaluate what the fans mean for every team, even more so for a team like Leeds with fans everyone knows the characteristics of,” argues Bielsa, a footballing romantic drawn to work for passionate clubs. “But having said that, we have no excuse to say we will perform worse because the fans aren’t in the stadium.

“I can’t ignore the impact our supporters have on us but I think the necessity, the possibility and the will to win is the same. Our obligation to win is the same.

“Sometimes the people who are not there like to put a flag out to be represented in the stadium, that is a good thing to do.

“But I hope the business of football doesn’t discover it can play without fans. Technology has progressed a lot to unexpected places, maybe one possibility is that a fan could leave his place to virtual fans. That could be better economically for football but I wouldn’t like that to happen.

“Everything around football has changed a lot, not just in this period, before as well.”

At least Pablo Hernandez should be there, belatedly picking up his 2019-20 season after missing the trip to south Wales with a minor muscle injury.

“Pablo has trained with us all week,” confirmed Bielsa. “How he feels will decide if he’s going to be involved or not on Saturday.

“It wasn’t a big deal, he had a little muscular problem and recovered in 10 days. The short recovery period pointed to the problem not being serious.

“But Pablo knows his own body very well. We want to wait until Friday so he can confirm to us how he feels.”

Assuming Hernandez returns, Leeds’s only fitness concerns should be long-term absentee Adam Forshaw, and loanee Jean-Kevin Augustin, who has been following an individual training programme.

“Tyler Roberts is well, without problems,” said Bielsa, of a player who looked uncomfortable in the latter stages in Cardiff. “Everyone is healthy, the only situation we had was Pablo and Forshaw.”

Augustin was not in the 20-man squad for Leeds’s first game back after the coronavirus suspension. Since joining on loan from Leipzig in late January, he has only been in four matchday squads, playing 48 minutes. Last week Bielsa revealed the forward was following an individual training programme.

A Leeds signing taking time to adapt to Bielsa’s requirements is not unusual. Ian Poveda, who joined on loan from Manchester City at the same time, only made his debut last weekend.

“We are following what he is doing,” said Bielsa, of 23-year-old Augustin. “After, we evaluate what he is doing. After that, we make a decision (on whether he can play again this season).”

Augustin’s loan expires on Tuesday. Although Football League clubs had until June 23 to extend playing contracts due to expire at the end of the month, they can work right up to the last minute to extend loans if needed.