Nothing beautiful about Leeds United’s first game back

For all the strange new rituals, the absence of noise and supporters, some things remained disappointingly familiar for Whites.

The Championship restart got off to the best possible start with Saturday’s results – Fulham losing to Brentford and West Brom being held by Birmingham teed it up nicely for Leeds to go to Cardiff and make a statement.

Yet when their moment came, they fluffed their crosses, shots and lines, in a 2-0 defeat that sucked all the excitement out of the sport’s return, unless you’re a Cardiff fan.

A first-half goal from Junior Hoilett gave Leeds a mountain to climb, but it was one they constructed entirely by themselves.

Kalvin Phillips’s careless, needless giveaway in the middle of the park allowed Hoilett a free run at a defence that backed off and the result was a left-foot strike that flashed past Illan Meslier.

In the second half, with Leeds looking more and more flustered by the stop-start nature of the game and Cardiff’s resolute defending-by-numbers, Liam Cooper’s pass to Gjanni Alioski was picked off and Robert Glatzel hammered another shot from distance in off the post.

Two shots on target, two goals, three points.

Cardiff looked to profit from corners and long throws earned mostly through their front line’s hard work, but Leeds, led by Liam Cooper, stood up well to the early aerial threat. And once they had settled into some kind of rhythm themselves, Leeds took control of the first half.

They made progress through their traditional routes, both full-backs getting forward to support the wingers, Tyler Roberts dropping into spaces in the middle of the pitch to link defence with attack, central midfield with the wings.

What Leeds didn’t do a lot of was create good chances and they couldn’t quite cut Cardiff open. But the moment Leeds let slip of their control, they were punished. Phillips’s blind pass left his side all at sea, Hoilett strode into the space afforded him and he found the net.

Against a team with an organised defensive rearguard and some pace with which to break, Leeds were going to have to do it the hard way to win from this position.

They looked like they knew it too. Frustration was evident in the body language of the men in charcoal and pink as they trooped off for the break, having watched their best chance of the half, a goalbound Jack Harrison shot from close range, rebound back off an offside Patrick Bamford in the six yard box.

The same frustration didn’t take long to surface after the interval. Bielsa could sense it, even before Mateusz Klich flew into a challenge to earn a yellow card, and was imploring them to remain calm.

Even the Argentine struggled to follow his own advice however, having sat on his bucket for the vast majority of the first half and the start of the second, he began to pace and he beat a regular path to the edge of the technical area.

Cardiff looked composed and controlled, Leeds looked urgent but on the verge of desperate and rushed.

Alex Smithies was rarely troubled all afternoon yet he was razor sharp to deny Tyler Roberts, who arrived alone at the back post to meet Bamford’s knock down.

Bielsa continued to encourage. ‘Very good Helder, very good Patrick,’ he cried, after the former almost found the latter with a through ball. But with the urgency came another mistake, another pass picked off and another Cardiff goal.

Playing at tempo became more difficult as the game wore on and the extra substitutions took their toll on Leeds’s rhythm and the time the ball was actually in play.

The rest of the game had a pattern that wasn’t easy on the eye. Leeds would attack, get the ball wide and then nothing much else of note would happen. Crosses did come in, but they didn’t result in shots on goal.

Even six minutes of time added on failed to bring a single moment of joy, before the final whistle signalled the start of an inquest we’ve all heard before.

Football is back. It’s not always a beautiful game.

Cardiff: Smithies, Sanderson, Morrison, Nelson, Bennett, Bacuna, Vaulks (Tomlin 84), Ralls (Pack 75), Adomah (Mendez-Laing 65), Paterson (Glatzel 65), Hoilett (Smith 83). Unused substitutes: Etheridge, Flint, Whyte, Ward.

Leeds: Meslier, Ayling (Alioski 62), White, Cooper, Dallas, Phillips, Helder Costa (Poveda-Ocampo 77), Roberts, Klich (Gotts 84), Harrison, Bamford. Unused substitutes: Berardi, Miazek, Davis, Shackleton, Stevens, Struijk.

Referee: A Woolmer (Northamptonshire).

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