Monday Musing: Going Out On Top
Plus, Ten Hag's last stand and Leeds' play-off failure.
By Patric Ridge
It was an emotional night at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
Toni Kroos, a club great at Real Madrid, was making his farewell LaLiga appearance. His final game in club football will come on Saturday, at Wembley, when Los Blancos face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final.
Regardless of whether or not Madrid win their 15th European Cup, it will be a fitting end to a glittering career at the highest level for the 34-year-old, who last week confirmed his retirement.
It means that Kroos, who came out of international retirement in March, will bow out after representing Germany on home soil at Euro 2024.
Could he be a double-European champion in the same season? It would be some way to go out.
Kroos has been immaculate all season for Madrid. While Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior have taken the headlines, the pass-master behind them in midfield has kept everything ticking over.
He has averaged 104 attempted passes per 90, with a 91.4% completion rate. His 11.26 progressive passes per 90 ranks in the top 1% of midfielders.
Not that Kroos is simply a water-carrier.
He has provided nine assists in all competitions this season, including a sensational throughball to put Vinicius in for Madrid’s opener in their Champions League semi-final tie against Kroos’ former club Bayern Munich.
Kroos ranks in the 94th percentile among his midfield peers for shot-creating actions, too. Nobody has created more goalscoring opportunities for Madrid in all competitions this term.
Kroos was typically influential in his farewell LaLiga appearance.
He had the most touches (122), attempted and completed the most passes (110 and 107) and created the most chances (three) of any Madrid player.
Kroos is going out at the very top. He will be missed.
TEN HAG’S LAST STAND
Speaking of going out on top, if Erik ten Hag is to depart Manchester United, then now would be as good a time as any.
Reports emerged last week that United — or, at least, their new minority shareholder Jim Ratcliffe — had elected to dismiss Ten Hag regardless of whether or not the Red Devils beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
But that’s easier said than done. Nobody really expected United to come away with the trophy from Wembley on Saturday, and had the match played out as anticipated, then it would have been an easy call: United would have ended the season trophyless and without European football, with their eighth-placed finish their worst in Premier League history.
Instead, Ten Hag’s team turned in a brilliant performance and goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, two players to have excelled under the Dutchman, got them over the line.
But perhaps it is still best for all involved to take a leaf from Kroos’ book and go out on a high note, with a shake of hands and a mutual parting of the ways.
Ten Hag can get bullish in press conferences and with the media all he likes, and United — particularly in defence — have certainly been dealt a rough hand this season with all their injury woes.
But that doesn’t excuse just how bad they have been at times, and how inept their manager has looked at times too.
When Ten Hag gets it right, there is clearly an excellent tactician there, but his spikiness in recent days, while understandable, nevertheless plays into the feeling that the job is just too big for him.
LEEDS FALL APART AGAIN
Southampton will be returning to the Premier League at the first time of asking after they beat Leeds United 1-0 at Wembley on Sunday.
It means that of the three sides that went down last season, Leeds are the only ones not to come straight back up.
That is a huge failure — there are no two ways about it.
Daniel Farke had the squad. Leeds kept hold of Wilfried Gnonto last summer; Crysencio Summerville is superb; they signed a consistent goalscorer at Championship level in Joel Piroe.
They also went on a 15-game unbeaten streak between January and April, winning 13 of those matches, propelling them into the automatic promotion spots.
But a run of just one win from their last six games saw them slip below Ipswich Town and Leicester City and into the play-offs. The 4-0 hammering of Norwich City at Elland Road in the second leg of their semi-final hinted that they were back in business, but it was not to be.
In fairness, Leeds did most of the pressing in the play-off final, but it was Southampton who made the most of their chances when Adam Armstrong scored midway through the first half.
Southampton have averaged more of the ball than any other Championship team this season, but Leeds had the better of the possession stats on Sunday (58% to 42%), yet they failed to create a big chance.
Dan James struck the crossbar late on, but that was the closest the Whites came as the play-offs again proved their nemesis.