DEL 4
A double nutmeg against Bristol City’s Callum O’Dowda was a particular delight. So too were two exquisite long range passes against Stoke City, one of which was a delightful drive from 30 yards to tee up Stuart Dallas and open up the scoring.
Everyone wants to play alongside Pablo. Mateusz Klich and Patrick Bamford make a stern effort to stay in close proximity to him, and it’s easy to see why. When Pablo plays well, Leeds win. It’s that simple. The Castellon-born winger fashions chances for fun, and sometimes out of very little. Yet it is not just goals and assists Pablo is responsible for. He also plays a vital role by attracting defenders towards him and drawing them in, creating space for his teammates to exploit.
Elland Road's Spanish king is often seen played on the right side, his preferred position, but he was given a free central role against Stoke and relished acres of space in which he was allowed to operate.
Bielsa’s side either look to play directly through the lines with fast, vertical passes, but are more likely to push the ball out wide and get the wing-backs on the ball to link up with midfielders and create rotational movements and interchanges. Full-backs and wingers on the opposite channel will then look to exploit the space created, which allows Leeds to switch play and stretch their opponents.
The above graphic depicts the average player positions against Swansea. Notice how bunched Bamford, Klich and Hernandez are together. Connect Dallas, Phillips and Forshaw to that passing web and you begin to see why Leeds are so difficult to prevent from fashioning opportunities for themselves.
Leeds have become an incredibly difficult opponent to compete against. They will always relentlessly compress their opponents and suffocate them of possession. Their remarkable mobility and work rate creates space and wreaks havoc with opponent’s defensive marking. If teams decide to press high and commit numbers forward, Leeds would exploit the space created in behind. Phillips, Forshaw and Klich have mastered this art as the central spine of the team.
The problem Leeds have encountered, in particular at home, are opponents deploying low defensive blocks and condensing their lines to form two banks of defensive lines with no space in between. Creating space is fundamental for Leeds, who operate at their most effective when given plenty of it to operate and run in to. Leeds are one of the most creative sides in wide areas, where wing-backs and wide forwards will regularly interchange and swap positions with each other in a series of fast, one-touch combinations to bypass their markers.
Bielsa is well known for his preference of playing vertical football, which is essentially shifting the ball at pace from the back line to the final third as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Stuart Dallas has been the best example of this particular pass for Leeds this season having made more progressive passes (90) than any other player at the club. Pablo Hernandez (85), Ben White (68) and Kalvin Phillips (57) also rank highest for the Whites in this metric.
Kalvin Phillips sits at the base of Leeds’ midfield, acting as the catalyst for attacking phases, and always ready to engage opponents without it. Phillips has made 49 ball recoveries in the Championship, more than any other Leeds player this season.
Phillips has also won 4.7 tackles per game, more than any player at the club. He will also push forward into midfield and become part of a fluid unit in the middle that recycles possession. This is a department in which he excels in, having made 403 passes, more than any other Championship midfielder this season. Out of possession, the 23-year-old will also drop in between the centre-back pairing of Liam Cooper and Ben White to form a back three.
Cooper and White have formed an impressive centre-back partnership. Cooper, Leeds’ respected club captain and loyal servant of five years, has won 5.2 aerial duels per game this season, substantially more than any other player at the club. White, the 21-year-old loanee has grown from strength to strength, making more interceptions (25) than any other Championship player.
The English defensive duo have helped keep three clean sheets, and have completed 87% of their passes between them. Both play a key role in breaking into space, cutting through opponents and helping to form rotational passing routes with midfield.
Stuart Dallas, a natural winger, has been playing out of position as a right wing-back due to an injury to the club’s first choice Luke Ayling. He has produced a series of outstanding displays and has become one of the most consistent performers in the team.
The Cookstown-born winger has scored 4 goals in his last 9 appearances, and his influence in both attacking and defensive phases has been phenomenal. Dallas had made 516 touches for the club this season, more than any other Leeds player. Bielsa described Dallas as a “full-back with high arrival into the opponent half or a winger who plays a little bit higher.â€
The Northern Ireland international has also completed more successful opposition half passes than any other Championship defender (141). His exploits don’t stop there either. The 28-year-old ranks in the top four defenders for most successful final third passes (67). The versatile winger also makes the top-five Championship defenders for the most completed take-ons (
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Dallas has made the most dramatic of transformations, now heavily involved in each game, in a new position and developing a good relationship with Pablo Hernandez ahead of him. His passes per game have gone up from 25.8 to 56.8 this season, pass accuracy is up from 76.3% to 80.6%, chances per game up from 0.6 to 0.8, successful take-ons per game up from 0.4 to 1.3, shots per game up from 1.2 to 1.7, and interceptions per game have increased from 0.6 to 1.2.
Bielsa has some serious talent at his disposal this season, and perhaps Helder Costa is his biggest weapon. The Portuguese winger poses a direct threat to opponents, a game changer who has yet to start a league game for Leeds, but looks destined to terrorise opposition defences for the next few months. The 25-year-old has created 3 chances created and provided 1 assist in 91 minutes of Championship football from the bench. The Wolves’ loanee has also shown flashes of brilliance, completing 5 of his 7 take-ons for the Whites.
Familiar FrailtiesLeeds formidable defensive unit has been breached three times this season, with two of those three goals conceded at Elland Road and originating from corner set-pieces. All three goals the Whites have shipped have also been scored in the final quarter of matches (76 minutes onwards).
Lewis Grabban scores from 3 yards out to rescue a point in West Yorkshire, before Wayne Routledge’s scuffed right-footed effort somehow squirmed its way through a crowd of defenders with 90 minutes on the clock.
Leeds repeatedly failed to clear their lines and conceded the deciding goal in the quaternary phase of play. A frustrating late winner against the run of play throughout but all the while inevitable.
Bielsa referred to the chances Swansea created originating from set-piece corners, but the second and third balls following those deliveries: “The chances the opponents had were in relation to corners, but not directly the corners, the second balls after the corners.†This is clearly an area of frustration, and Leeds certainly lack height defensively in the box.
The Swansea defeat was the first time since New Year’s Day that we had conceded consecutive goals from corner set-pieces. Another of Leeds’ main vulnerabilities is being susceptible to counter-attacks. Against Swansea, Steve Cooper’s side made 5 counter attacks with one resulting in an effort on goal. 33% of counter attacks faced by Leeds this season have resulted in a shot faced.
For all of Leeds’ dominance in their opening six matches, they have attempted 6 shots from counter attacks and faced 5 from their opponents. Our most effective offensive performance on the counter was against Bristol City, where we registered efforts on goal with all four of our counter attacks.
Swansea head coach Cooper admitted felt his side could expose a weakness in Leeds’ side by exploiting spaces when Leeds are pressing: “We felt there were spaces with their clear way of playing, a good way of playing, but we felt there were certain parts of the pitch around the deep midfield where we could get into pockets and turn and hit them on fast attacks."
This will likely remain the biggest areas for opponents to target, either in between defensive and midfield lines, or in behind the marauding full-backs down each channel.
Bamford v NketiahThis is the type of debate Marcelo Bielsa will be relishing with his coaching staff this season. It is every manager’s dream scenario to have two forwards in clinical form and competing with each other to start.
Patrick Bamford has silenced his pre-season doubters by being directly involved in 5 goals in 6 matches this season (4 goals, 1 assist). Significantly, Leeds’ number nine also has an expected goals value of 4.45, only Derby forward Martyn Waghorn has a higher xG (4.82), and he has scored only 3 league goals in 2019/20.
Former Middlesbrough forward Bamford scored twice from both shots on-target against Wigan. He also registered a shot with each of his 4 touches inside the opposition box. It was the perfect poacher’s performance, and one that clearly demonstrated Bamford’s prowess in the penalty area.
Forwards need to be in the right place at the right time, and Bamford’s positioning and anticipation ensured his scored both of those goals within five yards of goal. The former Chelsea forward works hard for the side, dropping deep to receive the ball and link up with the likes of Klich, Forshaw, Harrison and Hernandez.
Below is Bamford’s heat map against Stoke (courtesy of SofaScore), which helps emphasise how deep he is willing to drop to pick up the ball and support his teammates. He made just 3 of his 22 touches inside the opposition box including his 66th minute goal.
The 26-year-old forward has registered 22 shots in total this season, and is tied with Jarrod Bowen and Sergi Canos in the division this season. He has also attempted 6 shots from inside the six-yard box, no player has more. He is averaging 3.7 shots per game and 0.7 goals per 90. Bamford is averaging a goal every 124 minutes this season and registered 40% of his shots on-target.
Everything Eddie Nketiah touches turns to goals this season. The Arsenal loan star scored twice for the England's U21s in a 3-2 victory over Turkey in Istanbul, which took his seasonal tally to 5 goals in 6 matches already for club and country this season.
The 20-year-old starlet is averaging a goal every 75 minutes of football for Leeds in 2019/20, and has scored 3 goals from 4 shots on-target for the Whites across all competitions.
He has directed 67% of his efforts on-target, and looks destined to produce a flurry of goals for the club this season. His positive movement and positioning immediately stand out when watching him play.
He plays on the shoulder of defenders, anticipates spaces in between defenders and patiently waits to pounce. His movement for the goal Brentford was first class, and his direct, fearless approach combined with a killer first touch makes him a nightmare to play against.
Nketiah has an xG value of 2.31 compared with Bamford who has a 4.82. However, when comparing their average xG per game in the Championship and Carabao Cup matches this season, Bamford has a rating of 0.75 and Nketiah eclipses it with 0.83.
So far, Leeds’ forward pairing have played together for just 14 minutes, a spell in which Nketiah netted a late winner against Brentford. Bielso brought on the Arsenal loanee which doubled his attackers against a trio of centre-backs.
So there is certainly an argument worth having in playing both forwards together in the same side instead of like-for-like changes. The counter argument to playing two up top would be whether sacrificing a player from Leeds’ robust defensive or midfield engines would pay off over the course of 90 minutes. It is a risk versus reward decision, but Bielsa will know he has two leading contenders who are full of self confidence.
SummaryLeeds have made huge early gains across multiple metrics this season, and the club’s league position should soon reflect our performance levels should we maintain or improve them further.
Leeds remain title favourites, and we have seen how Marcelo Bielsa’s minor adjustments have produced significant effects. Despite opponents having over fourteen months to study Bielsa’s football model at Elland Road, their style of play and all strengths and weaknesses, Leeds have somehow created even more chances, increased their share of possession, and attempted more shots than last season.
The Whites are more flexible in terms of team shape, and arguably have a higher calibre of game changers to influence matches when needs be. Leeds will need to show a more ruthless side in the coming months, putting away a higher volume of chance, and punishing those that seek to wait and expose them on the counter.
Leeds’ passionate technical director Victor Orta stater that continuity would be the club’s key ingredient for success this season, with Marcelo Bielsa in place for a second term and fans' favourite Kalvin Phillips extending his stay with his boyhood club. The squad have build on the physical and tactical foundation work put in place last season, and continuity is allowing this squad to bear the fruits of their labour.
Rarely has there been such an exciting time to be a Leeds United fan. No strangers to elaborate team goals being shared virally on social media platforms, Leeds are one of the most attractive teams to watch in world football right about now. A statement that still seems utterly surreal.
Continuity now will be key in maintaining our control going forward. We are creating a bountiful supply of high quality chances, now we just need to take the conversion rate up a notch.
The early signs have been extremely encouraging, and the club have once again set the early pace in the Championship. Dallas, Cooper and Phillips will no doubt have significant roles to play in maintaining that momentum.
https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/leeds-united-marcelo-bielsa-tactics-16905857