Where Leeds United have improved and where they have gone backwards under Thomas Christiansen - Leeds Live
With all the attention of Leeds' recent controversial new club crest, everyone at the club will be licking their lips at returning attentions back to footballing matters with a league trip to Hull on Tuesday.
Fresh from a week-long training camp in Murcia, Spain, the Whites will be looking to bounce back from their crushing 4-3 home defeat against Millwall, and aiming to pick up their first win in six matches.
But how have Leeds performed after 28 matches this campaign compared to twelve months ago? We've taken a closer look at Leeds' overall team performance in the Championship and how those numbers stack up against Garry Monk's class of 2016-17.
League Performance
Leeds were six places higher in the Championship and sitting third at this stage a year ago, largely thanks to having won 16 games and accumulating 51 points.
Thomas Christiansen's side have earned 43 points, 8 points fewer than at this stage last season, and have lost 3 more games. Leeds have scored a goal more than they managed a year on, but have conceded 4 more goals.
Leeds have won just 6 of their 14 home games this season, compared to 10 in 2016/17, but the Whites’ away form has seen them win 7 away games this season, just one less than then they managed throughout the whole of 2016/17 (
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Players Used
Leeds have already used 26 players this season, three more than Garry Monk utilised throughout the whole of 2016/17 (23). Christiansen also possesses an older squad compared with last season, despite the departure of now 38-year-old Rob Green.
The average squad age at Leeds is 25 years, 4 months this season; compared with 23 years, 7 months in 2016/17. That gap will narrow slightly with the likely departure of 34-year-old goalkeeper Andy Lonergan to Sunderland before the window shuts.
Defensively, Leeds have conceded four more goals than after 28 games last season, where Garry Monk’s watertight defence conceded just 47 goals, the fourth-best defensive record in the division.
Garry Monk, who left Leeds to join Middlesbrough, with new signing Adam Forshaw during his time on Teeside(Image: Griffiths Photographers)
Goals
There was always going to be firm focus on how Leeds were going to replace their leading talisman Chris Wood following his summer move to Turf Moor, and Leeds’ solution was to bring in loan signing Pierre-Michel Lasogga, Caleb Ekuban and Jay-Roy Grot to alleviate the pressure on the club’s forwards, whilst ask for a larger contribution of goals from midfield.
Roofe has significantly helped the cause, having been pushed forward into the lone forward role under Christiansen and scoring 6 goals in 11 starts as a number 9 in 2017/18.
Kemar Roofe (
and Pierre-Michel Lasogga (7) have made up 15 of Leeds' 40 goals this season. Chris Wood scored 11 of Leeds' 39 goals after 28 league games in 2016/17, before going on to net 27 league goals in total.
Leeds’ midfield department are fulfilling their fair share by contributing with 57.5% of Leeds’ Championship goals this season (23/40); Saiz (5), Alioski (5), Phillips (5) and Hernandez (4) the biggest contributors. This is a significant increase on last season, where goals from midfield were at just 36%.
Yet Leeds are in need of a larger contribution from their defenders, with Pontus Jansson the only player to have registered his name on the scoresheet this season with 2 Championship goals. In 2016/17, 14.8% of Leeds’ total league goals came from their centre-back partnership of Kyle Bartley (6) and Pontus Jansson (3).
With the addition of Samu Saiz and Gjanni Alioski, Leeds’ attacking stats were always going to improve from the twelve previous months, despite the sale of top scorer Chris Wood. Shots per game and chances created have all improved on the club’s figures last season.
Chances created
Leeds have attempted more shots on goal (338 up from 317), and created more chances (9.1 per game) compared with last season (317 shots and 8.5 chances created per game). Saiz and Hernandez have both played an integral role in chance creation, with both playing a key role in the number 10 role this season, or with Hernandez being shifted over to the left to incorporate both players in the side.
Despite the increase, Leeds remain the 14th-highest chance creators in the division, up eight places from being ranked 22nd in 2016/17. Pablo Hernandez created 102 chances last season, the fifth-highest chance creator in the Championship, including 8 assists. This season Hernandez has created 55 chances (including 4 assists), more than any other Leeds player, with Saiz in second with 50 (including 5 assists).
Discipline
Discipline has rapidly become a significant issue for the club in recent weeks. A series of reckless mistakes and costly moments of ill discipline have meant that the club have received more red cards (5) than any other Championship side in the division this season.
Leeds have picked up five times as many red cards in 2017/18 than at this stage last term (1), as well as picking up seven more yellow cards. No prizes for guessing what the club will be asking from their players for the remainder of the campaign. No more needless suspensions.
Performance Analysis
Following his appointment in June 2017, Thomas Christiansen gave a taster of what was to be expected at Leeds under his management: "Of course everyone wants to play nice football, attractive, having the ball and scoring a lot of goals. But at the end, if you don't take the points, you're not doing anything. But having my ideas - I will die with my ideas, my philosophy.''
Leeds started the season in fine fashion, adopting free-flowing attacking football in an unchanged 4-2-3-1 formation. Many believed the 3-2 opening day victory at Bolton would be perfect example of how the season will go; goals aplenty going forward and leaking a few goals at the back.
Since defeat to Millwall in mid-September, the football served up certainly hasn’t been as pleasing on the eye as the first few weeks, when Leeds coasted to three points with convincing performances against Sunderland, Nottingham Forest and a 5-0 demolition of Burton Albion.
Leeds have averaged 50.2% possession this season, the 13th-highest average in the division. Compared to 2016/17, Leeds’ have averaged a 0.3% drop in possession, which is partly due to Leeds’ choosing to adopt a predominantly counter-attacking style of play in recent months. Leeds have enjoyed a larger share of possession than their opponents in just 4 of their previous 20 matches across all competitions.
Passing accuracy has also taken a dip, with Leeds completing 72.8% of their pass attempts compared with 75.3% the previous season. This drop is also reflected in passes per game, where the Whites have completed 284 passes per game compared with 307 in 2016/17.
Long ball passes have also increased this season, up 6 more passes per game, while short passes have decreased from 276 to 254 passes per game.
Pontus Jansson remains head and shoulders above his teammates in terms of distribution, completing 84.6% of his passes, more than any other player at the club (+4 games). He also held the highest distribution rate at the club last season (85.3%).
Eunan O’Kane leads the charts for highest average successful passes per game at Leeds (33.3); Luke Ayling is next (28.5) and Pablo Hernandez third (27.
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Leeds have won more aerial duels per game (20.4) in their current campaign compared with 18.9 in 2016/17, despite the loss of the club’s best aerial ball winners in Kyle Bartley and Chris Wood.
Pontus Jansson has won the most aerial duels at the club in 2017/18 (83). Bartley managed the most successful aerial duels at Leeds last season (163), ranking 28th-highest in the division; Chris Wood was next for the club with 144 in 2016/17.
Leeds continue to under perform in attacking wide areas, with crosses a fundamental performance issue. The club’s deliveries per game have decreased from 19 per game to 16, only Norwich (15) and Derby (15) have averaged a lower amount of attempted crosses per game. Last season Leeds were ranked joint-12th in the division with 19 crosses per game.
Pablo Hernandez has attempted 106 crosses per game in 2017/18, more than any other Leeds player. Hernandez also completed the most crosses for the club last season, with 78 accurate crosses, the third-highest tally in the division.
Leeds have made 0.4 fewer tackles per game than in 2017/18, but Kalvin Phillips continues to lead the charts for the club with 78 successful tackles, the fourth-highest tally in the Championship. Full-back Luke Ayling remains in the top ten tacklers in the division (70) despite being out for the past two weeks, and is set to miss the rest of the season following successful ankle surgery.
Interceptions are down 1.0 per game on last season and ranks Leeds 15th in the division. Liam Cooper leads the club’s interception stats this season, making 37 in total and averaging 1.5 per game. Kyle Bartley made the most interceptions for Leeds last season (72), averaging around 1.6 per game. Food for thought.
Successful dribbles are down 1.6 per game to 7.6 this season, despite Samu Saiz leading the charts with 52. A considerable gap on Pablo Hernandez who is next on the list with 28 completed take-ons. There is a slight increase on clearances, up from 31.8 per game to 32.2 this season.
Possession loss is up on last season by 0.1, and take-ons are down 1.6 to 7.6 take-ons per game, the 17th-highest average in the division. Part of this has seen Leeds being dispossessed 11.8 times per game in 2017/18, the 9th-highest Championship average.
Despite having kept 6 consecutive league clean sheets between August and September, Leeds have kept 11 clean sheets in their first 28 league games this season, exactly the same amount as Rob Green managed at this stage in 2016/17.
Summary
In a season season awash with ups and downs so far, Leeds currently find themselves just three points off the top six after 28 games.
Compared to last season, Leeds are scoring more, conceding more, keeping more clean sheets, creating more chances, winning less, losing more, drawing more, picking up fewer points at home and picking up more points on the road. Our aerial duels have increased, passing stats have dipped, possession is slightly lower, and discipline has become a primary concern.
Leeds have received a significant boost with the addition of new signings Laurens De Bock and Adam Forshaw this January, particularly as the club ride out the tide of suspensions they currently find themselves in.
It has been a fair while since Leeds played an opponent off the park in convincing fashion, and if Leeds are to secure a Play-Off place come the end of the season, the will need to improve their overall form, and put together another impressive run of results.
Christiansen needs to return Elland Road to the fortress it was last term, with their home form out of sync with their league position.
Disciplinary issues also need to be put to bed, and the squad needs to tighten up at the back, and add a consistent and clinical edge to their game, or find themselves without another top-six finish in the Championship since 2005-06.
