Where has it gone wrong for Leeds United this campaign as they stare second-season syndrome straight in the face after slipping into the relegation zone?
The Yorkshire outfit dropped into the bottom three after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Champions League chasing Arsenal.
Former Whites loanee Eddie Nketiah scored a brace after an Ilan Meslier howler followed by a quick-sweeping Gunners move where he found himself unmarked with the simplest of tap-ins in the penalty area.
Luke Ayling was sent off on his 500th professional appearance for a dangerous two-footed lunge on Gabriel Martinelli which dug the away side a bigger hole to get out of.
Centre back Diego Llorente scored from a corner, but it wasn’t enough as Leeds fell into the bottom three places.
There have been several factors that have contributed to the Peacocks’ poor term following from their ninth-place finish in their first season back in the Premier League after their 16 years absence.
Transfer Issues
After a spectacular return to the big time where Leeds finished ninth last year, the Whites failed to bring in anyone of first-team quality at the start of this season – apart from deadline day signing Daniel James from bitter rivals Manchester United.
The head coach at the time Marcelo Bielsa was a huge admirer of the Welsh international after trying to sign him from Swansea City in January 2019 but the deal fell through.
They needed to increase the depth of the squad as the side struggled with long-term injuries to several instrumental players last campaign.
However, that didn’t happen. It was either due to stubbornness of Bielsa, who has already preferred a small tight-knit squad, or because of financial issues with Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani.
Leeds didn’t address this issue during the January transfer window either, even after the spine of the team was sidelined through injury. Scotland international and Leeds captain Liam Cooper, England’s Player of the Season Kalvin Phillips and the Whites target man Patrick Bamford were all out of action for an extended period.
This trio contributed massively last season with Cooper and Phillips helping start attacks and distribute the ball from defence with Bamford bagging 17 league goals.
They needed to gain a back-up striker in January to help the side with scoring goals as they have converted a mere 39 goals so far this season compared to 62 last campaign.
A lot of weight and pressure has been thrown on to Raphinha to perform as the silky Brazilian winger has scored just over a quarter of the side’s goals with 10.
They needed to add another central midfielder too with Adam Forshaw the last addition in that position back in 2018 from Middlesbrough.
Leeds’ lack of depth was highlighted against Arsenal in December. During that clash they only had one senior player on the bench at Elland Road due to injuries and coronavirus – a combination which isn’t good enough for a Premier League outfit.
Bielsa’s stubbornness
The Argentine will go down in Leeds United folklore as he single-handedly dragged the club from the doldrums and awoke the sleeping giant.
He is adored by their passionate fans and helped rebuild the club on-and-off the field as he personally paid to improve the training facilities and guided Leeds to where they belong.
After 16 years out of the top flight, and at his second attempt, he clinched the Championship title by 10 points in the end as they dominated the league in 2019-20.
He has always played the same attractive style where he has been devoted to his tactics and philosophy, not changing them when playing top or bottom of the table.
He played a high press with man-to-man marking which involved playing high-paced and exciting football to get the Leeds faithful on the edge of their seat all season long.
However, this campaign was different, in their first game of the season they got thumped by Manchester United in a 5-1 humiliation at Old Trafford, a sign of things to come.
He then endured heavier defeats to arguably the best two sides in Europe, Manchester City and Liverpool as Leeds got torn apart 7-0 and 6-0.
With the man-to-man marking it can leave spaces exposed and the backline vulnerable as Bielsa’s side discovered on a handful of occasions last season by many more this time around.
This season his Leeds team got found out by the majority in the league, but the Argentine refused to change his ways.
Bielsa crouched and bellowed from the sidelines as his side conceded 20 league goals in his last five matches before getting the sack in February.
The belief he has in his style of football cost him his job at Leeds as they got dragged into a relegation scrap.
The man who replaced him, Jesse Marsch has only been given 10 games to implement his new ideas into a side low on confidence.
The American now has only got three games left to save their season as they lock horns with Burnley and Everton to stay in the top division.
Murderball and injuries
It was vital for Bielsa that his players were the fittest they could be as he demanded this for his style of play.
He has extremely intense training session’s which arguably caused several key injuries as the players were over worked and didn’t have enough time to recover from the brutal training methods.
He had a specific drill that the Leeds players would call murderball, this was when you played continuously for a period without a break.
Relentless and ruthless training forced several players to get exhausted and not perform at the level they are capable of or led to an injury.
By Jack Bunclark
