Sport
Leeds must find a way to grind out boring wins
No one could argue that it is dull watching Leeds United. A club that was famed for its helter-skelter style under Marcelo Bielsa has returned to those roots this season with Jesse Marsch at the helm. For all that it makes Leeds exciting to watch, they must find a way to start grinding out boring wins.
Cast your minds back to before the World Cup break. Ahead of a game at Anfield on October 29, Marsch was thought to be on the brink of the sack. His team had just lost four games on the bounce, including a hugely frustrating 3-2 home defeat by Fulham in which Leeds took the lead but were powerless to resist as Marco Silva’s side scored the next three goals.
Yet with his back against the wall, Marsch oversaw a brilliant 2-1 victory over Liverpool that showed the players still had faith in their manager. An end-to-end 4-3 triumph over Bournemouth followed, as Leeds came back from 3-1 down to secure back-to-back wins for the first time all season.
A week later, they were undone by the same scoreline away to Tottenham Hotspur, for whom Rodrigo Bentancur scored a late brace to leave Leeds empty-handed.
Thrill-seekers could do worse than purchasing a season ticket at Elland Road. But in terms of Leeds’ Premier League status, this style is surely not sustainable. Even with those wins against Liverpool and Bournemouth, the Whites are just two points outside the bottom three.
Having found the back of the net 22 times, Leeds had outscored every other team in the bottom half of the division with the exception of Leicester City going into the Boxing Day fixtures. Yet ahead of those games on Monday, only Southampton, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest had conceded more goals.
Marsch is still trying to find the right balance. His team have only kept two clean sheets all season, in a 3-0 triumph over Chelsea and a 0-0 draw with Aston Villa. That brilliant win against the Blues was the only time in 2022/23 that Leeds have managed to combine attacking menace with defensive solidity. On other occasions they have looked short of ideas in attack or all over the place at the back.
Marsch should probably be cut some slack. Leeds lost their two most important players in the summer as Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips joined Barcelona and Manchester City respectively. Patrick Bamford, previously Bielsa’s go-to centre-forward, has continued to struggle with his fitness. More broadly, Leeds have had more than their fair share of injury issues so far this term.
The Whites have enough in their squad to stay up, but a strategy of ‘you score three, we’ll score four’ is unlikely to work in the long term. At their best, Marsch’s team swarm around opponents with their energy, tenacity and aggression, but that all-action style is harder to pull off when confidence is low.
Leeds only had three players at the World Cup, and none of Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen made it beyond the round of 16. Having had a few weeks to undergo what was effectively a second pre-season, Leeds should be fresh for Wednesday’s clash with Manchester City.
Yet perhaps a dose of pragmatism is needed. If the Whites try to play at 100 miles per hour against the champions, they will be picked off. Marsch should remember that, from time to time, there is nothing wrong with being dull if it brings results.
