Leeds United - back with the elite after a 16-year wait
Andrew Zarb
After 16 years away, Leeds United have finally returned to the Premier League. During that time, the club had several managers, various owners – and almost went bust as they entered into administration back in 2007. They also spent three seasons in the third tier of English football. Therefore, it is fair to say that the 16 years they spent out of the top flight were by no means dull.
How did they fare last season en route to promotion?
Leeds United enjoyed an extremely strong 2018/19 season, and looked set to make a return back to the top flight until their form dipped right at the end of the season and they were overtaken by their Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United; they then lost out in a dramatic play-off semifinal against Derby County.
Clearly, the club were determined to go one better in the following campaign and secure promotion back to the Premier League.They signed a number of players on loan, including Jack Harrison from Manchester City, defender Ben White from Brighton, Eddie Nketiah from Arsenal and winger Helder Costa from Wolves– who then joined permanently in a deal worth roughly £15m.On the other hand, the club sold Kemar Roofe, Samu Saiz, Jack Clarke, Bailey PeacockFarrell and, somewhat surprisingly at the time, Pontus Jansson for a combined total of almost £30m.
Leeds enjoyed an extremely strong first half of the season, securing second place just before Christmas with a 10-point lead. However, a run of just two wins in their next 10 gamesbetween Christmas and the middle of February saw their advantage to third-placeshrink to just superior goal difference.They thenrallied to win all of their next 5 matches which enabled them to build up a seven-point gap to third place before the season was halted owing to the COVID19 pandemic.
Leeds resumed their campaign in the third weekend of June with a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Cardiff City. However, that proved to be a mere blip, as they went on to win five of their next six games (drawing the other) and promotion was ultimately confirmed with two games to spare after West Bromwich Albion suffered a 2-1 defeat away to Huddersfield Town in their penultimate fixture, and the following day, Brentford lost away to Stoke City, thus confirming Leeds as champions.
Patrick Bamfordproved to be crucial in helping Leeds reach the Premier League, as he bagged a total of 17 league goals. In addition, Ben White proved to be an extremely astute loan signing as he played every single league game and was a part of the best defence in the league, as Leeds conceded the fewest goals (35)of any side in the division.
The Manager
Nicknamed ‘El Loco’, 65-year old Marcelo Bielsa began his managerial career in his native Argentina, starting as Newell’s Old Boys youth team coach before eventually stepping up to the first team.
After managing various other clubs in Mexico and Argentina, Bielsa then moved into Europe and took charge of Espanyol in 1998, however, he left shortly afterwards to take charge of the Argentina national teamwhere he remained until 2004. In 2007, Bielsa was appointed Chile national team manager, and guided them to the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup, before resigning in 2011. Later that year, hetook charge of Athletic Bilbao, and during his time there guided the Basque side to the 2012 Europa League final where they lost to Atlético Madrid. Bielsa later had spells with Marseille,Lazio, and Lille before being appointed Leeds United boss in June 2018.
During his time as Leeds manager, he guided the club to third in his first season, one which was notable for a ‘spygate’ incident, where it emerged that Bielsa sent a club employee outside Derby’s training ground to observe a training session – and as a result,heheld a press conference detailing the level of research conducted concerning their various opponents.Bielsa managed to secure promotion for Leeds last season as champions, and was named the Championship’s Manager of the Season in the process.
Tactically Bielsa is a flexible manager, and is extremely attentive to detail. In terms of formation used, Bielsa tends to switch frequently between a 4-1-4-1 and a 3-3-1-3 formation. During the promotion-winning campaign, when adopting a defensive shape, Leeds used a 4-1-4-1 shape with the involvement of a high press, either to restrict passing optionsforcing the opposition to lose the ball, or else by forcing long ballswhich Leeds could deal with thanks to the strong aerial ability of defenders Liam Cooper and Ben White. On the contrary, when attacking, they adopted a 3-3-1-3 formation which relies heavily on attacking full-backs (Luke Ayling and Stuart Dallas). They relied on the central defenders moving wide to cover the full-backs, with the defensive midfielder slotting into the middle of the defence to form a back 3. Furthermore, under Bielsa, Leeds tended to play out a lot from the back when building up attacks.
The prospect of Marcelo Bielsa managing in the Premier League is a keenly-anticipated one, and it will certainly be interesting to watch how successful his style of play is next season.
Player to watch: Kalvin Phillips Aged just 24, Leeds-born Kalvin Phillips made his first-team debut in April 2015 having graduated from the club’s youth system.Heproved to be an invaluable member of the team en route to promotion.His role in breaking up opposition play was especially noticeable, as he averaged 2.6 successful tackles per game, which was more than any other Leeds player. In addition, defensively he managed an average of 1.4 interceptions and 1.3 clearances per game. On the other hand, going forward, Phillips bagged 2 goals and 2 assists, whilst he averaged 1.8 key passes per game, and completed 18 successful dribbles.
He was named in the EFL Championship Team of the Season in the 2018/19 campaign in recognition for his efforts (so far at least, no awards havebeen given for this campaign, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Furthermore, it is believed that England manager Gareth Southgate has been tracking the midfielder for a possible call-up to the national team, and with Euro 2020 being postponed by a year, there is definitely potential for Phillips to be called up for the European Championships if he manages to make the step up to Premier League football, which on previous evidence, one would back him to do successfully.
Where/how do they need to strengthen/improve as a team?
Despite a brilliant 2019/20 season in which they deservedly earned promotion, the step up from the Championship to the Premier League is extremely tough and unforgiving and it will definitely need Leeds to improve in order to survive in the top flight.
One glaring weakness the team had last season was that of converting chances. In fact, many of the games they failed to win were due to failing to convert several chances that came their way – and they cannot afford to do so in the Premier League as they will get punished far more easily. Therefore, adding a striker who is effective at converting chances would be extremely useful, and in order to survive, Leeds will definitely need to improve their finishing in a league where defences are less generous compared to the Championship.
In addition, a backup defensive midfielder to Kalvin Phillips would not go amiss, as the team often struggled when he was not playing. Furthermore, Ben White, who was hugely impressive at the heart of Leeds’ defence last season, was only at the club on loan and keeping hold of him will be vital – otherwise, a replacement will need to be found.
To conclude, it is imperative that the during the off-season Leeds recruit wisely,and that any money they spend is spent sensibly.
Can they survive in the Premier League?
As stated earlier, the Premier League represents a considerable step up from Championship football – and the question as to how and whether Leeds can survive in the top flight at this stage remains unanswered.
In conclusion, keeping Leeds in the top flight will be arguably Marcelo Bielsa’s biggest challenge in his long managerial career, but given his impressive reputation and ability to get the best out of and improve his players, few would be surprised if Leeds do manage to retain their top flight status beyond the 2020/21 campaign.