da brwin： Marcelo Bielsa isn’t one to chop and change his starting XI all that much.
da supremo： Indeed, there are eight players in the squad that have started more than 27 league games, so that’s quite a clear indicator of how little he’s changed things up this term.
However, one player that has been in and out of the team due to injury is Liam Cooper.
The club captain has started just 21 of 30 league games for the Whites, and when he’s not been there it’s often been Gaetano Berardi filling in for him, with the Swiss defender starting nine times in the Championship.
Watch Leeds United Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below
Cooper has been the clear first choice when he’s been fit, but perhaps he shouldn’t be starting over Berardi, as the team appear to play much better when his 31-year-old teammate is on the pitch.
As the above infographic shows, Leeds pick up 0.52 more points per game when Berardi is playing compared to when Cooper appears.
Berardi has played eight fewer games than the 28-year-old, but the team do pick up better results when he’s on the pitch, so perhaps that’s a trend that Bielsa needs to consider.
Ok, you could argue that a fair few of his appearances have been off the bench, but in the nine games he’s started, Leeds have conceded just seven goals.
Quite simply, the team let in fewer goals when Berardi is on the pitch, with his goal difference per 90 over twice as high as Cooper’s, and that is a stat that shouldn’t be ignored.
Bielsa may want to think about starting the 31-year-old over his captain more often in the near future.
In other news, one man proved that he should be dropped on Saturday.