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da dobrowin： This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Following a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester United in pre-season, there were some concerns from certain segments of the Leeds faithful over their defence after it was claimed Marcelo Bielsa was happy with what he had.
Pontus Jansson had departed for Brentford and Gaetano Berardi and Liam Cooper didn’t look particularly convincing as United tore through the Whites.
However, what they hadn’t seen yet, was what Ben White could do, as the Brighton loan man has added a sense of stability in the early weeks of the season.
Leeds have looked more assured, evidence of which is proving why some fans didn’t need to be as worried as they were.
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On the chalkboard
One of the main reasons for Leeds’ solid defensive displays this term has been thanks to White.
He has been somewhat of a colossus among the back four and in the first couple of weeks of the new term, the youngster has won two tackles per match and also made 3.5 interceptions every outing on average.
But it’s important to note just how compact Leeds have been, something which has restricted their opposition to a lack of key passes, particularly inside their penalty area.
Bristol City serves as their worst match in terms of this number, being on the end of three key passes and an overall total of 11 inside their box.
However, there has been a stark improvement since.
Above are the number of final third passes made by each team during Leeds 1-1 draw with Forest.
In blue, per WhoScored, are the latter’s passes with Sabri Lamouchi’s men kicking towards the left. However, as can be seen, only two of their 90 passes which landed in the final third were actually in the penalty area, pieces of play provided by Joe Lolley and Alfred Semedo.
This second graphic comes against Wigan. This time, Leeds’ opposition are in red, kicking towards the right and again there is a lack of passes inside their penalty box. Only five of the Latics’ 117 final third balls were close to Kiko Casilla’s goal, but none of them serve as key passes according to WhoScored.
Against Brentford, Leeds were even better in this department.
The Bees’ final third passes are demonstrated in blue above, kicking to the left. They managed 165 inside the Whites’ half but remarkably only one of them fell in the area as Ollie Watkins finally found space in the 72nd minute.
These passages of play show how compact Leeds have been this term. They’ve kept two clean sheets and ultimately restricted their opposition to shots on goal, thus proving why initial concerns have been swatted away.
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