Marching On Together

Last season Marcelo Bielsa’s philosophy and style of football were a breath of fresh air, not just to Leeds United but to the Championship as a whole. We played the ball out from the back, pressed teams and bombed forward like the best in the Premier League. We sparkled and dazzled and led the way for most of the season but sadly it was not quite enough to see us promoted.

This season feels different, more pragmatic, less exciting. We still dominate games and are far more secure at the back but we seem to have lost a bit of that spark going forwards. Yet, we are better off that we were at the same stage last season, we have won more games.

Has Beilsa evolved his tactics for a Championship promotion push? Is he being more pragmatic? Has it dulled the excitement? Ultimately will it lead to promotion?

I think a lot also stems from the opposition being very negative usually against us. They are happy for us to have all the ball and then try and get as many of their players in and around their penalty area as they can. As such we are usually dominating easily and the passing can to some extent become almost boring with the opposition not trying to get the ball. Some of the performances have been exceptional. The complete control we had against Derby for 60 to 70 minutes was astounding, they didn't even have a single touch of the ball in our penalty area for over 60 minutes, and the football was a joy to watch. The only thing though that most people take from that game was the disappointing final result. If we'd have won that game 7-0, and we probably should, then they'd be comparing that performance to the Revie side that spanked Southampton 7-0. Scorelines/results sometimes seem all important especially when it comes to remembering matches. The Bristol City win was another great performance.

For me the difference is the lack of goals, for both us and the opposition. Last season it felt at times like we would score a few, but seldom did, but it also felt like we would concede in most matches. This time because we seem better defensively it has almost got to matches being like groundhog day , we dominate and miss chances and repeat and repeat. Possibly the most exciting match this season was against Barnsley. They came out and had a real go at us. We could have scored 5 or 6 and they could have scored a few too. That match was almost a throwback to last season.

Perhaps it is also because we have become used to how we play. Last season the style and swagger was completely new. Were we really seeing this style of football from the players who had almost all been written off by both the manager and the fans the season before?

I think Bielsa has evolved his tactics, perhaps though it is just the natural progression as he now has players that are completely at ease with the way he wants them to play rather than it being completely alien to them last season. Almost like the players completed part 1 of their learning last year and are now comfortable with what they learnt and are now moving on to the next level of their learning.

I wrongly thought that this season we'd become almost Keeganesque in style and just going all out attacking and winning matches 4-3. I thought we'd score a bucketload and concede a bucketload. I thought we'd score 100+.

We definitely have become a wee bit less gung ho in our approach.

When was the last time we saw a Bielsa side take the ball into the corner flag to see out the final minutes of a game? Yet it happened at home to Blackburn two week ago. Leeds had a FC in a great position iirc.
Compare that with 5 minutes to go against Derby. Heading towards extra time and a man down. Everything going wrong, In any other universe a team would have got to 90 minutes and regrouped, had a breather, got some help from the sidelines.
We didn't, went for broke and left a massive hole where the RB should be and we know the rest....

I think also not having the services of Alioski has contributed too as he brings so much energy and tempo to the game.

But having the services of Ben ( the rock) White as CB has been a huge bonus too.

Overall it has put us in a slightly stronger position.

weasel wrote: ↑Sun Nov 24, 2019 8:10 pm The complete control we had against Derby for 60 to 70 minutes was astounding, they didn't even have a single touch of the ball in our penalty area for over 60 minutes, and the football was a joy to watch. The only thing though that most people take from that game was the disappointing final result.

Despite that dominance we had against Derby, and we did dominate, I just didn't think it felt anywhere near as expansive or exciting as last season.

I don't so much think it's an evolution of tactics but a change in mentality. I spotted this right off the bat this season, that we were playing very conservatively at certain times in the game - the first and last 15-20 mins of each games, which I'm guessing was where we shipped the majority of our goals last season - with us keeping the ball more, sitting a bit deeper and generally easing ourselves into the game more as time goes on.

More like a chess battle at times with us nibbling away at the pawns before going for the kill. A few times last season where we were on top right from the start but conceded an early sucker-punch goal and then struggled to get anything from the match as the opposition parked the bus.

I also get the impression that we've made more defensive substitutions this season but that might just be me. Overall it feels like Bielsa recognises that while all out attack and paying lip service to defence might be customary in the Spanish or South American leagues, the Championship is generally a much more physical competition and teams here are much more likely to park the bus, so he's tweaked that mentality to make us much more resilient and less liable to be hit on the counter.

Mind you, we do have White this time around, who's proven to be a revelation, a perfect Bielsaball centre back. Can't overlook his contributions so far.

I think it's fairly obvious why we're not as fluent this season...

Bielsaball any different to Rinus Michels's total football? Both based on all the players being comfortable on the ball and interchangeable. 74 dutch side fabulous team full of tremendous players. If Bielsa can get our lot to perform like them and to be fair given what he has at his disposal he is doing a pretty good job. Certainly not as gung ho this year so far. Seem a bit more steely so far, but not as easy on the eye.
I'll take that.

bloody editing

faaip wrote: ↑Mon Nov 25, 2019 5:42 pm I think it's fairly obvious why we're not as fluent this season...

It's because we sold Yosuke Ideguchi isnt it?

Yep..