Talking Tactics

Improved defence can help Leeds frustrate Man Utd

By Adrian Clarke 12 Aug 2021
Pascal Struijk, Leeds United

Adrian Clarke says 2020/21 run-in hints at Bielsa's side being a tougher nut to crack this time around

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Adrian Clarke looks at key tactical points in the opening round of 2021/22 fixtures.

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Leeds United will travel to Old Trafford on Saturday determined to give a far better account of themselves defensively than they did on their last visit.

Back in December they were beaten 6-2 by their north-west rivals, who exploited their man-to-man marking with a dynamic display full of progressive movement.

During the first half of the 2020/21 campaign, Marcelo Bielsa's side were the great entertainers, scoring plenty but also shipping a lot of goals.

But in the final 15 fixtures of the season Leeds showed consistent improvement.

The Yorkshire side limited their opponents to a maximum of one goal in 13 of those 15 contests to end a fantastic return to the top flight with an air of stability.

Joint-best defensive record
Last 15 matches Goals against
Chelsea 12
Leeds 12
Liverpool 13
Man Utd 14
Everton 15

One quirk of that terrific defensive run was Bielsa's varied team selections.

Injuries and suspensions played a part in those choices but Diego Llorente, Pascal Struijk, Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling and Gaetano Berardi all enjoyed game time, with fellow centre-back Robin Koch sometimes pushed into central midfield.

Strikingly, as reflected in the table below, Leeds were far more likely to keep a clean sheet when deploying three central defenders in a 3-3-3-1.

Leeds defence in 2020/21 run-in
Centre-back combinations Apps Goals against per 90
Llorente & Struijk 6 1.16
Cooper & Llorente 4 1
Cooper & Struijk  1 1
Cooper, Llorente & Struijk 1 0
Ayling, Llorente & Struijk 1 0
Ayling, Cooper & Llorente 1 0
Ayling, Berardi & Cooper 1 1

In Leeds' final pre-season friendly, a 2-2 draw with Villarreal, Bielsa selected a back four in his favoured 4-1-4-1.

The centre-back pairing consisted of captain Cooper and Struijk, who only played together once during that 15-match stretch.

Leeds intensity

No team covered more distance with their running than Leeds last term, and they also topped the rankings for most sprints too.

In that 6-2 defeat last season, Bielsa's men covered an extra 2.6km than Man Utd but interestingly Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's players matched their neighbours for high-intensity runs.

Leeds made 207 sprints to United's 205 and they will be looking to replicate that industry against their dangerous Matchweek 1 opponents.

Also in this series

Part 1: How Son can lead the line against Man City
Part 2: Can Henry expose Arsenal's right on opening night?

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