Leeds United board read signpost and try to avoid Premier League 'but' with new direction - YEP 22/2/23

Leeds United title winner Tony Dorigo writes exclusively for the Yorkshire Evening Post as Javi Gracia takes on a huge, high-pressure job at Elland Road.

By Tony Dorigo

From a player's point of view, playing against Manchester United, managing to go up against a really good team and play well, those are actually easier games to deal with than the ones where the pressure is really on and you're up against a team that is really struggling.

That's what we saw. The two Manchester United performances largely took care of themselves, but then when you go up against a side who are playing under a lot of pressure, under a new manager, that's when you have to really show what you're about. Unfortunately, that just wasn't the case. The performance against Everton was hugely disappointing because they were no great shakes themselves and at times the quality of the game was pretty shocking. We couldn't really play with any fluency, couldn't string passes together and we were certainly on the worst end of any sort of chances that were coming in the game. So after that, you think right, something needs to be done, this is a signpost, some sort of direction needs to be given to the team and that's what the club has gone for with Javi Gracia.

LaLiga, Watford and QSL experts have their say on Javi Gracia.#lufc https://t.co/yGn3SxYfiD

— Leeds United News (@LeedsUnitedYEP) February 21, 2023

His experience and his prior knowledge of the Premier League is absolutely key to his appointment by the board. When you look at the managers we were initially linked with, men who are very successful, doing very well right now but they were not men with Premier League experience. There was always a but. We don't need that right now, what we need is something secure, solid, something to cling on to and build from.

It might have been successful had it been Andoni Iraola or Arne Slot, but you would think that someone with Premier League experience has got to be a little bit ahead in terms of settling in and then getting the results we need.

We've got time but we do need someone now to hit the ground running, someone to understand what's in front of them, and to get on with things.

It is a huge job because the pressure is really on given the way that things have gone. We had a huge chance at Everton and they grabbed it. We didn't. We've got another one on Saturday against Southampton but eventually those chances will start running out. At the moment there's a fair number of games but when you start looking at the teams above and the points differences there is no room now for making mistakes or letting things slip. From that point of view, it is a huge job. I think the expectations that we all had at the start of the season was that this time around, we wouldn't be in the same position. Yet we're kind of in the same situation if not worse. So that just shows why the pressure is on.

What I think his appointment will do is have an impact on the atmosphere at Elland Road this weekend, which will still be intense and perhaps nervous, but had we gone into it managerless it could have been even more fraught.

It's amazing what can happen when a new manager comes in. By all accounts he's certainly a disciplinarian, which I think is good. He did rather well in his time at Watford and although these are new surroundings, a new situation, new players and for him a difficult job, for everyone else his arrival will be a huge lift. The players will no doubt embrace it and hopefully they can take some strength, belief and understanding into this game.