Your nervous system - The Square Ball 23/2/22

I THANK MY SPARK INSIDE

Written by: Steven York

It’s no secret Marcelo Bielsa instructs his teams to play a specific way. You don’t need to stand on a public footpath and observe a training session to discover what tactical system he’ll be fielding. The limitation is that it relies on winning individual battles for it to work. Lately we’ve been losing those battles.

It’s obvious why they’re being lost, too, even if football pundits (and many fans) are willfully blind to it. Leeds just don’t have the calibre of players in every position for this system to routinely work at this level. That’s partially because we’ve been so unlucky with injuries (see Pat Bamford, Kalvin Phillips and the carousel of centre-backs in Rob Price’s hospital for wounded players). But it’s also partially because the Premier League has such high quality and many in our squad are playing at the ceiling of their abilities.

That’s no criticism. We have great players, who I love dearly. But watching the game against Scum highlighted this perfectly. Adam Forshaw played really well, but Paul Pogba outclassed him every time in their individual battles. That’s not because Forshaw is a bad player at all, but Pogba cost almost £100m, so you’d expect him to win that duel.

For Leeds to win individual battles against top calibre players we need our own top calibre players. Kalvin Phillips is one, but he’s injured. Patrick Bamford is another, but he’s also injured. There’s a reason why Raphinha plays so well — because he’s often better than the left-back he’s up against. It’s unfair to expect or criticise Luke Ayling for not consistently getting the better of Raheem Sterling, when they’re worth wildly different amounts. If Leeds had spent £60m on a right-back then fair enough, but we haven’t, and we won’t.

There is a blend of problems here. Leeds have an ageing spine that needs attention. I wrote about this recently in issue four of the magazine this season: many of the players we rely on are going to be past their prime soon (Klich 31, Dallas 30, Ayling 30, Cooper 30, Forshaw 30, Rodrigo 30) so even if they’re winning their individual battles now, they’ll be losing the war before long.

This is where the reliance on individual players requires patience and understanding. Leeds United as a unit are excellent and we can all agree how fun it has been watching exciting, end-to-end football. The bravery we show by paying no respect to the objective dominance of other teams is to be commended. But when you play against teams that are significantly better than you man for man, it’s hard to play this way and win.

To win, you need better players. The system is not the problem.

This is where Leeds need to hold their nerve. Social media always has a small number of fans calling for Big Sam or Tony Pulis to ‘shore things up’ when results aren’t going our way. This season is no different. Our shameful inability to defend set pieces, compounded by a heavily depleted squad, has meant noticeable shortcomings in our performances lately. No one is denying this. We’re misplacing passes and inviting pressure. We’re losing individual battles against world-class players, and even against generally decent ones. It isn’t enjoyable to watch, but it’s just where we are.

Leeds should continue their commitment to this direction of travel, or it will all have been for nothing. This is what Bielsa means when he defends a lack of new signings by suggesting there was no player available better than the ones he has. If Mateusz Klich is losing his battles, bringing in an alternative who is also going to lose those battles doesn’t move Leeds United forwards. For this approach to work better, every player needs to be better.

As a thought experiment, Bielsa argues that if he had perfect players in every position — maybe robots — then he would never lose a game. We’ve experienced the opposite this season because we’ve had to endure so many absences. Now isn’t the time to panic. Now is the time to commit fully to this vision, trust we’ve got enough quality to keep our heads above water (the goal all along, don’t forget), and believe the ownership hierarchy are able to recruit well enough to move the club forward in the future. We have something to build on. The system is fine.

Angus Kinnear has always maintained the two-year period following promotion is critical, and keeping the club in the Premier League by any means is the only goal. Whatever happens it’s clear the upcoming summer will be a pivotal time for Leeds United. Retaining or replacing huge players like Raphinha as well as bringing in better options to take over from others is clearly key. Retaining or replacing Bielsa is the elephant in the room. Perhaps we’ll start to understand more about the role the 49ers are going to play in our future? That’s a conversation for another day.

In the final minutes of Leeds’ defeat against Scum, the home crowd was united in songs praising Marcelo Bielsa. As someone posted on Twitter after the game, ‘I’d rather be us and lose than be them and win’, a perfect encapsulation of the situation. We have an identity and what we should do is invest in it further. If you want defensive, cautious football there are no shortage of options for you elsewhere.

Though if we could perhaps find a way to stop conceding from corners like they were penalties, that’d be great too.