Signs at Thorp Arch that 'assertive' Raphinha is still fully engaged in Leeds United's fight - YEP 10/3/22

Raphinha might have gone off the boil but, according to Jesse Marsch, the Brazilian is showing signs that he’s still full of confidence and fully engaged in the Leeds United fight.

By Graham Smyth

The nine goals that have come from the 25-year-old makes him the club’s top goalscorer and, for a long time, he was Leeds’ biggest hope in the final third. At times, he was their only hope, with Patrick Bamford missing through various injuries and the rest of the club’s attackers struggling to supply consistent end product. If individual errors and the man-marking system were the bane of the defensive corps at Elland Road, inconsistency was what plagued the forwards.

That situation always held a danger that, if Raphinha was to go through his own loss of form, Leeds would be in big trouble. And here we are.

Raphinha has scored once in Leeds’ nine Premier League games since the turn of the year and can boast just one assist in that time. When he was on it, his tricks left defenders red faced and put him in space to create and he could have nutmegged a mermaid. There was a four-game streak earlier in the season, when he was flying, that resulted in 16 successful dribbles and a hat-trick of nutmegs.

Now, the ball is bouncing back off shins, ankles and knees, as if it balloons in size every time Raphinha tries to flick or push it through or past a defender’s legs. Thirteen times he's pulled off a nutmeg this season but not once has it happened in the last four games. In the last six he's managed just five successful dribbles.

The killer crosses he’s so capable of producing have been replaced with nothing balls that float into goalkeepers’ hands or out the far side of the box.

At Leicester City, when he went past Luke Thomas in the second half, it was a sight for sore eyes because, more often than not at present, his route to the byline or the area is being blocked with alarming ease.

If Marsch had a cure for form, he wouldn’t be working at Elland Road, he’d be off plotting a Champions League assault with one of the world’s richest clubs, but he says there are things he and his staff can do to bring Raphinha back to his best.

“I think making it clear what the tactics are and what we want from him in different moments, with and without the ball,” he said. “Having him being aggressive and confident in one-v-one- situations and transition moments, have him be explosive and use his ability to run and sprint and do that over and over again - he’s one of the most fit players on the team.”

Marsch says Raphinha’s team-mates can help, too, echoing something Bielsa once said about finding the winger with the ball in the right areas.

“For the team to understand how to find him, how to use him, how to help support him so that he can be all the things that we know he can and help us find goals and assists and be aggressive,” said the American.

Anything that Leeds can do to help Raphinha, will help them immeasurably with 11 huge games left in the season. Anything Raphinha can do to help his club will be to his benefit too. The contract Leeds are offering, which would increase a salary that does not reflect his status, remains unsigned and, although the managerial upheaval at Elland Road has pulled focus in the past fortnight, talk of an extension for Raphinha has quietened.

If a summer move has been on his mind, a strong finish to the season would surely help grease the wheels but, even at the most basic and obvious level, no one wants a relegation on their CV. Raphinha would have found his way to a top Champions League club without Leeds United, but it was the Whites who brought him to the Premier League and the world stage, and he owes them his very best.

Even if the nutmegs have stopped working, he cannot, and, if nothing else, he can give all of his athleticism and grit to the team. Marsch had to encourage him to return to the fight, out of possession, late in the second half at Leicester. There have been times when his body language has given up, even if his heart and legs have not.

Whatever the motives may be for a player eyeing a 2022 World Cup place and a bright future, Marsch has found a player who appears heavily invested in the team’s success and not one who has checked out early.

“What I like about him is, I called on him at one of the meetings this week and he spoke English in front of the group in a confident way, he also has come to us several times and said, ‘I’d like to do this at set-pieces, I’d like to do this when I’m in this part of the field’, so I like that he’s assertive, I like that he’s confident,” said the head coach.

“We’re going to use that to help us continue to find results as a team.”

Leeds were never a one-man show even when Raphinha was running the show and it’s not down to him to save them from relegation.

Perhaps the best thing for Raphinha would be for another to catch fire and take some of the heat off him. Bamford is one you would expect to share the burden, if he can get himself fully fit and firing again. Listening to Jack Harrison this week, Marsch’s arrival has fired him right up, but that has to translate to the goals and assists he’s been struggling to find this season. Daniel James is getting in great positions and his hard work is not getting the rewards it deserves. Whoever it is that finds red-hot form may allow Raphinha to quietly start simmering again. His ability is unquestioned, but it would be more than a shame for his season to end with question marks instead of exclamation marks.

Making Leeds harder to play against and more defensively solid has occupied much of Marsch’s time since he replaced Bielsa and the next part, getting them to click again in the final third, will be equally important. There were promising signs at Leicester, chances made that should have been sufficient to earn a point at least and Raphinha was in amongst it. His best work has often been seen coming in from the very touchline, exploding into central areas, but in Marsch's new narrower system he may have to find other ways to surprise defenders. It's down to the head coach to ensure his formation and tactics get the best out of all Leeds' attackers and their various abilities and strengths.

Bringing Raphinha back to the boil, however he achieves it, will be key.