Leeds seem happy with their personnel in defence – but should they be? - The Athletic 29/12/22

By Phil Hay

A portion of Leeds United’s attention in the build-up to the transfer window has been devoted to the contracts held by their centre-backs. Pascal Struijk agreed new terms last week, Diego Llorente followed suit a few days later and an extension for Robin Koch is in the pipeline, waiting to be formalised.

It gives the club the services of Struijk until 2027, Llorente until 2026 and Liam Cooper until 2024, with Koch likely to sign up next. There are firm and credible links now to Max Wober at RB Salzburg, a 24-year-old who Salzburg use as either a left-sided central defender or a left-back, and events give the impression of stockpiling at play, of Leeds wanting numbers in that particular area beyond the here and now.

Struijk’s extension was common sense, a greater commitment to a 23-year-old who has been on a good upward curve for a while and made the Netherlands squad for the first time this season.

In contrast, three and a half more years for Llorente caused greater surprise, dishing up a deal which takes him to the age of 33. Llorente is a Spain international with a resume full of La Liga clubs but in the Premier League, he has swung between starting to look settled and appearing exposed. It is a while since he seemed truly comfortable or indeed had a starting place nailed down.

Why, then, the push to tie that particular crop down and potentially add another option from the Red Bull stable? Part of the answer is that Leeds, on the basis of what is being said in recruitment circles, believe the general price of centre-backs is about to rise substantially. They estimate that the cost of transfers in that position will become steeper in the years ahead and those in the building already could conceivably become more valuable.

The club see Llorente as someone who is still on the fringes of Spain’s squad, with a new coach in Luis de la Fuente taking over. They want him in the meantime and think that somewhere down the line, he could retain some resale value. Time will be the judge of that.

Increasingly, the left side of defence is what Leeds need to nail down. There is agreement all round that when it comes to the pecking order of right-sided centre-backs, Koch is first. Jesse Marsch has also gone all-in on Rasmus Kristensen at right-back. But the other side of the pitch is more of a moveable feast.

Struijk looks like the long-term answer as a left-leaning central defender but for now he is playing at left-back, primarily because Leeds have no one they are more willing to rely on there (albeit with the intention to recruit next month). Llorente is younger than Cooper but Cooper consistently gets the nod when he is fit, the older campaigner Marsch likes to pair with Koch. One of the problems for Cooper this season is that fitness has not been his friend.

It was kinder to him last night, a minor calf strain easing in time for him to make the visit of Manchester City to Elland Road. A cynic might have said that there was a blessing to be found in avoiding a night on the tail of Erling Haaland but Cooper’s Premier League career began with a chasing from Fernando Torres and he is not prone to dodging tussles. He partnered Koch and Struijk kept his place out wide, a line of the players Leeds have been committed to for a while. The club’s recent decisions feel like their way of saying that the collection of players at the back is, give or take, not something they want to deviate from drastically.

As Marsch said beforehand, there is every need to be both competent and lucky with Haaland. It is possible to do the right things against him, make the right calls and get done regardless on the basis that he does all of that at a higher level than most of the players he is stalking. There was the risk, too, that eyes pinned themselves to Haaland while fires broke out elsewhere on the pitch but there Haaland was after 40 seconds, sprinting onto Nathan Ake’s pass and almost finishing with a lob which Illan Meslier’s left hand stifled before Struijk cleared from a few yards out.

Pace hurts this Leeds defence and City had it in spades. Meslier, recovered from glandular fever, stood between them and the first goal with repeated saves. Jack Grealish seemed incapable of finishing from any distance. Leeds covered endless amounts of ground, compelled to grind off the ball, but their care with the little possession they had was sorely lacking and in the first minute of first-half injury-time, Pep Guardiola’s side went end to end, stringing the passes together and swarming the box so that Rodri was on hand to score after Riyad Mahrez’s shot was saved. This last ditch was one too many.

One-nil became 2-0 when Cooper tried a pass which caught Koch on his heels with Grealish homing in on him and in an instant, Grealish was laying on a tap-in for Haaland, as easy a goal as the Premier League will give the Norwegian. Haaland enhanced his Elland Road credentials by avoiding a celebration but he had the comfort of knowing the game was as good as done before he stuck away his second of the night and City’s third on 66 mins.

Cooper’s night was done soon after, making way for Llorente, and somehow on an evening when City should have been feet up and cruising, Leeds made them work by pulling one goal back through Struijk and almost snatching another through Joe Gelhardt. It made City think but only briefly and the reception for Haaland at full-time — as warm as a player who has never turned out in white can ever have had from the crowd at Elland Road — was an admission of the fact that the margins were wide, not least in City’s tally of 21 shots.

These are not the games that will matter for Leeds or games on which to ruthlessly judge centre-backs but nor can they ignore the trend of concessions giving them too much to do.