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.