Defensive strength has given Leeds United a platform to be early leaders of Championship

The improvement in Leeds United is laid bare in the league table which shows 10 goals conceded, compared to 18 at this stage of last season.
Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa.Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa.
Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa.

Goalkeeper Kiko Casilla has been outstanding, vastly improved on the player who joined for the second half of last term. On-loan centre-back Ben White has not only replaced Pontus Jansson, but surpassed him.

But it goes beyond the defensive unit, as Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Hull City demonstrated. The Whites are extremely well-drilled and hard to break down. No wonder there is no rush to bring back central defender Liam Cooper after calf trouble.

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“When we have played against Hull, we knew that they were the best team at making counter-attacks,” said Marcelo Bielsa. “We had a lot of possession and just suffered one counter-attack. When you make a mistake in possession and they recover the ball and counter-attack quickly, we controlled that well and suffered just one situation of this kind.

“When you play against a counter-attacking team, don’t play in the opponent’s half or take risks. We played in the opponent’s half, we had the ball, and in this context we have suffered two chances.”

Hull’s greatest strength is wingers Kamil Grosicki and Jarrod Bowen but both were relatively subdued at Elland Road. When Hull threatened at the start of the second half, it largely came from centre-forward Tom Eaves.

Over 90 minutes of football, Bielsa is a control freak whose way of playing is based around possession. Fulham are the only Championship side to have had more of the ball this season. Defensively, the strategy is about keeping the opposition away from the back four, and avoiding one-on-one situations.

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“In the first half on Tuesday we controlled the match without (many) chances for Hull, but we didn’t have a lot of chances,” Bielsa reflected.

“In the second half, both teams attacked, but we scored twice and had more chances.

“In this context I think the performance was one of our best and we deserved our victory. But sometimes you can analyse the match in just one minute.

“Casilla made a great save and 10 seconds later we scored again (Ezgjan Alioski doubling the lead Jordy de Wijs’s own goal had given Leeds).

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“To analyse the play, the game, you need to analyse the full match. We could have drawn but we won by two goals.

“We were lucky, but after when you analyse the full match, the conclusions are different.”

Cooper has missed the last two games with a calf strain but Bielsa said his captain is “much better” ahead of Saturday’s Championship visit of Cardiff City.

“If there is any risk that he’s not 100 per cent, we’re not going to consider him,” said Bielsa, who will not have any other players back from injury.

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Gaetano Berardi deputised in the wins over Huddersfield Town and Hull, and thinks a lot of the credit for Leeds’s solidity at the back is down to the head coach.

“We train hard every day,” he said. “He is trying to give us a lot of information on the other teams and we are doing sessions that help us to improve every day.
You can see the results.”