Leeds United seeking improvement ahead of expected return of fans to Elland Road

With the West Yorkshire city expected to be moved into Tier 2 of the Government’s Coronavirus restrictions tomorrow, Elland Road will be allowed to admit up to 2,000 spectators for the first time since the March 7 victory over Huddersfield Town.

However, any decision reached tomorrow will not come into effect until the weekend, meaning the match against Newcastle United will be played behind closed doors, although London clubs have already been told they cannot have fans at their midweek fixtures, with the capital set to move into Tier 3.

Brighton and Hove Albion, Southampton, Liverpool and Everton are the only other Premier League clubs currently in Tier 2 locations. There are no league clubs in Tier 1, where up to 4,000 fans would be allowed.

League Two Harrogate Town have so far been Yorkshire’s only league club able to welcome supporters.

The fixture list is not kind in the sense that the December 27 game against Burnley is due to be Leeds’s only other home game until Southampton visit on the second weekend of January.

Leeds coach Marcelo Bielsa has previously said he thinks it is unfair that some clubs have been allowed fans in their ground while others continue to play behind closed doors. It is a view shared by his Sheffield United counterpart Chris Wilder.

The Whites must now improve the mood for the return of their fans. After beating Everton it was buoyant but such is the fluctuating nature of this season’s Premier League, matches against Chelsea and West Ham United have dragged it down.

Leeds have conceded from dead-ball situations in both games – decisively against the Hammers, whose goals in the 2-1 win both came from set pieces – but despite it being a longstanding problem, Bielsa feels it has more to do with being up against bigger and better opponents than their own flaws.

“We have conceded four goals from set pieces, and what highlights this problem is it happened in consecutive games,” he commented. “It happened against (Angelo) Ogbonna of West Ham, Kurt Zouma of Chelsea and (Virgil) van Dijk of Liverpool. The fourth was against Tomas Soucek of West Ham, who had a significant height advantage over his marker.

“It’s normal that our best headers come up against the best headers in the Premier League, so it’s normal they can lose these duels.

“We usually have two very good headers of the ball – our two centre-backs, (Liam) Cooper, (Robin) Koch, (Diego) Llorente or (Pascal) Struijk. In the games where we haven’t had Koch or Llorente (through injury), other players like (Kalvin) Phillips or (Luke) Ayling have had to assume this responsibility even though aerial ability is not their strength.

“We’ve conceded four goals and of those four, three have been scored by three of the best headers of the ball in the Premier League. For the other one, Soucek had a 15cm advantage over the player marking him.

“When they ask me how do you resolve the problem with defensive set pieces it is a lot more linked to the things I have mentioned than training.”

Bielsa does Soucek a disservice. He has scored three Premier League headers since making his debut in February, a tally only bettered by Harry Kane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Bielsa also paid tribute to former Liverpool, Aston Villa and France manager Gerard Houllier, who has died.

“It’s very hurtful news,” said Bielsa, whose paths never crossed with the Frenchman on the field. “He is a man who left his mark on football. Every time someone who has contributed so much to football leaves us it is always a feeling of sadness.”

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