Leeds United v Arsenal - Marcelo Bielsa on attack to explain leaking defence

Ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Arsenal, the football professor gave a lecture into the Whites’ eight league matches this season. It has been a mixed bag, the more thrilling for it. They started with 4-3s – one lost, one won – and ended with consecutive 4-1 defeats. In between were a 3-0 victory at an Aston Villa side looking to go top of the Premier League, and a dramatic derby win over Sheffield United. Win, lose or draw – as against Manchester City – it is never dull.

The same cannot always be said about Bielsa’s media briefings. He began reticently on Zoom yesterday.

The regulars heard a familiar answer when asked how the Whites had adjusted to the Premier League: “It’s too few game to say.”

What about Frank Lampard’s comments that management was all-consuming, and what advice did he have? “I agree with the analysis and I never like to give advice.”

Then, like Pablo Hernandez (injured today) facing a packed defence, a chink was found.

“I’m going to try and give you a detailed response,” said Bielsa when asked for his analysis of the back-to-back defeats. What followed was 21 minutes of the closest thing to a monologue when passed via an interpreter, an insight into the risk/reward approach that has enriched England’s top division.

After 17 goals conceded in eight matches, critics have not been shy picking at Leeds’s faults.

“We have conceded the most goals in the Premier League, 17,” he acknowledges. “The teams who have conceded the least (Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City) have conceded nine. You don’t analyse numbers, you analyse the situations and whether they were preventable.

“When a coach wants to improve his team defensively, he makes sure his team is not in a disadvantageous position. From the 17 goals conceded, there were four penalties which were preventable and not linked to structural mistakes. We conceded three own goals and one goal caused by something preventable.

“If we hadn’t conceded those eight goals we would be one of the teams that has conceded the fewest in the Premier League.”

When Bielsa is thanked he breaks into rare English, holding his hand out and demanding, “Wait.” He is just warming up.

“I analysed the seven ways we conceded,” he explains. “Direct free-kicks – as we commit very few fouls we only conceded one goal this way.

“From crosses at set-plays we have improved a lot. We conceded three in the first game but only one in seven since. At one point in the Championship they were a problem.

“Another problem in the Championship was opponents scoring by going long from their own half. This is very common in English football, much more in the Championship. We haven’t conceded any. Throw-ins have taken greater importance and we haven’t conceded any from them.

“In these four aspects, Leeds’s defensive game has been good. But you can’t analyse a team’s defensive performance without analysing their offensive performance.

“It’s very easy to defend well if you decide not to attack. Leeds and Liverpool create the most danger in the league, or Leeds are in the top three depending on the criteria. We‘ve scored an important amount of goals (14) that have put us in mid-table.

“You can’t attack well if you don’t take risks, one of which is to play out from your own half. We have conceded six goals because as we built in our own half, we have lost the ball.

“This is a cost to Leeds’s style. We wouldn’t be one of the three teams that create the most danger if we played long from our goalkeeper.

“The second consequence is counter-attacks when opponents have a lot of free players and space to move into. We’ve only conceded three this way.

“There’s also evaluations of the game which are badly interpreted. Against Crystal Palace we didn’t suffer any dangerous counter-attacks. If you watch the fourth goal, we are attacking, we misplaced two passes which could have left us five against two – that is a counter-attack. After we lost the ball we conceded despite a clear defensive superiority.

“The third element of why we have conceded has been when we can’t neutralise an attack built in our half. Why are we conceding these goals? Because in the Premier League we have 40 of the best forwards in the world and our defensive system depends a lot on pressing well when a team builds from the back. When we press well at the start of an attack, we defend well. When we don’t, the ball arrives in our half with the opponents comfortable. We have conceded three goals this way.

“The two games we defended worst in were the games in which we received most praise – Manchester City and Liverpool.”

If you want the smoothness of Bielsa’s football, you have to accept the rough of the last two defeats. After some pretty slim years, surely most Leeds supporters would sign up.

“I had two options,” says Bielsa, apologetically, “to consume all your time and bore you with this explanation or give you a typical response with not a lot of detail.”

It felt like he ought to be in a lecture hall and was worth paying a tuition fee to hear.

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