It has been bothering me since the preseason games and thought i would air it in a discussion.
Is our current midfield formation correct for the players we have? Is it the players not completing their assigned Tasks correctly? Is it the age of the players not allowing them to meet the requirements in terms of fitness after contacting covid?
Take Klich for example. Prior to his 2 bouts of Covid his fitness levels allowed him to constantly move both in attack and in defence causing oppositions to be dragged out of position for a 90 minutes each game. Since he has returned from his 2 bouts of Covid he look a shell of the player fitness wise he once was. Going by the games thus far this season he looks a 55 minute player. Does this put pressure on the remaining central midfield 2? In my eyes yes.
Dallas also seems to be down on his fitness which has seen him start to resort to the much hated fall over at the slightest contact approach (i hate it). Is this also causing our central midfield trio to not function correctly?
Phillips, has playing for England in a less rigid position in that midfield seen him forget that that Leeds united operate at the best when he is screening in front of the centre backs thus allowing the two Fullback to bomb forward with ease of mind instead of holding to cover the central defender who drawn forward into that number 10 position that other teams forwards are dropping into (where Phillips sat over the past 3 seasons). Is this causing our midfield 3 dynamics to fall apart?
My answer is that all of the above is causing the issues. Not to mention the ball movement has been extremely slow this year and each player taking to many touchs before passing. Take Shackleton's play of a example of our previous 3 seasons touch & ball movement speed was and should be again.
Me, i would play Klich 60 minutes a game and have him replaced by one of our under 23's midfielders (Jenkins or Bates - if McCalmont & Boguez were here they fit nicely into the pairing role for 30 minutes a game) or is Ayling is fit then maybe Shackleton starts there and Klich replaces him at the 70 minute mark. I would have Phillips watch his positioning so far this season and have watch his past 3 seasons and ask him to explain the difference. His strongest ability is to read the game when it is infront of him thus allowing him to either spray passes all over or act as a front sweeper...
What are others thoughts and comments on this?
Daniel, you've certainly made some more than valid points.
Regarding Klich, I do feel that over the last games his performances and fitness levels are somewhat back.
He's a good footballer, puts himself about and does get himself in some very good positions, however rather often he just lacks the power & energy to put away the chance.
In a fair number of games, even in the Championship, I always had the feeling Klich ran out of steam a bit after a good 60 or 70min.
Other games he kept going, but with the number and intentisity of games his effectiveness dwindled.
Dallas to me, per usual has his better & best performances come when he's deployed at left-right fullback or as a wing back.
No doubt he can do a job in center of midfield, but it's just not where his strengths lie.
Philips is a difficult one to judge, to me this far this season he's done well.
However I do get your point he's not protecting the back four as much and ventures forward more.
Think he just wants to prove/show a bit more how good a footballer he really is.
Perhaps in this/his case and for the sake of Leeds, a bit less would mean more. (jeez that's deep).
Firmly agree with you that the pace/movement of the ball has gone down.
Especially when passing out from the back (amongst the back 4 & Meslier).
Obviously makes it easy to close us down.
Hopefully Llorente's incisive passing can help.
Finally, in several games we've not been as compact and/or played as a unit.
Perhaps a lot of these issue are just down to a lack of intensity or fitness.
Good news is that in the last few games the intensity again seems to be improving.
It's a good discussion Daniel.
Phillips - may be suffering a hangover from the Summer, which is understandable but temporary
Klich - may be suffering from 2 bouts of COVID but again temporary
Dallas - suffering from personal issues so far this season but also returning to normal now
The real issue about our midfield is more the support and link they need with the fullbacks pushing up to thrive. Bill has been well off the pace and Junior is settling in - that's left the midfield exposed - at a time when as mentioned above they've had other distractions
We also have to accept everybody knows what we're about now, which makes the prep harder.
You do need to take into consideration that Phillips played in the world cup over the summer and missed pre season, and is by default, out of sync with the rest of the teams preparations. Klich also was playing in the world cup and didn't get much of a break. Dallas wasnt, but he was captaining Northern Ireland. Now you could argue that's the same for every team, but pre-season is more important to Bieslas Leeds than it is for any other team.
I would also add that Phillips was deployed in a different type of midfield position for England - one, I suspect he prefers, and that has its own challenges for the coaches to deal with.
Personally, I think it's time to make Shackleton our first choice end to end midfielder. And I think it's only a matter of time before Bate makes his first team debut - in what position, I don't know, as he looks capable of playing any central role.
KP is suffering from the school teacher thinking he is a No.8. KP has made his name as a No.6.
No surprise we win the last game when he has reverted to his best position but in the first 5 when he plays further forward we do not win!
No surprise when Engaarland fail to beat Hungary without KP in a dire perfomance.
Southgate is lucky he has a great crop of players that bail out his tactical ineptitude! Proven at Boro.
Pretty much agree to all the above. Midfield is our single biggest problem. Slow in movement, slow in thought, and so frustratingly powerless shooting efforts.
The formation that works the best for us is 4-1-4-1. Klich, Dallas, Ayling, Cooper are good, experienced squad players, but I think Bielsa should show some O’Leary attitude and trust the youngsters:
Meslier
Drameh/Shackleton-Llorente-Cresswell-Firpo
Phillips
Raphinha-Bate-Greenwood-James
Bamford/Gelhardt
I don’t at all buy into the saying that young players should be protected and not be started too early. Look at Harvey Elliott, Phil Foden, Marcus Rashford and many more. Rather play the optimistic talented youth than the disillusioned tired ‘oldies’.
Rodrigo and Roberts need to be off-loaded asap. Bogusz and McCalmont should be taken home to the club. A Gordon Strachan or Gary McCallister midfielder leader type should be acquired at any cost to (1) stabilize the admittedly unexperienced midfield in the above 4-1-4-1 and (2) to lead which no-one does at the moment.
Rant over. MOT.
Roberts and Rodrigo are a waste of a shirt, tired of defending them.
Dallas at LB does not work. He needs to sort his mind out.
Put Baby Shacks in as a No 8, Bate as the No6 and Drameh as the RB and leave Gelhadt up top as the 9 v Wolves. McCarron in at LB.
I just want us to show some effort.