Blackburn Rovers – Leeds United 2-1 (1-1)
Sat 21/10/2018 Matchday 13
Starting Line Ups
Not all is lost after this game, but the benefits of winning it may haunt Leeds for a while. Unfortunately, Leeds missed a great opportunity at Ewood Park. They could have won that game and sit comfortably on the top of the league and more importantly feel the confidence of a team that even when it doesn’t perform that well in comparison to other games, still manages to slip by with 3 points. This is a characteristic of promotion-potential teams and as of yet Leeds do not have it. Moreover, weak spots that had time to appear and made us think that are cured returned once again with force (defensive set pieces).
Game Plans And Formations
Leeds started the game with the usual formation, 1-4-1-4-1, with Philips in front of the defense and Klich and Saiz not limiting themselves on one side but constantly moving to create overloads, normally Saiz behind enemy midfielders and Klich in front of them initially. This game saw the return of Berardi as a full back (and not as a central defender as in the games until his injury) and Roofe as a winger (and not as a striker as in the games until his injury).
For Roofe especially it was an interesting choice, which helped in the builiding-up and creation of attempts with good conditions, as he occupied an inside positioning which allowed him to link plays. This was further helped from the poor defending of Blackburn’s left winger no7, Armstrong.
So, the right conditions were met. What Leeds lacked in this game was area presence as Roberts strangely many times was far from finishing zones and Roofe couldn’t get there in time (or he was the one delivering the cross as right winger). Alioski just can’t compete to win headers from crosses.
Good combinations between Klich and Saiz on build up were also there.
However, it seems that some players or are underperforming now or (worse still) were overperforming in the first games. Better example than Alioski there can’t be. In the last games he simply can’t help his team. He seems afraid to put his feet in the fire, can’t go on 1v1 against his rival, his corners go to waste etc. Another player that can’t help the team is Dallas. He clearly is not a full back (he started as right back but Blackburn’s left winger passed him twice like he wasn’t there so he switched sides with Berardi) and can’t help his team either defensively either offensively.
No wonder that when he went to the left side almost all of Leeds’ build up with good conditions happened from the right side, as for example in the equalizer at the end of the 1st half:
Roofe played well in the first 30 minutes as a winger, then got lost as a striker before returning as a right-winger on the second half. Given the fact that when Hernandez entered at the 70th minute (right after Blackburn’s second goal) his influence on the game was immediate as he helped create some dangerous situations, maybe he should have entered at the interval. The same goes for youngster Clarke who seems able to pass his opponent on 1v1 situations and maybe should be preferred over Alioski as left-winger.
On the other hand, Blackburn played with a 1-4-2-3-1 formation while attacking and with a 1-4-4-2 while defending. Their game plan offensively was simple: play long balls on Leeds’ left side with their striker going there to win the first or second ball and then try to isolate their left winger no7 Armstrong for him to go on 1v1. In any case be direct with the ball and finish the attempt with a cross or shot as soon as possible and without committing too many players.
It’s true that Armstrong was poor defending but when a player can give you so much attacking maybe it’s worth the risk. Armstrong created at least 4-5 other chances using only his individual skills on counter attacking by passing his opponents like they weren’t there (Dallas, Jansson, Klich , Berardi all fell victim to his velocity and strength). Leeds could have conceded one or two goals from him alone.
In the end though, is it not ‘cheap’ to lose because of two corner kicks?
https://www.leedsunited.com/video/101003/extended-highlights-blackburn-rovers
Video source: leedsunited.com
Conclusion
As Bielsa said after the game, Leeds have now entered a low point in the season. It is in their hands to win the next games to improve their situation. He said that some of his options (e.g. Dallas as right back) were not correct as he was thinking more on the attack and didn’t take into account Armstrong’s great 1v1 skills.
It’s true that the offensive play (build-up, mechanisms, reaching the opponent’s area) was good but even so something is amiss. As every team will have ups and downs it’s crucial to find a way to win even when not playing good. That means having a stronger, more ‘hard’ defense that avoids conceding avoidable goals and maybe more importantly finding a way to score in a more reliable way (for example set pieces can be a reliable way of scoring when all things go wrong).
The absence of some key players, even if Bielsa doesn’t say it, and rightly so to keep his players’ morale high, played an important role in the last games. That indicates that the options are limited. So Bielsa needs to come up to some tricks to ‘mask’ this vulnerability…
Statistics
Standings
All images source: wyscout.com unless otherwise indicated
THE FOOTBALL ISSUES 