Pressing. Intensity. Man-to-man marking. Rapid turnovers. Hunting in packs. Running the legs off the rest of the division. Leeds United’s identity has been clear for the past four-and-a-half years under Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch.
It was entirely natural then for the Elland Road faithful to feel a little uneasy and fractious as they watched their attackers stand by as Brighton & Hove Albion defenders passed the ball between themselves last weekend. It required a lot of patience and understanding not only from the supporters, but from a group of players conditioned to do anything but stand off and be passive.
In isolation, taking a point from a team within reaching distance of Champions League qualification is an excellent outcome for a club second from bottom. Bournemouth, of course, had put greater urgency on the afternoon with their lunchtime surprise.
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The approach to facing Brighton has faced scrutiny in the hours and days since full-time. Javi Gracia has talked about balance more than once since arriving at Elland Road and when he addressed the topic yesterday you could tell some of the criticism had cut through.
“What I can tell you is I understand someone was frustrated because we are as well because we only get a point, but the way we did it is something I tried to explain after the game,” he said.
“For me, the players deserve all the credit because they did really well. I know in some moments, when we were losing, all of us, me as well, was thinking now we need to press more higher.
“We need to be more aggressive, I know, but I know what happens when the teams are pressing this team very high and you are not good at pressing man to man in the opposition half, I know what happens. After watching many games, after studying and analysing the team a lot, we decided to do this.”
There was an element of a reality check to what Gracia said. The Spaniard is acutely aware this is a team which has struggled for consistency in the top flight since August 2021. The way they have been playing since the start of last season has not generated the results they need to feel safe in the Premier League.
Gracia does not want to be painted as a negative, pragmatic, meek, passive proponent of the beautiful game, but, with relegation looming, needs must. There was energy in the head coach’s answer on this topic in Thursday’s press conference, it had clearly pushed his buttons this week.
There will be different plans for different teams and, when the moment’s right, there will be a high press and turnovers in the opposition’s half of the field.
“What, for me, is important is the players followed the plan until the end and they were faithful until the end,” he said. “That's the reason I believe in these players.
“They are going to do what we think is better for the team and that is really important in the next games. We only got a point, okay, I know we need the three points in all the games, but playing against other teams we will have different plans.
“Maybe we can be more aggressive. Maybe we can recover more balls in the opposition half. I'm not going to now explain the [Wolverhampton Wanderers] plan to you, of course, but I like to see my players pressing high, I'd like to see my players recovering many balls in opposite half, but we need a balance and that balance is what we are working on every day, day in day out.”
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