A week in football is a long time and there could not be a bigger difference between Javi Gracia’s Leeds United preparations now and last Wednesday. For one, the players were recovering from a hard 90 minutes at Fulham this time last week, which is a world away from the managed workloads of training at Thorp Arch.
The new head coach had even admitted the last thing he needed from the opening weeks of his tenure was three matches in the space of eight days. Gracia is still getting to know his environment, club staff, their routines, the players, their habits and trying to get across his tactical philosophy.
It’s hard to do when you have a cup game plonked in the middle of your vital first, official week with the players on the training pitches. The clear run at Brighton & Hove Albion from last weekend’s Chelsea loss should make a big difference for Gracia and his staff.
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There is another aspect to this week’s preparation which will make life easier for Gracia too. Last weekend, he made a point of flagging Chelsea’s unpredictable backline as a problem Leeds had to solve on the fly.
“We tried to be aggressive from the beginning,” he said. “We didn’t know if they play with four or three at the back and we manage all these options and we tried to adjust during the game and we did it well.”
The problems Leeds had with this were evident in the forlorn work Georginio Rutter was left to do at the head of the press. The French striker had three centre-backs to deal with a lot of the time, which gave Chelsea the freedom of Stamford Bridge to play out from the back.
Wide players Crysencio Summerville and Jack Harrison were caught in two minds on either competing with the wing-backs or helping Rutter with the back three. Chelsea exploited that.
Brighton should be far more of a known quantity. Roberto De Zerbi began his Seagulls tenure with a variety of 3-4-3, 4-4-2 and 3-4-1-2 shapes before eventually settling on a 4-2-3-1.
Aside from a one-off 3-4-3 employed at home to embattled Bournemouth, the Italian has played 4-2-3-1 in every match since November 13. Gracia can also be quietly confident which defenders he is preparing to face too.
Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster and Pervis Estupinan have locked down three-quarters of the backline, while Joel Veltman and Tariq Lamptey seem to be harder to call at right-back. Brighton are flying high and enjoying an outstanding season, but their predictable shape should at least quell one of the problems Gracia had last week.
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