Last week’s impressive showings against Manchester United were built on the back of Luke Ayling. If Michael Skubala is to successfully pull the same level from the team, and crucial points, week by week then he needs the team’s senior pros to stand tall.
Ayling led from the front in putting together possibly his best week in Leeds United colours. In each of the matches, wearing the captain’s armband in Liam Cooper’s absence, the 31-year-old led from the front and dragged the rest of the team with him.
Whether it was Alejandro Garnacho at Old Trafford or Marcus Rashford at Elland Road, Ayling adapted to any and all challenges. He was vocal, he lead from the front, he won his tackles, timed them perfectly, showed attacking ambition to overlap and got stuck into the grittiness matches like these need.
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Skubala’s confidence will have grown off the back of those performances. The caretaker’s authority in the dressing room should only tighten with time as the figurehead at Thorp Arch.
The former futsal chief knows he is the under-21 boss and he is only doing this for a finite period of time, so he will need the feedback and support of the leaders in the dressing room. It has already been a collaborative, enriching week at the training ground where the club’s senior pros have spoken in glowing terms about Skubala.
When the going gets tough, as it inevitably does in football for every team or manager at one point or another, Skubala needs those experienced heads in his corner and in the trenches, ensuring the team stays united. It can be easy, when a permanent coach wielding absolute authority is not around, for conflicting viewpoints to splinter squads.
Senior faces, like Joel Robles, Stuart Dallas, Rodrigo, Ayling, Cooper, Adam Forshaw and Patrick Bamford will be the glue Skubala needs to hold this together underneath him. Ayling was an example, last week, of what these wiser heads need to be doing on the field when backs are against the wall.
Skubala has already made the right impression at Thorp Arch, on the training pitches, in video analysis sessions and on a one-to-one basis, but he needs those controlling the dressing room to reciprocate burgeoning relationships on the field. To fight for him.
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