The defensive collapse
We are not only talking about Leeds United’s collapse at Tottenham Hotspur either. The Whites have shipped 13 goals in their last five league games.
By stark contrast, they conceded five goals in their first five games of the season. In the five games before Marcelo Bielsa was sacked, Leeds conceded 20 goals, so you have some context for where Leeds are at right now.
Jesse Marsch has prided himself on shoring up the United defence, first down last term’s run-in and then through the opening weeks of this campaign. The Brentford result of September was previously being treated as an anomaly, but defensive leaks like that have recently become the norm.
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The major difference to Bielsa’s nadir is Leeds are at least finding the back of the net again. In the same five-match span they have put up 11 goals and delivered two wins among two narrow defeats and that meek two-goal loss at Leicester City.
It’s a high-risk way of playing and while it’s stressful ecstasy last week against Bournemouth, it’s wildly infuriating to take the lead three times at a big-six outfit and still come away empty-handed one week later. It’s not an economical, efficient or sound way to go through a season.
It’s a shame because the goal-scoring form of the likes of Crysencio Summerville and Rodrigo should be celebrated, but they are cruelly being overshadowed by a defence which cannot keep the ball out. It’s more than just the back four or five too, it’s the team's inability to control matches or at least spoil contests with a dash of the dark arts.
When the prospect of another unforgettable away day blossomed in the 76th minute with Rodrigo’s fantastic second, Marsch turned to Luke Ayling and a 5-4-1 shape he feels has brought stability in the past.
With 11 minutes of normal time to play, plus the injury extras, there was a belief Leeds could see it out, manage Tottenham, shackle their own risk-taking, but smother the match. Within five minutes of the goal and two minutes of Ayling’s introduction, Tottenham struck, flooring Marsch in the process.
Pascal Struijk had been outnumbered all afternoon and as Dejan Kukusevski found another level right when the hosts needed it, the Dutchman was sorely exposed. The centre-backs would get pulled out of position, the central midfielders would fail to screen the box and Leeds invited the pressure without then having the discipline in the centre to keep their positions, force crosses and then clear what needed to be cleared.
Marsch has work to do with this defence.
Rodrigo and Summerville keep firing
The goalscoring pair keep on going and despite their fair share of detractors this season, it’s hard to argue against their importance to this side right now. The jury has been out on Rodrigo since he arrived in the summer of 2020, but a scintillating start to this season seems to have found a second wind.
The club’s record signing now has five goals in his last four games, nine in 13 and only three players have scored more than him in the top flight this season. Amid all of the frustrations around Patrick Bamford and the cries for a long overdue new striker in January, Rodrigo, fresh from a World Cup omission, has become a semi-reliable source of goals.
Saturday was another quiet afternoon for the former Valencia man punctuated by two outstanding finishes right when the team needed them. The 31-year-old has had a knack all season of popping up in the right place at the right time for Leeds.
Summerville’s not quite had critics given how new he remains on the first-team scene, but it’s fair to say he hadn’t been able to break into the senior side as quickly as Joe Gelhardt or Sam Greenwood. When he was introduced from the bench in the earlier part of this season he was struggling to do anything to suggest he warranted starts.
And then, with Luis Sinisterra stricken, Summerville’s moment arrived, whether he was ready or not, and he has thrived. The confidence is flowing through his game and every time he takes in the ball he scares the life out of defenders.
The way Summerville took in the assist and held off Eric Dier before thrashing the ball past Hugo Lloris was unerring. His pressing game has improved too, forcing errors and throw-ins out of defenders on Saturday which drew direct praise from Marsch.
The pair of them were the first Leeds players to score in four straight appearances since Ross McCormack in March 2014.
Adams’s first misstep
Tyler Adams has had a very good time of it since arriving at Leeds. The USA international arrived without a huge amount of fanfare, but for a sizeable sum north of £20m, which brought with it a certain level of expectation.
Playing as a hard-tackling central midfielder though, the same pressures of clean sheets, goals or assists did not perhaps weigh on Adams as much as others in the team. Without that kind of statistical scrutiny on him, Adams has thrived and caught the eye most weeks.
Ironically, the 23-year-old has gone on to turn in some of the best statistics in the division for players in his position. Pressures, tackles, blocks and the like have been instrumental in making Adams such a useful screen for the defence.
The former RB Leipzig man has barely been able to put a foot wrong. Even in poor defeats, Adams has generally come away with his reputation unscathed and intact as one of those who kept the score down at points.
And yet here was that first misstep of his Leeds career. Adams has been praised for finding an ability to jockey opponents, force them into errors or stab a foot into a tackle without picking up cards and fouls.
His first yellow was a stonewall card after a late upending of Dejan Kulusevski and then the second was a petulant, frustrated clearing-out of a Spurs player. Each was a correct decision and at the time, with the match virtually lost, the red card did not feel like a huge loss, more a footnote that aptly summed the afternoon up.
It was only when the dismissal sunk in we realised Adams would now be missing from the toughest home match of the season. In hindsight, it was silly, unnecessary and naive from Adams, who will be kicking himself in the stands as he watches the champions run out to examine the Whites on home turf.
If ever the team needed him, it was for the visit of an attacking force like Pep Guardiola’s side.
Gnonto’s (brief) full debut
If Jack Harrison wasn’t going to make it, many best guesses were plumping for Wilfried Gnonto as the replacement out wide. The Italy international had been hard to ignore from the bench in the previous two league games and it was hoped he would bring the same ball-carrying chaos to the wide areas in the capital.
It did not prove to be the teenager’s day. He would have 21 touches and make 14 passes with an accuracy of barely 71 per cent, though it was the physical side of the match which did stand out.
Gnonto spent more time on his back than dribbling at Tottenham defenders. Ben Davies and Ivan Perisic would introduce him to a Premier League first half with a physical onslaught that had him gripping his back, his throat and his chin at various points.
Such was the concern about the painful examination he was facing, the assumption had been Gnonto was taken off with an injury. His tactical withdrawal for Sam Greenwood would only add insult to injury on a day the 19-year-old may want to forget.
A six-and-a-half-week sour taste
The big picture should not be forgotten in the pain of yesterday’s loss. The noises from the terraces after the Leicester City and Fulham defeats did not give Marsch much longer in his job.
To come away with six points from the next nine available is a better return than many would have expected. Nine from nine would have been unimaginable, which is why it is so hard to swallow a 3-2 lead turning into a 4-3 defeat with 14 minutes of normal time to play.
The Whites will take the next week off entirely, spending time with their family and friends with no fitness work at all before starting the slow build-up to full training and friendlies ahead of the champions' visit late next month. Time away from the United bubble should hopefully mean they do not dwell on this loss for too long.
It’s a massive shame for this block of fixtures to end in this manner. Defensive fragility aside, this is a team, all but written off as relegation fodder three weeks ago, which has shown fight, desire, resilience and quality to turn the ship around before the World Cup.
Disappointment in a narrow one-goal loss away at a big-six outfit does say a lot about how far the side has come since those meek losses to Leicester and Fulham. Improvement, especially in the backline, is badly needed to make this the comfortable season everyone craves, but there is a foundation re-established for Marsch to now press on through the end of the year and into January.
From the brink of a World Cup sacking if the last three had gone south, the American now leads the club into a transfer window guided by his needs.
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