Unbeaten in four matches and sitting top of the league, Leeds United’s new under-21 boss Michael Skubala has had an excellent start to life at Thorp Arch. The former England youth coach has hit the ground running and nipped any momentum from last term’s relegation in the bud.
The only trajectory at the head of the club’s youth ranks is positive after three wins and a draw in the opening four Premier League 2 Division Two matches. Headlines have been dominated by the exploits of Sonny Perkins and Mateo Joseph, who have five goals apiece from four starts.
Last week, Nottingham Forest were the latest side to be despatched and with the biggest margin of the campaign so far. That 5-1 thrashing was played out against a soundtrack of a new buzzword Skubala has been using.
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In what seemed like every other attack, whenever a Leeds player had the ball at their feet Skubala would bark ‘overplay, overplay.’ To those of us not working within coaching circles, it was worth clearing up.
“The way we want to play the game, in that moment, was to try and get around them quickly, overplay the full-backs, get my full-backs really high and be aggressive,” said Skubala. “I like to play forward, forward, forward and overplays in playing forward all the time.
“Even if I'm a centre-half, I want to attack. I’m trying to get this team to really think about attacking all the time.
“When you've got the space, attack the space and get them into the mentality of we're going, when we've got the ball, we're going for goal.”
Jesse Marsch and Skubala work closely together. Their conversations and philosophies have to align if players are going to make the leap from the under-21s to the first team.
Attacking centre-backs is one thing, but getting the ball and going for goal chimes with the vertical play Marsch has spoken about in his career. A need to play vertically and towards the goal as quickly as possible.
Skubala said: “I always say to them: ‘Just make them defend, whatever you are doing, make them defend.’ Whether that's long, whether that’s short, whether it’s vertical, whether it's connected passes, whether it's overplay, I like my teams to attack when they're on the ball.”
Fourteen goals in four matches with two forwards on five apiece is some way to make a statement about the kind of football you were hired to produce.
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