Micah Richards has claimed that he has started to worry for Leeds United as their hopes of Premier League survival were dealt a quadruple blow on Saturday. Victories for Burnley and Everton as well as injuries to Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas in the 4-0 defeat to Manchester City made it the worst possible weekend for the Whites.
It leaves them just two points outside the relegation zone and, considering the Toffees have a game-in-hand, Jesse Marsch’s side no longer have their survival fate in their own hands. Even the most optimistic Leeds fan wouldn’t have predicted a win against Man City but the victories for relegation rivals and the injuries compounded a disappointing result.
Richards, who was on the books at Elland Road during his youth career, admitted that the injuries make the situation particularly bleak. He told Monday’s episode of the Football Daily Podcast : “Cooper being out is massive for them, he’s the leader. They’ve conceded the most [from set pieces] now and it’s been poor. When you come up against Man City, you’ve got to make sure, at least from set pieces, that you try.
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“If they pick you apart, you hold your hands up but the sloppy goals that they’re conceding from set pieces. Dallas as well is a massive, massive miss, he can play in any position.”
The result on Saturday held strong resemblances to those in the latter part of Marcelo Bielsa’s tenure. Leeds competed valiantly all over the pitch, dominated the game for short spells yet were on the receiving end of a heavy defeat.
Richards believes the bad habits returned after a run of promising results under Marsch. He added: “After having a couple of games with Marsch where they looked back on track, they’ve sort of fell back into the old traps a little bit, the way they were defending against Man City.
“They had a 10/15-minute period where, if they’d taken a chance, they might’ve asked more questions of Man City but I just don’t like the way they’re conceding goals. It’s too easy at the moment.
“This is the only time I’ve been worried for Leeds [about being relegated] because of Everton beating Chelsea and Burnley being on this run which no one expected. I am genuinely worried for Leeds now.”
Those feelings and the worry expressed by the former England defender are felt amongst a considerable proportion of the club’s supporters. The prospect of a return to the Championship after just two seasons in the Premier League feels increasingly possible but it is vital that Marsch is able to block out the outside noise.
As he said after the game, it was always going to be extremely tough to disrupt the progress of a Man City side in the midst of a fight for a domestic and European double. Leeds have the chance to put it right when they travel to North London on Sunday where fourth-placed Arsenal will be hoping to further dent the club’s survival ambitions.
