Former Premier League midfielder Danny Murphy has praised the performances of Mateusz Klich and Robin Koch in Leeds United’s 3-0 win over Watford. The duo started alongside each other in midfield and played a key role in Leeds keeping their first clean sheet in 18 matches.
The Whites stretched their unbeaten run in the Premier League to four matches at Vicarage Road on Saturday, a run which has seen them pick up 10 points. Raphinha, Rodrigo Moreno and Jack Harrison were on the scoresheet for Jesse Marsch’s side, in what was another significant step towards safety.
But despite Leeds’ clinical finishing in the final third, which was ultimately the difference between the two sides, Murphy instead opted to praise the work of Klich and Koch. Speaking on Match of the Day, he detailed how their defensive discipline made it difficult for Watford to play through, which helped lay the foundations for Leeds’ win.
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He said: “The way he’s set them up, he’s gone for a more orthodox formation. But he’s worked at it you can tell as it was a really good defensive performance. You’ve got your two centre halves Llorente and Cooper, then your two centre midfielders Koch and Klich playing close together.
“You’ve got your back six in effect, then the other four players go and try cause the problems and win them the game. So many times today the distances between the centre halves and two centre midfielders are small, they’re compact and very hard to play through.
“It gives you a foundation when you’ve got possession to start your play from deeper areas because they’re both comfortable on the ball. It always gives you bodies around the ball when teams play longer.
“We saw so many times Leeds under Bielsa play man to man, be all over the place, big spaces in front of the back four and teams running at them. Phillips came on and added some quality in the second half but for the majority of the game Klich and Koch worked so well together.
“Even when the game does get a bit stretched, as long as you’ve got two centre midfield players desperately wanting to get back in to pick up the second balls. It gave them a much better foundation to win the game.”
