Q&A #2: Meslier, squad depth and mirroring Leeds’ intensity
This will be the second Q&A-style article posted on the blog — in the short term, these do a good job of keeping active despite the hectic schedule of fixtures. Thanks again for the questions sent via Twitter.
Here’s the previous article, in case you missed it:
There’s clearly been fewer ‘heart in mouth’ moments since Meslier came into the team, but I think eight games isn’t enough for us to put this entirely down to his individual performance. Would the Frenchman have held up (as) strongly over the course of the Championship season, and been a better option all along? It’s difficult to say.
Unfortunately up until the point Meslier came into the team, I think Casilla’s confidence had pretty much shattered — he was costing us goals nearly every game at that point. So I think in grading the 20-year-old, we also have to remember he was stepping in for one of the worst-performing goalkeepers in the Championship at the time. By not making routinely big errors, he could provide Leeds with an upgrade.
Looking at opposition corners specifically, Leeds were pretty weak across Casilla’s time between the posts. Although set pieces require much more detailed analysis to be sure, I think from watching the games — as well as gathering some basic data below— we can conclude they were particularly vulnerable in those situations.
Only Huddersfield conceded from a higher rate of the corners they gave up, while they were strong outliers in this area. Since Meslier came in, Leeds have given up 24 corners and are yet to concede from one.
I do think it’s worth saying that we shouldn’t see Meslier being in the first team as only an emergency measure, given what happened with Casilla. Meslier has been very good playing for the under-23 side this season, and he’s done it within the style that Bielsa is looking for in his team. If we were to rate his performances in Carlos Corberán’s side — assuming there was a pathway planned for him to the first team — I don’t think he’d have been too far away contention even without Casilla’s ban.
It’s difficult to think long term given the current ‘tunnel vision’ period the club are in, but Meslier looks a very interesting prospect. He’s still a long, long way from his prime years as a goalkeeper and has a lot of physical development still ahead of him.
It’s well established that Leeds currently run a small squad under Bielsa, with the Argentine often referring to his ‘eighteen’ when it comes to his overall options — the eighteen being the players he expects to play the large majority of available minutes. We’ve also heard a lot of criticism for this tendency, and many thought getting promoted wouldn’t be possible with such a light squad.
Leeds have used just 17 different outfield starters this season, which is the fewest of any team in the Championship since at least 2013–14 (as far back as I can access squad data). We can analyse this heading into next season a little more down the line, but for the moment you have to say it just makes Bielsa’s work all the more remarkable.
Here’s a look at the previous 15 promoted teams in that sense:
This is an interesting question, and one I think that’s important for Leeds to consider ahead of the summer recruitment. There’s no doubting it’d be logical for the club to be targeting players who are used to working aggressively off the ball, and are thus more likely to be able to meet Bielsa’s demands both in and out of possession.
Leeds have averaged around 15 ‘pressed sequences’ per game in the Championship this season, using Opta data. This metric captures all instances where the opposition has three or fewer passes in a sequence, and the sequence ends within 40 metres of their own goal.
Within the main top-flight leagues in Europe, we have the obvious inclusions like Liverpool, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, but there are also some outside of the European giants who Leeds will have (no doubt) covered within their scouting.
Eibar and Getafe are two good examples from Spain, despite being two low-possession teams (another factor Leeds would have to consider). Outside of the top five European leagues, we also have teams like LASK, Red Bull Salzburg and Austria Wien who have posted similar figures to Leeds when pressing the opposition.
I think Victor Orta has been through enough transfer windows — as well as enough under Bielsa — to now be in a good position in terms of supplementing the squad the Argentine will (hopefully) oversee next season. It’s absolutely vital that new recruits for Bielsa’s squad have reliable physical attributes, or at the very least those players should to be able to reach the sufficient levels within the short-term. No matter the level of talent that arrives, they won’t be considered by the manager unless they can combine it with athletic drive.
