Solving Leeds United’s midfield conundrum is the key to Thomas Christiansen’s success
Christiansen’s ability to bring the best from the Leeds United midfield will prove crucial to the Whites’ promotion bid this season.
This time last year, Leeds United were preparing to face QPR at Elland Road as Garry Monk became the seventh manager in the reign of now-departed owner, Massimo Cellino.
12 months on, the West Yorkshire club have gone full circle. A new owner, a new manager, and a firm grip on the stadium for the first time in 13 years.
Nine signings later, Leeds — for the first time in a fair while — have an abundance of attacking options at their disposal.
Influx of signings brings many options
At long last, Leeds have had a transfer window in which money has exchanged hands… and it has not been at the expense of the squad.
Of the nine deals done over the summer so far, four of those involve players who are designated midfielders in some role or another. Add that to the list of those already at the club, and United’s bag of talent in the centre of the park is bursting at the seams.
So much so, it would seem, that there aren’t enough seats at the table.
Much of Leeds’ downfall last season was due to the lack of ‘grip’ or ‘control’ in a game, particularly in the midfield, in front of the defence. It’s a problem that needs addressing, and quickly.
Those filling the roles last season thus far remain at the club, only now there is much more competition for the slots — provided Christiansen stays with the same formation with two holding players, of course.
That being said, is the level of competition for that matchday XI healthy, or are there simply too many combinations that could be tried and tested? Could it mean that Christiansen becomes the ‘Tinkerman’ of the second division?
Consistency and regularity will play a huge part
Throughout the last campaign, it became clear — to me, at least — that Garry Monk wasn’t entirely sure on his best, strongest side.
Scratch that, his strongest midfield.
With the defence and Chris Wood picking themselves last year, Monk ended up trialling all sorts of different players, with different teammates, at different times.
It became almost impossible to guess which players he would go with from week-to-week. If this season is going to be any different, Christiansen must have an idea of who the ‘five’ will be fairly early on in the season and stick with them.
It was evident last year that there was a lack of ‘stability’ in the team, particularly in the engine room. Ronaldo Vieira, while probably one of the bright sparks, was often just… left to it.
Whether it be Eunan O’Kane that partnered him or Liam Bridcutt, Vieira was only 18 and needed guidance — a leader. Out wide, no one knew whether Hadi Sacko was going to retain his spot, or whether Kemar Roofe or Souleymane Doukara would come in instead.
Pablo Hernandez aside (with 32 starts in the league), it can’t be helped thinking that the constant switching of players in the middle of the park damaged flow and consistency throughout the entire team and indeed the season.
Goals and creativity crucial to relieve pressure
Of course, all teams who reach the promised land of the Premier League have one main man, or maybe two, that play the biggest part in getting their side the goals to send them up.
It’s not often you find the division’s top scorer on the books of the team who finished the season outside the playoff places. The achievement of Wood last season was nothing short of remarkable, and without him, Leeds could well have been in a relegation fight.
Robert Green, Kyle Bartley and company all played their parts at the other end, but without the Kiwi international, the goals weren’t going to come from anywhere else.
With Bartley sitting joint-second on six strikes, Wood was a whopping 21 goals clear of anyone else in the side. Simply not good enough.
Brighton, incidentally, had four players that scored 10 or more goals, which relieved pressure on the main man Glenn Murray and allowed the Seagulls to finish with a massive +34 goal difference.
At Newcastle, a similar story, with three players scoring nine or more. Fulham had five players on at least eight. Reading, three players with at least eight. Norwich City had six players with at least six goals.
Leeds were outscored by every one of those teams over the course of the season… it’s no coincidence that four of them finished in the top six.
In the assists column, it was more of the same. Hernandez, Leeds’ highest provider with eight could only manage the joint-10th position. Norwich, Fulham and Newcastle each had a handful of players on the list before you eventually scrolled far enough to see the third Leeds name.
It illustrates just how isolated Wood was for much of last season, and how little service he had at his disposal — making his accumulation all the more impressive.
Put simply, if Christiansen wishes to attempt a charge for even a playoff place, Leeds’ midfield and other attacking players must start contributing this coming season.
Settled midfield, settled team
While there are still some transfer matters — we hope — to still be solved before kick-off at the Macron Stadium in less than two weeks’ time, it’s probably quite realistic to think that Leeds’ business in this window is nearly done.
Having had a number of pre-season friendlies with one more to come, the new arrivals should now be gelling with the rest of the squad.
With the Oxford United game now on the horizon, Christiansen has one more chance to add the one missing ingredient from what could, and should, be a formidable side — a consistent, creative and reliable midfield.
