Marcelo Biesla’s Leeds United rocking the Premier League
- Leeds United shaking the Premier League with high-pressing and crunch tackles
- The Whites have had impressive performances against Liverpool and Manchester City
- Mental Health and Psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19
Marcelo Biesla’s Leeds United rocking the Premier League with incredible work rate.
The Whites made a return to the Premier League after a 16-year drought from the top-flight. And in style they have.
Biesla’s side ‘incredible’ work rate and their fearless assaults on Manchester City that earned them a 1-1 draw and a 4-3 thriller against champions Liverpool, show they have what it takes to upset the league’s establishment.
The Whites may only be eighth in the early-season table, but they are untouchable in almost every statistic when it comes to hard work.
After four games, they have already made more than 100 tackles, well above any other team in the league; they have won more tackles, averaging a colossal 18 per game, and they have pressured their opponents on more occasions than anyone else.
Their energy is such that no team is more effective at recovering the loose ball, either. Leeds have reclaimed possession 252 times so far, with Liverpool their closest rivals on 246.
It is this extraordinary commitment that gives Leeds a solid platform on which to build a successful season as they return to the Premier League for the first time in 16 years.
Leeds’ ferocious display on Saturday saw them make a chart-topping 32 tackles, winning 21 of them, and it knocked City, runners-up last term, right out of their stride, while earning a deserved 1-1 draw for Marcelo Bielsa’s men.
It was a similar story at Anfield in the first game of the season when the Whites got stuck into the champions, again making a season-high 32 tackles and narrowly losing the game 4-3.
Leeds’s physicality will come as no surprise to anyone who has studied coach Bielsa.
The Argentinian has always demanded exceptional work rate from his players, seeing it as an integral part of the game.
A focus on defence does not imply a negative approach. It is simply part of Bielsa’s football philosophy that a team has to be good in defence, if it is to be effective in attack.
Leeds players are expected to put the miles in whenever they play, in both defence and attack, and they do so willingly for a manager they clearly adore.
And the challenge Leeds are bringing to the established order of the Premier League has pundits licking their lips at the prospect of further epic end-to-end encounters.
