Leeds United have been playing some imperious football at times under new manager Marcelo Bielsa. Such has been the way the Whites have gone about their football, many fans are thinking this season could be THE season.
It certainly looked that way as they steamrollered through Stoke City and Derby in two early-season games that sent shockwaves through the division and announced to all that BielsaBall was being served.
This brand of football relies on a high-press style of play, with quick transitions through the phase and an ability to shift the ball upfield at pace. It’s a brand of football that has served the Whites well so far this season, and it was in evidence tonight against Sheffield Wednesday.
Leeds were looking to bounce back after their first loss of the season last weekend against Birmingham City, a loss in a game where they were decidedly off-colour. A similar loss last season to Thomas Christiansen’s Leeds side saw them go into a downward spiral of ever-worsening form.
The thing is, there’s not been that doubt after the Birmingham reverse, most Leeds fans expecting the side to come out all guns a-blazing against the Owls at Hillsborough. That they did in the first half, surviving an early sloppy stint to really begin to punish their hosts with wave-after-wave of attacks.
📸 | Samu works his way through the Wednesday midfield as #LUFC keep making inroads into the opposition half
0-0 | #LEESHF pic.twitter.com/tqhrDBbtgG
— Leeds United (@LUFC) September 28, 2018
However, despite carving out half-chance after half-chance and knocking on the door a number of times, it was the home side who went in to the half-time break 1-0 to the good thanks to Adam Reach’s lobbed volley from distance. That worldie, right on the stroke of half time, was enough to stun the visiting Leeds fans into silence.
It was a silence lifted early in the second period with Polish midfielder Mateusz Klich slammed in his fourth of the season from distance. Receiving a ball laid back to him by striker Tyler Roberts, Klich nudged himself some space and curled in a sublime effort past the despairing dive of Cameron Dawson in the Wednesday goal.
😍 That’s one way to equalise @Cli5hy! pic.twitter.com/eNyYKInbQe
— Leeds United (@LUFC) September 28, 2018
In truth, it was a game that Leeds United dominated, a game that they should have easily won. Yes Sheffield Wednesday had their breakaway chances, some heart-in-mouth moments for the always large contingent of Leeds United away fans. Yet this was a game that really belonged to the visiting Whites.
Whilst the only numbers that matter are those that contributed to the 1-1 scoreline, Leeds United had the lion’s share of everything else. Possession-wise it was mainly Leeds United, definitely more so in the second half – the Whites winning that battle 63.8% to 36.2% thanks to their 669 touches and 464 passing attempts.
However, perhaps the most telling number of the Whites’ dominance of the game was the shot count; it was a count that ended 25-10 in Leeds United’s favour. Man-of-the-Match, and goal-scoring hero, Klich’s four shots led that charge, a charge where Spanish midfielder Samu Saiz was the only outfield player for Leeds United to not take a shot at the Wednesday goal.
📸 | Gjanni flies down the wing as #LUFC try to keep up the momentum, constantly pushing forward in search of a winnner
1-1 | #LEESHF pic.twitter.com/Sh1x6w7C4F
— Leeds United (@LUFC) September 28, 2018
At times the football was intense, and one Leeds United fan on Twitter has said that he feels sorry for one side who’ll get a proper lesson when Leeds United are back at full strength.
That won’t be anytime soon, with Kemar Roofe, Patrick Bamford and Gaetano Berardi all out for the foreseeable future and Izzy Brown still recuperating from a broken leg and still not looking close to his first run-out with Leeds United since his somewhat surprise loan move from Chelsea.
Until then, BielsaBall just keeps on rolling ever onward.
