Hi KOT
I dont think the defenders are necessarily bad.
We managed to finish 9th in 20-21 with the same 4 CBs - generally Cooper
playing with whichever of Koch or Llorente was fit - with Ayling and
Kalvin occasionally filling in.
Of the 4 i'd say;
Koch is plenty good enough and most consistent
Struijk looked good initially but lost confidence in the chaos last
season - i think he could be good at CB
Cooper makes mistakes (but gets blamed for everything) but we are more
organised when he is in the team
Llorente seems to have lost the plot
There was a stat in one of the live games at the weekend of most goals
conceded from set pieces - and we werent in the Top 5. I dont think that
is the big problem anymore, despite being a pretty small team now. (Ie
Little players)
Its more to do with how open we are in transition. I can think of 3
reasons;
1) We miss Kalvin who sat deep whilst Ayling or Alioski bombed on -
making a back 3. He was also very good at anticipating trouble on the
break and when to go for the ball
2) We're not as good as getting numbers back. Some of the chances
Bournemouth made it was Summerville or Gnonto as last defender - i dont
think Roca and to a lesser extent Adams are doing that, as well as
Kalvin, Dallas, Klich did.
3) We are turning over more ball than before due to the 'play it through
the middle and hope tactic'. Equals more counter-attacks for something
to go wrong.
I think we need a left back more than a striker - but otherwise its more
tactics than the players
Matt
------ Original Message ------
From: "Kevin Lewis via Leedslist" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, 15 Nov, 22 At 12:35
Subject: [LU] Defending: Players, System or Manager
I've been trying to work out why Leeds just don't seem to be able to
defend. Statistics and observation bear out the the team can't defend
at
all. We look vulnerable at set pieces, when trying to keep it tight and
most of all in transition. It is very difficult for a team to stay in
the
premier league with defending like this. Especially as in more than 50%
of
games the opposition will have better players than ours.
My opinion is that firstly it is the quality of defenders. Koch and
Cooper
are just bang average (or even below). Llorente and Struijk (in the
centre) are accidents waiting to happen. We don't have a real left back
and Kristensen is still finding his feet in this league.
Marsch has done nothing to improve this. Whilst I do not want Leeds to
start playing like Everton or Villa. Even defenders as good as
Liverpool's
are getting caught out this year when the full backs push on as they do.
He eventually has to realise with the quality of players he has, and the
quality of the opposition, there has to be some kind of compromise in
tactics as well as an overall improvement in individual defending.
As well as this, at least 1 centre back with Premier League experience
needs to be bought. Now it won't be easy to get one, but a proper
defender
would actually bring the best out of any of the other 4.
Of course the requirement for a left back goes without saying.
KOT
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