ABOUT THIS SEASON

Let’s start with the glaringly obvious, it’s been disappointing. We dreamed of building on last season’s late push for Europe and instead we are now doomed to spend at least the vast majority of the season looking over our shoulders at the bottom three. The past week perfectly summarised Leeds in 2021/22, a good performance followed by a bad performance, and not enough wins. 

So where has it gone wrong? Well, you might point to the end of last season. The 11-game charge into the top half of the table built those expectations mentioned in the first paragraph, before then, Leeds had been performing similarly to how they have this season. A good game here, two bad ones there, Struijk in midfield baffling everyone, the enigma of Rodrigo, and goal after goal conceded from set-pieces. Leeds lost at home to Everton in early February and soon embarked on a run of four defeats in five, or one win in six. We had a healthy points total and a nine-point lead over the bottom three in March, but with City, Liverpool, Scum and Spurs to play in April, our fears remained. ‘Sort it out Marcelo!’ they bellowed, and he did. 

This season, Leeds have reverted to the team of the first two thirds of 2020/21. It would take a brave man to argue that this season has been better than last, but with such similarities despite a decimated squad, there is a case to say that Leeds are still progressing. We have found a solution to playing without Kalvin (the best solution we could realistically hope for, considering he is an elite midfielder and we are a club trying to assert themselves in the top flight), Struijk continues to progress, and we have seen the emergence of two major talents, Cresswell and Gelhardt. 

Ok, that’s quite enough from Positive Polly. Negative Nelly has something to say too. Being a sad bastard, I mark each player out of ten after each match, I have done since the Bielsa era began. The average rating of every single player has dropped this season, even the replacement players have dropped (Alioski ended last season on 6.97, Firpo has a current average of 6.57). That is worrying. And even when you delete the data from the last 11 games of last season, there are only two players who have improved this season. Struijk has gone from 6.88 to 7.00, but even then, when taking out his midfield markings he has dipped from 7.45 (I’ve really gone to town on this research, I hope somebody except my dad is reading!). So, according to the data from my perceptions, the only player to have improved this season, with a jump from 6.38 to 6.43, is everyone’s favourite… Tyler Roberts! You couldn’t make it up!

From here we are forced into the subjective: why has the players’ form dropped? Are the other teams better? Perhaps. Are they more willing to match our work rate in front of fans and not behind closed doors? I’d say so. Is there some ‘second season syndrome’ in play? Probably. Have the injuries and constant chopping and changing weakened the sum of our parts, dragging everyone down? That would make sense. Has Bielsa lost the dressing room? No chance! Well, not the senior dressing room anyway…

The bottom line is that Leeds are inconsistent and have been since promotion, except that two month period at the end of last season. Hardly rocket science, but hardly worth hanging them for. We have to expect inconsistency from these players, they are playing in the toughest league in the world and surviving, and I don’t think we’re entitled to expect any more than that. It is in line with the expectations of any team in their second Premier League season, and in line with our budget. We can moan and we can berate afternoons like Saturday, but we should not consign this regime to the bin when it happens. 

Everyone is looking forward to consigning this season to the bin, getting to the end with our Premier League status intact and starting afresh with a full, and hopefully improved squad next season. Before then though, there are 15 games left to enjoy. Yes, enjoy! 15 games of Bielsaball, and we can go to the stadium and watch it in the flesh! Some will be painful but some will be brilliant, and at the end of it all I’m certain Leeds will have achieved their objective, because the teams below us are consistently terrible whereas we are only terrible half a dozen times a season. After a week that encapsulated the 2021/22 season, I wouldn’t bet against a performance that encapsulates the Bielsa era coming on Sunday, when it really matters most, whatever the table says.

Rocco Dean - Author of Marcelo Bielsa vs The Damned United and NOW The O’leary Years (order on Amazon)