OPINION
One of Thomas Christiansen’s many items on his to-do list over the international break is identifying where Leeds United went wrong during three consecutive away defeats and coming up with a plan to rectify it.
Christiansen suggested that his team were “soft” in the wake of Sunday’s 3-0 capitulation at Sheffield Wednesday and nowhere was this more apparent than in central midfield.
A two-man alliance of Kalvin Phillips and Eunan O’Kane has served Leeds well in the opening months of the season but the team look brittle given that the former has been given a new, box-to-box role in which he has licence to enter the opposition box.
It would not serve United well to shackle Phillips, but they would benefit by axing an attacking player and introducing a third central midfielder, particularly for tough assignments on the road.
A 4-3-2-1 formation would mean a promotion for either Ronaldo Vieira (most probably) or Mateusz Klich, and give free roles to summer signings Samuel Saiz and Ezgjan Alioski behind main spearhead Pierre-Michel Lasogga.
Something would have to give, and that should be mainstay Pablo Hernandez, who started on the bench for the Hillsborough horror show, but has often been an anonymous presence away from home during his 14 months at Elland Road.
Phillips was criticised at the weekend but his tally of tackles is among the highest in the Championship and his performance data shows an increased number of shots on goal in comparison to last season, including more goals in 11 matches than he had in his previous 52.
O’Kane’s creation of chances has also increased and at their best, the pair have allowed Christiansen’s front four to do their thing.
But two playmakers in Spanish pair Hernandez and Saiz has been made to look like a luxury in United’s last three away fixtures, with just two central midfielders behind them.
Adding a third player in that position would allow the brilliant Saiz, whose game is touched by potential genius – certainly at Championship level – to run the show as he sees fit.
The team must be built around the £3million summer signing, who has the ability to take Leeds all the way to automatic promotion if he is given the platform to run amok in a division he can dominate.