Leeds United boss Paul Heckingbottom has worryingly revealed that he is yet to implement his own defensive system at Elland Road.
The Whites fell to their third defeat in six games under Heckingbottom on Wednesday evening, with Championship leaders Wolves running out easy 3-0 winners at Elland Road.
Goals from Romain Saiss, Willy Boly and Benik Afobe secured a simple win for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, and one which puts Leeds’ promotion hopes in further doubt.
The first two goals for Wolves both came from corners, and Heckingbottom has now revealed that he is still using the defensive system brought in by predecessor Thomas Christiansen.
As quoted by the Yorkshire Evening Post, Heckingbottom said: “It’s something we’ve got to look at [set piece defending]. There’s a different set-up to what I’ve done (in the past). You’ve got to give things time and I’ve got to learn about what’s been going off. I’ve also got to learn about the players.
“How I’ve done it in the past has always been man-to-man marking and really black and white. ‘If your man scores it’s your fault’. But you need to have good man-markers for that. You need to be strong in the box. As the set-up is at the minute, we’re zonal with a couple of markers but we know we’re leaving free men and relying on the zonal men to head the ball. There are pluses and minuses to both but it’s something we have to improve on.
“Corners have been not bad since October, November when Gianni came in. We’ve had errors in other areas and it’s like anything – the players are familiar with it. Whether it’s the right way going forward we’ll have to wait and see.”
OPINION
It seems extremely strange that Heckingbottom is yet to introduce his own defensive system. Security at the back was one of the biggest problems during Thomas Christiansen’s reign, and one of Heckingbottom’s points of pride at Barnsley. The system is clearly still not working at Elland Road, so why not change it? Especially considering he must know his own system inside out. This revelation adds another layer of doubt to an appointment that is so far yet to pay off for Leeds, although it is still early days.