Jack Collins and Sam Tighe discussed all things Leeds United on the most recent edition of the Ranks FC podcast and they spent some time talking about the form of Robin Koch, who joined the Whites from Bundesliga side Freiburg during the summer.
Koch has been an ever-present for Leeds in the league this season, playing the full 90 minutes in each of their first four games of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign.
However, it may be fair to say that the 24-year-old defender hasn’t exactly been one of Leeds’ best players so far this term, with WhoScored giving him a fairly uninspiring overall rating of 6.57 from his four appearances in England’s top-flight so far this term, making him the Yorkshire-based club’s 10th-highest rated player in the league this season.
Collins talked about the Germany international’s performances for Marcelo Bielsa’s side so far this term during this recent edition of the Ranks FC podcast and he shared some optimism that Koch will improve as the season progresses, saying:
“There are signs that he might turn. The fact that he’s a German international and has played at the top level does suggest that this will improve for him.
“There are moments where you’re like – ‘oh, he’s a very good player’ and there are moments where you’re like – ‘oh, you’ve just completely lost your head’ – a little bit Diego Carlos.”
Have you been impressed with Koch this season?
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NO
TIF Thoughts on Collins’ comments about Koch’s form…
So, judging by what Collins had to say, it seems that he thinks Koch’s experience of playing at a high level is evidence of his quality and he seemingly believes that the defender will produce better performances for Leeds in the future, however, we feel he hasn’t really performed poorly in the areas he is known to be strong.
As per WhoScored, Koch is said to be very strong in the air, while he is also said to be strong at blocking the ball and it may be fair to say he has performed well in both of these areas this term for Leeds.
He has won the second-highest number of aerial duels per Premier League game (4.0) of any Whites player this term and only 11 players in the Premier League have won more aerial duels per game than Koch this season. Meanwhile, only two Leeds players have made more blocks per Premier League game than Koch (1.5) has so far this season.
However, Koch is said to have very weak concentration and he is said to be weak at tackling, so perhaps these areas of his game are letting him down at present and it will be interesting to see if Bielsa can help the £15.3m-rated defender to improve in these areas or if they end up being negatives to his game throughout the 2020/21 campaign.