Leeds United journalist Beren Cross has stressed the importance of this weekend’s game against Watford at Elland Road.
Marcelo Bielsa’s men have not made the best of starts to the season, having failed to pick up a win so far in the league, with their only success coming in the Carabao Cup. And whilst it’s still rather too early in the season to label them as relegation candidates, the longer they stay near the bottom of the table, the more that talk like that is likely to pop up.
That is why Cross, speaking on the latest edition of the Blue, White and Yellow podcast, described the game at Elland Road as a must-win for Leeds and that a game like this would ultimately be one that could define the season:
“Watford at Elland Road is a match you have to win, that’s where you get your points. If we’re going to allow them to say Man Utd away and Liverpool at home aren’t the matches where they should be judged, Watford at home definitely they should be judged, that is a match they absolutely have to be picking up points from.
“The players will be aware about that, they’re not stupid. As long as they reflect upon the good bits of last Saturday they’re going to give themselves the best chance possible.”
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Whilst it might be too early in the season to define a game as one they ‘have to win’ as Cross describes it, it certainly is a fair assessment that these are ultimately the games that a side like Leeds will be judged on.
We know that they have something of a rocky record against the so-called ‘big sides’ with their heavy defeats against the likes of Manchester United this season and last, as well as their defeat to Liverpool. And whilst they did manage to defeat Manchester City last season, a lot of their positive results came against the lesser teams in the division.
So if they are going to get themselves out of trouble, they need to start picking up points soon, and whilst Watford have started bright, winning two of their opening six games, if Leeds don’t start picking off the smaller teams in the division soon as they did last season, you have to wonder when the results are ever going to come.
In other news: ‘The key to our season’, ‘Exactly what we need’ – These LUFC fans buzz over Bielsa’s comments