In the late 70s, I used to sit down with a bottle of pop on
a weekday early evening (can't remember which one - far too addled a mind through Fanta libation) and watch Steve Austin (Lee Majors) carry out his
missions for the Office Scientific Investigations (OSI) and always dreamed of
having an implanted, 20:2:1 zoom eye and bionic arm and leg; I just didn’t
fancy the plane crash and near death experience.
Fast forward 30 some years and Leeds United have their own
seemingly superhuman midfield player in Rodolph Austin; although there are no
reports of him leaping over very high fences. Flippancy aside, Austin’s efforts
in what was a mediocre Leeds’ midfield lifted him above the mediocrity and
actually pointed him out as one of the more consistent performers not only in
the Leeds’ team but also in the Championship for the 2013/14 Season.
Amid all the flux and change at Elland Road as ‘La Rivoluzione Gloriosa’ (‘The Glorious
Revolution’) takes hold and Mr Cellino’s signings from the Italian leagues drip
in, there are some supporters at Elland Road who are casting Austin onto the
proverbial football scrapheap. A lot of this can be attributed to the
mediocrity of last season’s midfield, where Leeds fans are over-associating him blindly
with the mire they were watching. However, as the saying goes, ‘In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man
is King’.
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| Photo Credit: We Are Leeds United blog |
Tommaso Bianchi’s recent transfer to Leeds from Sassuolo
almost make him a shoe-in for one of the midfield positions for the 2014/15 season
and you can’t realistically expect Leeds’ £1 million+ investment in Luke Murphy
to result in an extended position as a ‘benchwarmer’. Given what I am going to
be talking about, I just wonder whether Rodolph Austin could be the lock that
secures Leeds’ midfield in the coming season.
Comparing the Leeds United midfield – Championship Season
2013/14
|
Categories
|
Rodolph Austin
|
Luke Murphy
|
Alex Mowett
|
Michael Tonge
|
|
Overall Performance score rank
|
10th
|
71st
|
83rd
|
100th
|
|
Shot Accuracy rank
|
6th
|
87th
|
110th
|
96th
|
|
Pass Accuracy rank
|
25th
|
52nd
|
79th
|
101st
|
|
Defensive Actions* rank
|
10th
|
42nd
|
103rd
|
124th
|
|
Duels Won** rank
|
1st
|
33rd
|
122nd
|
145th
|
Source Squawka.com
* Defensive Actions (Interceptions/Blocked
Shots/Clearances
** Duels Won (Tackles/Take Ons/Aerial)
When presented in such a plain way as this,
Rodolph Austin’s worth as a Leeds United player is highlighted in even greater
clarity; in none of the categories do any of Austin’s 3 principal midfield
team-mates come close to his performances. Rodolph Austin’s worth, derided by
many Leeds’ fans seems to be a part of the fact that his performances may be
dulled somewhat by the lacklustre contributions of those around him in Leeds’
midfield. In order to develop a clearer understanding of just what Rodolph
Austin’s contribution meant to Leeds United last season, I am going to drill a
little deeper into the ‘scores on the doors’ behind his Top 25 and better
rankings.
Rodolph Austin – Stats Breakdown 2013/14 season
|
Category
|
Score
|
Rank
|
Top
Scoring midfield player
|
|
Overall
Performance Score
|
848
|
10
|
Tom Cairney (Blackburn) 1552
|
|
Attack
Performance Score
|
594
|
16
|
Craig Bryson (Derby) 995
|
|
Defence
Performance Score
|
375
|
6
|
Steven Ward (Brighton 538)
|
|
Overall
Performance Score
03 Aug 13 to 25 Dec 13
|
474
|
5
|
Tom Cairney (Blackburn) 713
|
|
Overall
Performance Score
26 Dec 13 to 24 May 14
|
374
|
23
|
Tom Cairney (Blackburn) 839
|
Source Squawka.com
Performance-wise, like the remainder of the Leeds
United team, there was both a massive and noticeable dip for Rodolph Austin
from 26th December (when Leeds were 5th placed in the
Championship and in a promotion playoff position) to the season’s end on 24th
May (when Leeds limped to a disappointing 15th place in the table).
However, despite this ‘drop’ in performance, Austin still managed to be one of
the Championship’s more consistent midfield players; a testament to his defensive
prowess more than anything and his overall performance score of 848 represents
13% of the total for the Leeds United team throughout the 2013/14 season.
Rodolph Austin Defensive statistics 2013/14 season
|
|
Interceptions
|
Blocked Shots
|
Clearances
|
|
Defensive Actions
(10th ranked in
Championship)
|
46
|
9
|
106
|
|
|
Tackles
|
Take
Ons
|
Aerial
|
|
Duels Won
(1st ranked in
Championship)
|
112 (54%)
|
26
(76%)
|
70
(40%)
|
Source Squawka.com
 |
| Photo Credit: dailymail.co.uk - Steve Drew |
Why is Rodolph Austin putting forward such an
impressive case for playing an important role in the Leeds United midfield in
the coming 2014/15 Championship season? As well as the consistency in defence
that Austin brought to Leeds last season, winning 76% of duels where he takes
on an opposition player, there is also the consistency in his versatility as a
player; he played in 6 positions for Leeds United during the 2013/14 season:
centre midfield (31 games – 3 goals – 1 assist), defensive centre midfield (4
games – 1 assist), right midfield (2 games), defensive right midfield (1 game)
attacking centre midfield (1 game) and right defence (1 game).
Leeds employed two formations last season more
frequently than others, these being the standard 4-4-2 formation (13 games – 10
points from 39 available) and, for Leeds, the more successful 5-3-2 formation
(13 games – 21 points from 39 available). A little tweaking to the latter, to
create a 4-1-3-2 formation, could see Rodolph Austin employing his consistent
defensive tenacity sat in front of a back 4, leaving Tommaso Bianchi, Luke
Murphy and A. N. Other to be the more creative link in the centre of the park.
Saying that, I’m not Dave Hockaday and my football
management experience stretches only as far the Football Manager series of
games.
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