Square pegs into round holes – how should Leeds United line up next season? (Part 3.)

The midfield – ‘Lo centrocampo’

At times, during the Championship 2013/14 campaign, the Leeds United midfield resembled the veldt around Rorke’s Drift; stoutly defended but ultimately swamped before being over-run completely. In a previous article titled Swap You a Rover and a Datsun for Two Ferraris – potential changes to Leeds’ midfield, I looked at how the Leeds United midfiled would look with the arrival of two Italian Ferraris in Tommaso Bianchi (Sassuolo) and Federico Viviani (AS Roma); in the end Viviani didn’t sign due to ‘paperwork problems’. I’ll discuss Tommaso Bianchi later, but first I’d like to refresh readers a little with an adapted table looking at the four main midfield players used by Leeds during the 2013/14 Championship campaign. 

The Leeds United midfield – 2013/14 Championship

Name	App (+ sub)	Mins played	Goals	Assists	Shots per 90	Passing accuracy
Rodolph Austin	40	3555	3	3	2.3	77.6% (1149/1481)
Luke Murphy	37	3047	3	2	0.9	72.1% (816/1131)
Alex Mowatt	24 (+ 5)	2087	1	4	1	79.6% (724/910)
Michael Tonge	16 (+ 7)	1538	0	1	1.9	83.8% 657/784

Source WhoScored.com and Squawka.com

As was mentioned in the first part of this look at Leeds’ tactical formations, Leeds were most successful when using the 5-3-2 formation (employed for 28% of Leeds’ games during the 2013/14 season) where they gained 21 from 39 points (53.85% points available). They also utilised the standard 4-4-2 formation (again employed for 28% of Leeds’ games during the 2013/14 season) but where they actually only gained 10 from 39 points (25.68% points available).

With this in mind, Leeds fans were wondering what formation would be used to maximum affect in the 2014/15 Championship season and how this would affect the midfield, which was predominantly made up utilising the four abovementioned players. Before doing this, I would like to expand on some of the key statistics that the ‘midfield four’ brought to the table last season

The Leeds United midfield – expanded statistics 2013/14 Championship

	Pass	Key pass**	Assist**	Avg. pass	Tackles**	Take ons**	Shot**
Rodolph Austin	29.02 (77%)	0.91	3	20.92m	2.84*	26*	2.36*
Luke Murphy	24.02 (72%)	1.33*	2	21.38m*	2.49	14	1.07
Michael Tonge	37.69* (84%)	0.88	1	18.13m	1.23	10	1.93
Alex Mowatt	31.09 (79%)	1.12	4*	20.1m	1.08	14	1.21

Source Squawka.com

*signifies team leader in this category

** per 90 minutes

Photo Credit Mighty Leeds Weblog Dave27

One weakness that Leeds had last season was that their regular midfield players weren’t ‘passing’ players, insomuch as they weren’t playing the ball often enough. This left Leeds’ main midfield payers ranking in the following positions based on average passes per game (AvgPG) during the Championship season 2013/14: Austin 79^th (37 AvgPG), Tonge 115^th (34.1 AvgPG), Mowatt 143^rd (31.4 AvgPG) and Murphy 154^th (30.6 AvgPG); these statistics being sourced from WhoScored.com. The one bright light amongst the gloominess of a dire passing midfield is the passing completion percentage of Michael Tonge of 84%; this placed him as the 20^th most accurate passer of the ball last season in the Championship. The following table compares Leeds United’s midfield player performances against the top 4 midfield players in the Championship (based on average passes per game) from the 2013/14 season, three players who gained promotion with their teams and one who used to play for Leeds themselves.

Table comparing Leeds United’s 2013/14 midfield against Championship top 4 midfield players

	Successful passes (per 90)	Pass completion percentage	Average pass length	Chances created	Key Passes
Leeds United midfield players Championship 2013/14 season
Rodolph Austin (Leeds United)	29.02	77%	20.92m	39	36
Luke Murphy (Leeds United)	24.02	72%	21.38m	47	45
Michael Tonge (Leeds United)	37.69	84%	18.13m	16	15
Alex Mowatt (Leeds United)	31.09	79%	20.10m	30	26
Top four Championship midfield players 2013/14 season
Daniel Drinkwater (Leicester)	57.15	82%	18.31m	62	59
Joey Barton (Queens Park Rangers)	51.59	80%	22.76m	79	77
Tom Carroll (Queens Park Rangers)	55.25	84%	18.65m	31	29
Adam Clayton (Huddersfield Town)	44.12	79%	21.98	68	63

Source Squawka.com

 What is distinctly evident from the above table is that, as a unit, the midfield four most deployed by Leeds in the 2013/14 season largely didn’t match up to their contemporaries when it came to passing the ball. The top four Championship midfield players had more ‘successful passes per 90 minutes’ than Leeds’ players (Drinkwater’s 57.15 passes per 90 against Tonge’s 37.69 per 90), created ‘more chances’ and delivered more ‘key passes’ (Barton’s 79 ‘chances’ and 77 ‘key passes’ against Murphy’s 47 ‘chances’ and 45 ‘key passes’). It’s not all ‘doom and gloom’ though, there are some encouraging signs in and amongst the Leeds United midfield. Another article I have written discusses the defensive importance provided in the shape of Rodolph Austin, Leeds’ most consistent midfield player in a lot of categories last season. Looking at the above table, Michael Tonge’s contribution, albeit only a half-season of 23 games, measures up more to what Leeds United are expecting their style of play to be this coming season. Coach Hockaday has already mentioned that he wants Leeds to be playing a more passing-based brand of football, the ball staying on the ground more. In his 23 appearances (1538 minutes) Tongue showed more of a willingness to pass the ball (37.69 passes per 90) than his midfield compatriots, had a much greater accuracy (84%) than his midfield partners and a much shorter average passing length (18.13 metres).

In order to bolster this ‘pass first’ attitude in the Leeds United midfield, in comes Tomasso Bianchi (Sassuolo) who has impressed Leeds’ fans in preseason with his crisp passing, willingness to find space to receive the ball at his feet and his general distribution of the ball. Bianchi, along with Rodolph Austin, Luke Murphy and Michael Tonge, has formed the Leeds’ midfield in the last 3 preseason games against Chesterfield FC, Swindon Town and Dundee United.

Minutes played during last 3 preseason games

	Chesterfield	Swindon Town	Dundee United	Total
Rodolph Austin	90	90	46	226
Luke Murphy	69	90	62	221
Michael Tonge	21	90	62	173
Alex Mowatt	Not used	Not used	Not picked	0
Tomasso Bianchi	25	80	90	195

Bearing in mind the last 3 games of preseason, it seems that the Leeds’ midfield for the coming season is pretty much decided. Leeds have employed the 4-4-2 Diamond formation with Austin, operating in front of the two centre backs, forming the ‘defensive anchor’ position, Murphy and Tonge being the main midfielders and Bianchi operating as the creative link to the front two. That is based on ‘preseason’ though, things change massively even in the 3 days since the last preseason game against Dundee United on Saturday December 2^nd. Fast-forward 3 days and enter Leeds United’s new signing Nicky Ajose.

Nicky Ajose 2013/14 statistics

Swindon Town 2013/14 Season
League minutes played	League Goals	League Min per goal	Cup minutes played	Cup Goals	Cup Min per goal	Total goals
1083	6	180	270	4	67.5	10
Peterborough United 2013/14 Season
1818	7	260	N/A	N/A	N/A	7
						17

Source Soccerway.com

 

Photo Credit ITV.com

Nicky Ajose’s individual goal return for both teams he played for in the 2013/14 League One campaign, Swindon Town and Peterborough United, equal (in the case of Peterborough United)  or beat (in the case of Swindon Town) the goal output of ALL four of Leeds United’s main four midfield players from last season’s Championship campaign.

The intangible – l’intangibile

The general mood around Leeds at the moment is one of…erm…well bewilderment really. Long are Leeds supporters used to indifferent results in preseason and free transfers or old players joining from lower league clubs in what most fans see as desperate need to plug gaps in the squad. Now Leeds are signing players with terms such as ‘future starlet’ and ‘promising youngster’, terms that are bandied around in the same sentences as teams such as ‘AC Milan’ and ‘Juventus’. One of these is AC Milan’s Zan Bendicic, an 18 year old Slovenian U21 International who plays in AC Milan’s ‘Primavera’ or youth team.

Photo Credit Football League World

 

Zan Benedicic 2013/14 statistics

Games	Minutes played	Goals	Minutes per goal	Yellow cards
18	1494	3	498	8

Source transfermarkt.co.uk

Little is known about Zan Benedicic other than Filippo Inzhagi initially didn’t want to release him on a season-long loan, such was the regard that AC Milan hold Benedicic in. He’s now at Leeds United for a year and it is safe to say that Leeds fans are itching to see what Slovenian trickery via Milanese class can be woven on the hallowed turf of Elland Road.