This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
You’d think that after a year in this division, he’d have learnt a few things by now.
Whilst Saturday’s defeat to Millwall shouldn’t necessarily go down as a disaster, given that they are only two points off the top spot, it needs to at the very least be used as a very stark warning for both Marcelo Bielsa and Andrea Radrizzani.
Leeds were already behind the eight-ball going into the game with the injury to captain Liam Cooper, and having to use Gaetano Berardi as cover.
Berardi’s disciplinary record should have been one of the biggest red flags that Leeds were in trouble, with seven sending’s off in his time at Elland Road.
Now although the decision to award the penalty and red card could be seen as rather soft, in fact so soft that Leeds intend to appeal the decision to the EFL this week, the warning signs were there that they didn’t need to be in this position in the first place.
It all comes down to how they dealt with the transfer window.
It is well known that Marcelo Bielsa prefers to operate with a small squad, but it looks as if his decision could be about to come back and haunt him if the EFL reject the club’s appeal.
After the sale of Pontus Jansson to Brentford, Leeds were left with just two ‘natural’ centre backs, one of them being the aforementioned Cooper. Now they are going to find themselves struggling to put together a backline with a number of players out of their natural positions. Therefore, it was a clear mistake not to bring in more bodies over the summer.
Leeds were more or less in a similar situation last year, when they went through a terrible injury crisis, and it arguably ended up costing them promotion in the end.
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The Whites are now on the verge of going through a similar spell, and it could leave them playing catch-up towards the end of the season.
Whilst it may be too early to start talking about the January transfer window when we aren’t even through the second international break of the season, both Bielsa and the board at Elland Road need to start getting their ducks in order and finding some proper cover for their centre backs.
They can’t afford to let these results become a regular occurrence just because he doesn’t have the bodies to get through the campaign.
