Leeds United’s last few performances have presented a number of issues for Daniel Farke to overcome, including the club’s woeful return from attacking set plays.
The Whites have suffered their first defeat at home of the season with Blackburn Rovers coming away from Elland Road on Saturday with a 1-0 victory.
It was a slightly improved outing from Leeds after the poor showing against Sunderland, but it still wasn’t enough for Leeds to consider themselves deserving of anything more than even a draw.
Leeds fail to score from another 12 corners into the box
It was arguably one of the most dominant games Leeds have had in terms of possession at Elland Road this season, but the output wasn’t forthcoming for Daniel Farke’s attack.
Boasting 74.9% of the ball, Leeds had 19 attempts while Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon and Archie Gray as a trio had more possession of the ball than Rovers in the match – per WhoScored.com.
The issue is that there was very little bite to go with having the ball that much, feeding into Blackburn’s setup that yielded a crucial breakaway goal from a long punt forward.
12 corners came Leeds’ way too, but none really looked to be threatening once again with Blackburn’s towering defenders dealing with sloppy delivery and half-hearted aerial contests quite easily.
Where will Leeds finish in 23/24?
Farke is failing at set pieces, club hasn’t been good since Garry Monk in that area
Dominating in open play is more of a focus for managers playing at the top end of the table, but a differential quality that helps unlock tight games with few chances is set piece efficiency.
It’s especially something Leeds fans have been constantly discussing given the sheer volume of set plays Leeds are presented with, 25 in the last two games and virtually nothing to show for it in the way of big chances.
The last time the Whites made use of a corner to score was against Ipswich Town in December, and the last time Leeds ever really looked dominant in general from attacking corners was seven seasons ago when Garry Monk was at the helm in 2016/17.
Kyle Bartley, Pontus Jansson and Chris Wood were a core reason for Leeds bagging 19 from set pieces that season, while having Pablo Hernandez to deliver in consistently good crosses.
Now, there’s not even a belief in the body language of the players stepping up that we’re going to get anything out of a corner ‘routine’, with a languid delivery likely towards the near post and no players making useful runs to make the most of whatever cross is sent into the area.
If we’re not confident of our abilities in launching cross after cross into the box, re-think it and just go short to keep the ball and create better openings for Crysencio Summerville and co.
Copyright © 2024
Leave a Reply