Leeds United have signed nine new players this summer, but Daniel Farke utilised just three of them from the start against Arsenal yesterday.
That follows on from Leeds United starting with the same three players against Everton, albeit Lukas Nmecha, Sean Longstaff, and Noah Okafor have also debuted from the bench.
Lucas Perri had a tough game at The Emirates, while Gabriel Gudmundsson and Anton Stach were far less impressive from being among Leeds’ best players on Monday against Everton.
Farke wanted to possess the ball and attack Arsenal but that gameplan was seldom seen, given the Whites mustered just three shots in the 90 minutes.
Gary Neville criticises Joel Piroe, Willy Gnonto, and Dan James
It was a serious reality check, according to Jermaine Beckford, about what the Premier League will be like for a Leeds team who were absolutely unstoppable for the majority of the Championship campaign.
Such is the gulf in quality, though, that eight players from last season struggled to have any meaningful impact against the Gunners. Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville criticised Leeds’ tactics of playing out but he was more critical about a different aspect of Farke’s set-up.
Around 70 minutes into the game, shortly after substitutions had been made for Leeds, Neville explained that the three starting attackers were a major issue for Leeds in terms of retaining the ball.
He said: “I think you’ve seen the three players who played with them in the Championship: [Willy] Gnonto, [Dan] James and [Joel] Piroe — it’s only a couple of games in. I speak to Leeds fans, I know a couple of them.
“They say they do need more strikers — more players up front. You just see Okafor over on that left-hand side already, Nmecha, they look like a better fit already.
“They look like they’ve got more presence up front, like they’re going to compete more for balls. I think everything has to be perfect for that starting three.
“It’s not going to be perfect for Leeds, playing away at grounds like this, but you have to clear balls, play balls forward, and get something out of nothing.
“You’re playing against world-class centre-backs.”
Gary Neville picks out two Leeds players who were at fault in loss to Arsenal
Despite his comments on the front three, Neville was far more frustrated with what he saw in defensive areas, especially following the opening goal from Jurrien Timber.
Interestingly, he named the wrong centre-back in his analysis, meaning Joe Rodon and not Pascal Struijk. He said: “If you watch Struijk, he lets the Arsenal players run past him.
“And there’s no Arsenal players left at the back. Just watch him, the number six, they go past him. He’s got to go in there quicker with them but he ends up being late by just a yard.”
Of course, collectively, the whole team struggled back-to-front, which is likely to mean a tactical issue that Farke needs to overcome. Different forwards would allow more directness, for example.
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