View: Aston Villa must exploit Leeds United defensive vulnerability
Aston Villa face Leeds United in their next Premier League fixture and they must expose a glaring weakness in the Whites’ defence.
Leeds have been known over recent years to be expansive in their play, with the defensive side of the game coming as somewhat of a second thought.
This was due to change this season under Jesse Marsch, with the American placing slightly more emphasis on defending than Marcelo Bielsa did. However, with ten goals conceded in six Premier League games, it’s safe to say that their ability to keep the ball out of their net hasn’t improved greatly.
In five of the ten goals Leeds’ have conceded, there has been a similar pattern of play occur that Steven Gerrard should be looking to exploit when they travel to Elland Road on 2 October.
Leeds’ central defenders have a tendency to be dragged out of their back four line in order to be aggressive and win the ball back, which is something Marsch wants from his side whilst operating with a high line.
However, in the example below in their 1-1 draw against Everton, Diego Llorente is drawn into the ball and leaves a huge space behind himself.
This allows for Anthony Gordon to make a third-man run into the space and eventually put the Toffees 1-0 up with a smart finish.
This is not a one-time occurance, with a very similar situation happening for Llorente in their defeat to Brighton. As the image below displays, he looks to get in front of Danny Welbeck before misjudging the ball and leaving space behind himself.
After getting in behind Leeds’ backline the Seagulls eventually work room for Pascal Gross to finish smartly.
Robin Koch was the guilty part against Southampton in the build-up to Joe Aribo’s goal that started the Saints’ comeback from 2-0 down.
The German defender discards the space in behind him and instead looks to be aggressive and win the ball back high up the pitch. This results in Che Adams playing a quick one-two with Adam Armstrong to set the forward in behind.
Finally, against Brentford Llorente attempts to be aggressive and spring an offside trap which opens the door for Bryan Mbeumo to immediately restore the Bees’ lead.
Leeds like to be bold and like to play with a high line and Villa could really expose their central defenders should the likes of Ollie Watkins make the right movements in behind their defence.
Phillippe Coutinho picking up small pockets of space and moving the ball quickly around Llorente and Koch could prove too much for the centre-half pairing.
Villa are coming off of two good results and could really hurt Marsch’s side if they play in a fast and confident manner.
In other Aston Villa news, Villa Park is among the favourites to be named a Euro 2028 venue