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Pundit details missing link at Leeds United

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Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright has sung the praises of Leeds United and believes that their performances will eventually produce a result where they give a team a ‘real hiding’.

Leeds have taken to the Premier League with real bravery under Marcelo Bielsa this season, not shying from the dominant style of play that saw them charge to the Championship title in July.

Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp was left in awe during the opening day clash against the Whites at Anfield, despite the Reds winning 4-3, in a game where Leeds took the game to the reigning champions from the first whistle.

Since then, this style we’ve seen has come with an impressive amount of substance. 15 goals scored in 10 games and a joint-best of four clean sheets for Illan Meslier in goal.

While our goal difference is on minus two so far (17 goals conceded), it has to be said that defeats to Leicester City and Crystal Palace have somewhat inflated what would have been a considered a strong defensive start to the season.

The weekend’s 1-0 win away to Everton highlighted two things about life under Marcelo Bielsa: our comfortable dominance of possession against most teams in the division, and our inefficiency in front of goal.

23 shots were attempted with just six on target and one goal to show for it thanks to Raphinha’s brilliance from 25 yards, where Mateusz Klich, Jack Harrison, and Patrick Bamford all struggled to convert chances.

If we took chances as easily as we created them, there wouldn’t be many games under Bielsa that we’d even draw, let alone lose.

There is always the lingering thought that if everything clicked in a game and these chances were taken, the opposition would be on the wrong end of a complete annihilation. The closest we’ve seen if the likes of a 4-0 thumping at Hull City and a 5-0 home win against Stoke City last season.

It’s an opinion shared by Premier League legend Ian Wright, who believes that sort of game will come along for Leeds this season.

Speaking on Premier League Productions’ Matchday Extra, Wright shared what he has thought about Leeds this season: “I like Leeds a lot. I like their philosophy, they don’t change the way they play.

“They make a lot of chances and someone, at some stage, is going to get a real hiding off of Leeds once they start taking those chances.”

Chelsea are our next opponents and this perhaps doesn’t present the best chance to see this potential ‘hiding’ come to fruition.

The Blues boast the second-best defence in the league and you’d think Frank Lampard will know better than to give us chances, given how we performed against his Derby County side over four separate games, scoring nine in four.

Everton MotM

Illan Meslier

Illan Meslier

Raphinha

Raphinha

Kalvin Phillips

Kalvin Phillips

Jack Harrison

Jack Harrison
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