This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
At least Phil Hay hasn’t lost faith.
Or perhaps he’s being deluded. It’s one of the two, but it’s hard to decide which.
What’s he said?
Speaking during a Q&A for The Athletic on Thursday, Hay was asked whether or not Leeds were actually performing as badly as some people perceive:
In response, he offered the following thoughts:
“I think it’s down to the fear that Leeds are going to get sucked into a very tight race again and ultimately be at the mercy of the tension which killed them last April/May. I hoped to see Bielsa elevate the team, to a level where they were truly dominating the league. It hasn’t happened yet.”
How much longer though?
The keyword in that last sentence is ‘yet’.
So whilst some might be led to believe that this is the best that Leeds have to offer this season in terms of their style of play, it looks as if Hay has faith in Bielsa and the team to kick things up another notch.
But whilst he talks about Leeds possibly going through the same sort of problems that cost them in the latter stages of last season, wouldn’t it be best if they started to build up a little bit of a cushion right now to give them some breathing space?
The latest table from Experimental361 shows that Leeds should be working with an eight-point lead in the league right now ahead of their closest rivals, a damning indictment of how they’ve actually fared.
Those points might prove hard to get back over the course of the season, particularly if Leeds are as wasteful as they have been so far this season. From a total of 16.9 shots per game, they’ve scored just 17 times over the course of the current term.
They may be a dominant side, but they’re not actually cashing in on that. Perhaps the demons of last season are playing a part and based on recent displays, it might take some time for that trail of thought to vanish.
The longer Leeds keep things the way they are, the more likely that they’re going to have to go through the stress that Hay talks about. No time like the present to get things into gear.
