Leeds United remain unbeaten in the Championship and also happens to be on top of the league by virtue of a better goal difference. They have been scoring freely, but their defensive performance has also improved leaps and bounds under Marcelo Bielsa. The Argentine manager moved Gaetano Berardi, who is more of a right back to the centre back position this season and the 30-year-old Swiss international has made that centre back spot his own after some impressive displays. Massive credit to Bielsa for realising Berardi’s potential of playing a role in the heart of the defence.
Pontus Jansson’s World Cup commitment and his late return to the squad has cost him his place in the playing eleven. In his absence, the pairing of Liam Cooper and Berardi have done exceedingly well. Even though the Swede international was available, Bielsa went in with Cooper and Berardi in defence in the all-important clash against Middlesbrough.
The club captain recently opened up about the competition for the centre back role and said,”It’s massive. Pontus is a great lad and he’s an unbelievable player and we all push each other. I have been in Pontus’ shoes before and he’s been in mine and we all push each other and it’s good to know that the lads are rooting for us as well. It had been ten days since I picked up the injury at Swansea and we were looking at two to three weeks out. But the physios here go off us.”
He added further, ”If we are feeling all right they will push us and I managed to train the last two days before the game and I felt great. The manager spoke to me on Thursday and he said ‘are you 100 per cent’ and I said ‘yeah’ and it’s just one of those things, you can’t come out of this team at the moment, the lads are really pushing each other and even the lads that aren’t playing.”
Many were of the opinion that Jansson would be a guaranteed starter in centre back role but this goes to show that there are no guarantees under the former Chile manager. It also makes the players realise that they are going to be picked on their performance and not on their reputation and that would keep the players on their toes every time.
Impressing the manager in a training session is the only way to get into the playing eleven, and that healthy competition and comradery between the players show that the attitude and mood in the camp are right.
With each of them egging and pushing each other on, there would be no place for complacency. That, in turn, would help the side in keeping it tight at the back as the defender who would be picked for a game would know that he has another one of his team-mate breathing down his neck for that starting lineup spot.
