Leeds United have scored five goals in all competitions this season, and only two have come from attacking players. A former Premier League coach thinks the club can help fix these issues.
It has been a wonderful start to the campaign for Daniel Farke and his men.
Unbeaten in their first five games, and already into the next round of the League Cup. They have faced Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Brentford early this season and come out unscathed.
But after last Saturday’s game, the fanbase has been talking.
Leeds missed many chances to win the game against Brighton and ended up drawing.
Former Leeds United man makes Haaland comparison
Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Credit: Imago
Dominic Calvert-Lewin had a glorious chance, where he rounded the keeper but his shot was blocked before it reached the goal line.
It proved to be key as Fabian Hurzeler’s side rescued a point.
The Leeds United striker has just one goal this season, and former Premier League boss Gordon Strachan thinks the club can help him out more.
In an exclusive interview with Leeds Live, the 69-year old spoke on how Leeds and Daniel Farke can help their striker score more goals. He referenced Erling Haaland and how the Man City strike has support in the box.
“I mean, he’s great physically, in the air, taking the ball in and looking after it.
“But there is nobody really in front of him to take up positions either side of him. You look at Manchester City. The reason why Erling Haaland only gets 13 touches a game and scores three goals is that there is always somebody in front of him.
Strachan believes Calvert-Lewin is isolated a bit too much sometimes to make a goalscoring impact.
“At this moment in time, Leeds do not have people getting around in front of Calvert-Lewin. So he has to do all sorts of things. He has got to come and get the ball, control it, go for long balls, go for flick-ons and then somehow be in the box to score a goal.”
“I think there are two ways to help Dominic. One is to get somebody up to play closer beside him, as well as a midfield player, so that he can take the pressure. The other is that [another] player can take the hits at times, rather than just him.”
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How can Daniel Farke fix this system issue?
Over the past year, Farke has tried a lot to help Leeds get bodies into the box. He gave Anton Stach free reign to be a box-to-box threat, and has recently added runs from deep from Joe Rodon/James Justin.
But ultimately, the player that should be in the box for Calvert-Lewin is a profile of player that can score goals.
That is why Leeds missing out on signing a striker in this summer window is problematic. Joel Piroe was not a favourite, but he did carry a goal threat in his limited minutes last year.
Daniel Farke can also go back to his tactic of playing Lukas Nmecha and Dominic Calvert-Lewin alongside each other.
This worked very well in the middle of last year, but the Leeds boss changed it up and the tactic was rarely used. If the club want to score more goals this season, Gordon Strachan’s advice should be something to take note of.
