Credit: Imago

James Barker

Wed 25 March 2026 7:10, UK

Leeds United were last relegated from the Premier League in 2022-23, with Daniel Farke’s 2025-26 team looking to avoid the same fate.

That 2022-23 side began the season under the management of Jesse Marsch, who was appointed as Marcelo Bielsa’s replacement after his sacking in February 2022.

Marsch, now in charge of Canada’s men’s international side, kept Leeds up in dramatic fashion in 2021-22, but come February of 2023, he was axed at Elland Road.

Now-Lincoln City manager Michael Skubala took interim charge of three Premier League games, before Javi Gracia was then sacked in early May 2023 after just two-and-a-half months at the helm.

Sam Allardyce couldn’t keep Leeds in the Premier League in the final four games, and so, with Farke’s side currently sitting four points above the relegation zone with seven games to go, how do those two teams compare?

Leeds’ 2022-23 and 2025-26 Premier League teams compared

Marsch recently blamed Ted Lasso comparisons for contributing to his Leeds United failings, but that’s certainly not an excuse for the way his team performed in 2022-23.

The Canadian simply didn’t have the tactical answers when the big questions were presented to him, and paved the way for that season’s team to end up back in the Championship for 2023-24.

As per Sofsacore, Leeds’ 2022-23 team conceded an average of 2.1 goals per game, completed just 74.9 per cent of their passes accurately, kept only five clean sheets and only created 1.6 big chances per game.

They shipped 78 goals in the league that season, and scored 48 times, finishing in 19th with 31 points to their name: a tally this current Leeds side have already surpassed.

So, how do those figures stand up against Farke’s present day team? Well, they’ve conceded an average of 1.5 goals per game, completed 79.6 per cent of their passes, kept six clean sheets and are creating 2.3 big chances per game.

Interestingly though, they are only slightly averaging more shots on target per match than the 2022-23 team, with Farke’s side recording 3.9, whilst Marsch’s men had 3.8.

The 2025-26 team have only scored 37 goals so far this term too, meaning they’ll need at least another 11 if they want to match 2022-23’s 48 scored, with 13 of those coming from Rodrigo that year.

Which players from 2022-23 would make Leeds’ current team?

Just because that 2022-23 team were relegated from the Premier League, doesn’t mean it was a Whites side devoid of talented players.

Rodrigo was probably the pick of the Leeds bunch that season, hitting 15 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions, and would no doubt have a place in Farke’s starting lineup right now.

Now-Bournemouth central midfielder Tyler Adams was also a consistently good performer, and would surely find a way into the XI at Elland Road right now.

Meanwhile, Georginio Rutter and Marc Roca were also part of that team, and certainly in the case of the former, whilst he didn’t play much for Leeds that season, he’s one who could also carve out a sizeable role in this current team.