Leeds United may have been compromised ahead of Premier League games – Phil Hay
Leeds United manager Javi Gracia may have compromised his side ahead of their two upcoming Premier League matches this week, according to Phil Hay.
The Whites lost 4-1 to Mikel Arteta’s league leaders at the Emirates Stadium, with Rasmus Kristensen’s late consolation goal not enough for Gracia’s side to pull off any kind of comeback against the Gunners.
The Athletic’s Hay admitted that Gracia may have been reluctant to throw caution to the wind when the 25-year-old brought the score back to 3-1 in the 76th minute due to the risk of compromising their upcoming fixtures against relegation rivals Nottingham Forest on Tuesday (4 April) and Crystal Palace this Sunday (9 April).
He wrote: “There was no deviation in Gracia’s tactics after the first goal but whatever he said at half-time, the game was gone once Arsenal scored immediately after it.
“He resisted a rapid flood of substitutions, sticking to staggered changes as the clock wore on, and there seemed to be an acceptance on his part that trying to salvage something by going for broke might compromise the two games awaiting him in the next seven days.”
Fight the right battles
Gracia would have known that Leeds United’s season wouldn’t have been defined by the trip to the Emirates Stadium at the weekend, with far tighter battles awaiting on the horizon.
Although the clash against the Gunners was a great opportunity to build confidence with a morale-boosting win, it was always a tough ask to pick up any kind of result.
Even when the score was 3-1 with a quarter of an hour to go, there was no point in risking any further injuries by going Gung ho with an all-out-attack strategy.
Such a tactical change could also have left the Whites vulnerable in defence and potentially led to embarrassment if Arsenal had picked a couple of goals on the counter-attack and the scoreline started to read 5-1 or 6-1.
Such a score could have come as a detriment for the upcoming matches against relegation rivals Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest.
Gracia must pick the right battles, and the closing stages of the Arsenal clash was not one of them.
In other Leeds United news, a teenager now looks closer than ever after what he did at Thorp Arch during the international break with Javi Gracia taking note.
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