Craig Scott

Tue 9 May 2023 19:10, UK

Sam Allardyce did a lot of defensive training ahead of his first game as the Leeds United manager at Manchester City, according to The Athletic journalist Phil Hay.

Leeds lost at the Etihad but kept the score respectable as they went down 2-1 with Rodrigo scoring an 85th-minute goal to force Pep Guardiola’s men into a sweat late on.

Ahead of the game, Big Sam’s focus in training was understandably on his defence with Hay reporting that the new Leeds manager focusing mainly on the goalkeeper and the four defenders.

“There was a hell of a lot of defensive work done I am told before that City game. A lot based on positioning, tracking players and everything else,” said Hay on The Athletic Football Podcast on Monday (8 May), as transcribed by The Boot Room.

“He said quite openly that the goalkeeper and the back four is where he had to start.

“From what I’m told that is what the focus has been on.”

No surprise there

Even if we were playing Southampton at home at the weekend, you can imagine that Allardyce’s approach at Thorp Arch wouldn’t have been too dissimilar.

At the end of the day, Leeds’ defence is their weak point and it has been for a very long time.

We’re record-breakers in back-to-back seasons for goals conceded in a calendar month in the Premier League yet Marcelo Bielsa, Jesse Marsch and Javi Gracia persisted with the same players.

Bielsa was Bielsa. You can forgive him because we scored a lot of goals, enough to warrant conceding so many at times.

But under Marsch, there was absolutely no improvement in any of the players, who on the whole got a lot worse thanks to his training.

Under Gracia, players were already at a low ebb but he managed to oversee them hitting rock bottom.

Yet he still had to be told by the fans to start Willy Gnonto or to make a substitution.

Big Sam is a so-called “dinosaur” but he’s a breath of fresh air at Thorp Arch, no doubt.

In other Leeds United news, Michael Owen has shared what’s “horrific” for the Whites.