Leeds United must address unwanted nutmeg record they currently hold
While Leeds United have dramatically picked up their form since Jesse Marsch took over, there is one stat that they are still wanting to change.
It’s not the fact that more goals have been shipped into the Whites’ net than any other Premier League team but it is a stat that sees Leeds top of the pile in the division.
According to the statistics presented by OLBG, Leeds United players have been nutmegged on more occasions than any other team in the Premier League this season.
A whopping 49 times a Leeds player has suffered the indignity of having the ball played through his own legs and every time it happens, it leaves them vulnerable.
As soon as the ball goes behind the defender via a nutmeg, that man is suddenly taken out of the game unless they are able to grab ahold of the attacker and cynically bring him to the fall, picking up a yellow card in the process.
The high-pressing game that Marcelo Bielsa played, and that Marsch has carried on albeit toned down a touch, won’t have helped with this stat as the cleverer players in the division are able to pull off the cute first-time flicks to bypass the rapid press.
That often leads to a nutmeg and the player being taken out of the game which has probably contributed to their poor defensive record too.
It isn’t all bad news in OLBG’s report though as Brazilian winger Raphinha is joint-second in the league for completing nutmegs.
He and Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho have made 14 apiece but they are a huge six behind Watford’s Emmanuel Dennis who is a surprise league leader in that aspect.
More doing the nutmegs and less being on the end of them is needed now for Marsch and Leeds, keep them closed.
In other Leeds United news, a reliable journalist expects this Whites ace to sign for divisional rivals but only on one condition.