We have a huge game in the EFL Championship playoff race this weekend as West Bromwich Albion take on Leeds United.
West Brom currently sit 5th in the EFL Championship with eleven wins, six draws and seven losses from twenty-four games this season.
The Baggies are having an impressive campaign on the whole and are coming into this game looking to further consolidate their place in the playoff places.
They’ve been fairly inconsistent in terms of form and will no doubt feel like they have more to give, as demonstrated by their current form that has seen them win two, draw one and lose two of their last five games.
Their latest outing produced what was a timely win as they beat Norwich City 1-0 thanks to a goal from Brandon Thomas-Asante.
The three points were sorely needed and did not come easily, with the Baggies helped by Norwich being reduced to ten men midway through the first half.
Their home form has still been pretty strong, however, with Carlos Corberán’s men having lost only one of their last nine games on home soil - against league leaders Leicester City.
Things are, then, looking pretty positive for the Baggies but they’ll probably want to make a few additions to the squad in January to strengthen their promotion push as they’re only three points clear of Hull in 7th.
They face a tough but winnable game here against a side that are prone to poor performances away from home.
Leeds United currently sit 4th in the EFL Championship with thirteen wins, six draws and five losses from twenty-four games this season.
On the whole, it’s been a strong campaign for Leeds but as the weeks progress there appear to be more criticisms, and valid ones, of manager Daniel Farke emerging.
Granted, in many other seasons their current points total would have them in the top two places - or at least on the verge of that - but they currently sit eight points outside of the automatic promotion spots and for a side possessing one of the three best squads in the league some questions have to be asked regarding the manager’s ability to get the best out of the tools at his disposal.
Leeds have delivered some impressive performances - notably away at league leaders Leicester and most recently in their 4-0 hammering of Ipswich Town - but they have been undercut by subpar performances in games away from home where sides approach them in specific ways.
When teams (at home) deploy an organised, low-block defence and play with a palpable intensity, Leeds seem to become totally unstuck and unable to play with any fluidity or any identifiable pattern.
They often look like they’re outnumbered in midfield and they fail to show any coherence in their play, particularly in the final 3rd, while rarely troubling the opposition defence.
Games following that dynamic have cost them a number of points this season and it happened as recently as Boxing Day, where Farke’s side were beaten 2-1 by Preston North End.
True, the sending off of goalkeeper Ilan Meslier had a big impact on that game but the performance prior to that moment was hardly vintage from Leeds and the game was following a similar pattern to that previously mentioned.
No team plays a perfect campaign and slip-ups are inevitable, but the frequency in which games like this occur for Leeds - you could argue as many as six of their last nine games away from home have followed this pattern - means it’s a troubling tendency and one that, if it continues, will ultimately cost them automatic promotion.
Where the criticisms of the manager manifest are in his apparent inability to provide an answer to any of this. After a slow start to the season, Farke found his comfort zone in a starting XI that saw Archie Gray moved to right-back with Glen Kamara partnering Ethan Ampadu in midfield and Dan James occupying the right wing with Jöel Piroe at the 10 position, while Georginio Rütter plays as a free-roaming forward.
You could argue there’s an element of placing square pegs in round holes at play there and given the incompleteness of the squad makeup you can also argue Farke was forced to improvise in this manner somewhat, but he’s largely done well with that XI and he deserves credit for that. However, where he must be questioned is how poorly he’s done in terms of utilising the squad as a whole.
The German has hardly rotated this lineup since the win over Bristol City on October 17th and, in addition to running players into the ground from a fatigue standpoint, has not shown himself able to tweak his side to suit Leeds in certain tactical matchups, despite the limitations of this XI exposing themselves repeatedly.
If he doesn’t find a solution to the problems that are clear he and Leeds are probably going to have to settle for a playoff which, unless they finish 3rd by a slim margin, would ultimately be an underachievement. Granted, the January transfer window could partially solve some of these issues if certain profiles are brought it but at some point similar problems will rear their head if Farke cannot address them tactically.
On paper, this fixture has all the makings of a typically tough away match where Leeds drop points in a game where they’re never fully allowed to get out of third gear. A win, more specifically a dominant one, could point to progress for the side under Farke but he has to demonstrate some adaptability here with his side’s automatic promotion hopes hanging in the balance.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our previews, tips and offers for this weekend’s action.
For our West Brom vs. Leeds prediction, we’re going for a 1-1 draw.