One of the biggest changes in Leeds United's style of play since Jesse Marsch took over as manager from Marcelo Bielsa has been the way the team approach playing with width. Under Bielsa, Leeds looked to make the pitch as wide as possible and wingers Raphinha, Jack Harrison or Daniel James would be given space to run into.
Marsch prefers to keep the team narrow, looking to attack the centre of the penalty area and compacting the space by bringing the attackers closer together to combine. However, Leeds are currently attempting to do that with players who are not only used to playing wide because they were set up to do so under Bielsa, but also because it is their natural tendency to do so, having played as wingers for all of their careers.
This means that at times, Leeds' attacking has looked ineffectual under Marsch, as it did in the 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace on Monday night. Marsch was asked about Raphinha after the game, after the Brazilian had struggled to have an impact at Selhurst Park.
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The American explained to Sky Sports: "We want him to be inside. It’s his natural instinct [to be wide]. There’s trying to transform the playing philosophy, then there’s trying to encouraging players to new ideas. They’re trying and they give everything they have and sometimes they fall back to old habits. But they’re pushing every day."
Leeds will hope that they can gain the points needed to stave off relegation, providing Marsch with time over the summer to really coach his philosophies as they prepare for another season in the Premier League. In his opening press conference as manager, Marsch mentioned how it would be a challenge to implement his way of playing in a short time and with a genuine threat of relegation over the player's heads.
"Of course I have a million things on my mind that I want to implement. But, what's important for me is to understand how to make the simple things the clearest right now and to add complexity as we go on."
Given a summer with the team, breaking the habits they have picked up over long periods of their careers should be a lot easier. Marsch can intensively work on his narrow, counter-pressing style and add the complexity that he alluded to, without the huge pressure of having to secure Premier League survival affecting the players.
Returning to this season, on one hand, Leeds have picked up points well in their recent run, giving them the platform to seal the Premier League status in the remaining games. On the other, the performances in the last two games and tough run of upcoming fixtures mean that the team have a job to do in order to pick up at the points they need to ensure safety.
If Leeds are going to pick up those points, Marsch will need to find a way to unlock Raphinha. Trying to repackage him as an 'inside' player has limited him thus far. His best performance under Marsch came against Norwich, where he played almost as a right-sided striker on the last man.
This allowed him to run into space and create the winner for Joe Gelhardt. Since then, there has been a moment of magic to open the scoring against Watford and not much else to speak of. Against Palace, Raphinha huffed and puffed but generally found himself running into traffic as he drifted inside.
Considering that many of Leeds' points in the first half of the season came down to the inspiration of Raphinha in the final third and he remains the most naturally talented attacker in the team, Leeds can't sacrifice his output. If Patrick Bamford was fit and able to be the spearhead of the narrow system, Leeds could cope better with their Brazilian attacker off the boil.
As Bamford is unlikely to return until at least the Brighton game - the penultimate fixture of the season - Marsch needs to find an answer to this problem. With Raphinha firing, Leeds know they always have a chance. They may well need another magic moment from him before the season comes to a close.
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