The only club in the entire EFL whose goals against column still shows a single figure, Leeds United’s defence is a force to be reckoned with this season.
However at the recent player Q&A event held at Elland Road, captain Liam Cooper admitted the heart of the defence, his pairing with loanee Ben White , got off to an unusual start.
“Ben didn’t come to [the pre-season tour in] Australia so we didn’t get to play much together,” he said.
“Bera (Gaetano Berardi) was suspended for the first game of the season so we were working together for the first time [in the opening game] against Bristol [City] and obviously it’s nicer to build up a partnership beforehand, but we train every day together, we know what’s expected of us and we obviously clicked straightaway.”
White found himself in the Championship Team of the Week again following yet another flawless performance in the 2-1 victory against Blackburn Rovers at the weekend, winning yet more praise from media and fans alike.
However, Cooper admitted life under Marcelo Bielsa took some getting used to for the Brighton & Hove Albion defender.
He said: “Ben’s only come in this season and he’ll tell you himself the first two weeks he struggled to get to grips with it and I was saying to him ‘just stick with it, just stick with it’.
“It was the first game against Bristol we said if we get it right we’ll just be knocking balls down to Kalvin [Phillips] in midfield because the press is so good from the top and he said to me after the game I was right.”
White agreed life under Bielsa had taken some getting used to: “It’s definitely different to what I’ve been used to. So much to think about and so many things you don’t know you’re doing during the game. All the stuff you’ve done during the week, you just do it on a weekend.”
Cooper explained a bit about the team’s defensive philosophy, why this season has started so strongly and how it had taken some getting used to for all the players when head coach Marcelo Bielsa first came in with his ideas.
“It’s one of the toughest parts of football to limit the opposition team to few chances and we’ve managed to do that in the first 15 games. It’s down to a lot of hard work on the training pitch," he said.
"We base our game on a man-to-man philosophy and it’s working dividends at the moment, everyone knows what’s expected of them.
"It’s come on leaps and bounds over the time we’ve spent together and obviously when Marcelo first came in it was a bit alien to us and it was hard to get to grips with, then you become more confident.”
Next up for United is a trip to Luton Town after the international break. Cooper will be hoping to feature in the squad after having been forced to pull out of the Scotland squad following an injury he sustained against Blackburn Rovers.
