Leeds United's return to the Premier League is starting to take shape, with the Whites positioned fifth in the table after six matches having accumulated 10 points from a possible 18.
Marcelo Bielsa's outfit have retained the energetic, intense and radical brand of football that gained them promotion from the Championship last year and it's proving to be too much for many opponents, particularly when United move into the attacking phase of the field.
Despite retaining those key principles, Bielsa continues to adjust his tactical approach from week to week based on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, with Friday night's 3-0 win over Aston Villa acting as a perfect example of his work.
United took 28 shots against Dean Smith's side - which is considerably more than their previous best of 18 against Sheffield United - and restricted Villa to just 12 attempts themselves.
The performance was technically flawless with and without the ball, with Bielsa seemingly targeting Villa's right as a weak spot.
The 4-3-3 that Smith has been employing this season involves Matty Cash as a right-back and Trezeguet as a right-sided wide forward, with both of those players being very offensive-minded.
Ezgjan Alioski and Jack Harrison freely operated in space consistently as a result of Trezeguet's advanced positioning, with Cash having to manage two and sometimes three players at a time.
On the opposite flank, the typically attacking Stuart Dallas refrained from taking risks as much as usual, which was likely to be a deliberate ploy in order to manage the danger posed by Jack Grealish, who is likely to have been identified by Bielsa as Villa's primary threat.
United held back on Grealish's side with the awareness that he could punish them with time and space, but they attacked relentlessly down Trezeguet's flank.
Per Statsbomb's shot-creating actions metric - which covers the two offensive actions directly leading to a shot, such as passes, dribbles and drawing fouls - Alioski and Harrison posted a combined figure of 12 shot-creating actions on the day compared to Dallas and Helder Costa on the opposite side who posted seven in total.
United seemed to intentionally lean towards one channel and it worked quite impressively; Villa failed to score for the first time this season, and Grealish - who has amassed at least five shot-creating actions in each of his performances - posted only one against the Whites.
The immediate future looks bright for Bielsa's men, with his blend of resolute principles and adaptable tactics merging skilfully to ensure that United prove to be problematic for their opponents every single week.
