Leeds United's poor record without Kalvin Phillips in their side continued this weekend, when the Thorp Arch graduate's team-mates slumped to a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion.
This was the ninth match that Phillips has missed this term, with Leeds suffering seven defeats in these games. The numbers show that Leeds earn 0.67 points per game with Phillips absent, compared to 1.64 points per game when he plays.
This is a clear drop-off, but it does not tell the full story.
Marcelo Bielsa is not the kind of coach to look at coincidences or historic trends in his analysis, so what do the individual games which Phillips has missed tell us about Leeds' ability to cope without the 25-year-old?
First off, it's worth mentioning that one of Leeds' best performances of the season came without Phillips, which was the 3-0 win at Aston Villa. A comfortable 3-0 home win over Southampton brought about the other Phillips-less victory for Leeds this season.
Of the six defeats, two arguably came with mitigating circumstances.
The 1-0 loss at Wolves came via a fluke own goal, as Adama Traore saw a shot hit the bar then go in off Illan Meslier's back. The 4-1 defeat at Palace saw Leeds concede another unlucky goal at a pivotal moment when Helder Costa blocked a Patrick van Aanholt cross shortly before half-time and saw the ball fly in his own net.
Both of these games also saw Patrick Bamford have goals ruled out through VAR.
The Elland Road Villa defeat was another tight affair, where the Whites struggled to create chances.
The two defeats to Brighton and the heavy loss at Arsenal offer the most concern as Leeds failed to break down organised sides with an effective press.
Bielsa has indicated in recent weeks that Robin Koch is his preferred alternative for Phillips in this position and it is worth bearing in mind that the German was absent for four of Leeds' five defeats without Phillips in the side.
Last season, we saw how Ben White took time to adapt to his role as Phillips' deputy, with the loan man looking out-of-sorts when he filled in there for the first time away at Huddersfield. White's performances in this role markedly improved as the season went on and he has gone on to fill this role for Brighton this season.
As Beren Cross points out here, Koch is at the start of his process of learning this position under Bielsa, with the Leeds somewhat unfortunate that both players have been missing at the same time during various points this term.
“I think he played well,” Bielsa said when asked about Koch's performance against the Seagulls. “It was very difficult for anyone to shine according to how the collective play went.
“I tell you, it's very difficult to play well, but he didn't play badly in a collective performance that was in the medium, it was not easy.”
While the results without Phillips look damning on their own, there is a lot of context behind this record. Like all teams, Leeds do obviously miss their best players, but after having not yet been able to try out their chief contingency plan, the panic button should not be hit yet.
