Leeds United and Liverpool are undoubtedly two of the best teams in their respective divisions.
The Reds are top of the Premier League by 16 points, while Leeds sit second in the Championship despite absolutely dominating the xG table.
Both sides are great advocates for the modern game as their systems revolve around high pressing, fast tempo football, and one Sky Sports pundit pointed out the similarities between the two teams.
Despite the sides being so similar, Leeds aren’t running away with the Championship, and Paul Merson may have inadvertently pointed out what the Whites need to do in the transfer market to reach that next level.
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What’s been said then?
The Sky Sports pundit was talking about Liverpool, and he stated that the only team that are slightly similar to the Reds is Leeds.
“You can play in this day and age and you see teams pass through the press constantly because one man drops off and it’s just ping, ping, ping,” Merson said on Sky Sports’ The Debate (20/1/20 22:50).
“Liverpool, no one’s like Liverpool, it’s phenomenal what they do. You look at Leeds in the league below, they sort of play at that tempo, but they hit a brick wall last year, and they’ve hit a brick wall this year. Hopefully they’ll get out of it this year and carry on and go up.
“But you look at Liverpool and they don’t, they only get stronger and stronger, and whoever comes on the pitch you wouldn’t know there’s a substitution, they’re phenomenal.”
What Leeds need to do
Merson says that you can’t even tell when Liverpool make a substitution, but unfortunately, Leeds don’t have that kind of depth.
Take a look at some of the most important positions in Leeds’ squad and you can see that there isn’t much space for chopping and changing.
There are three senior centre-backs in the squad with Gaetano Berardi, Ben White and Liam Cooper the only options in that position.
The lack of depth in central midfield has seen Stuart Dallas played out of position due to a long-term injury suffered by Adam Forshaw.
Meanwhile, up front, Patrick Bamford is the only senior striker in the side after Eddie Nketiah’s recall.
These comments show that the most important thing Leeds can do in this window is to add more depth to these key areas.
Everyone should want to be emulating Liverpool at the moment – they’ve dropped just two points this season, and Merson’s comments show that depth is one thing keeping Leeds from dominating the Championship in the same way the Merseyside club are ruling the top flight.
In other news, Leeds could kill two birds with one stone with this loan signing.