Leeds United are starting to kick into gear and their early statistics suggest they’re ahead of the Marcelo Bielsa curve
It may well be early days into Daniel Farke’s Elland Road tenure, but Leeds United are starting to kick into gear. The Whites were among the favourites for promotion back to the Premier League before a ball had even been kicked, and the arrival of the German head coach, a two time Championship title winner only strengthened their case.
Make no mistake, it’s been a tough start for Farke with the mass exodus and takeover at the club in summer, but Leeds look as though they’re starting to click into gear. Four clean sheets on the bounce and two 3-0 wins out of three has lifted the Whites into play-off contention.
The flurry of new faces this summer always meant it would take time for Farke to get his ideas across and for them to come to fruition. The comfortable win over Watford could and should have been a more emphatic scoreline but they were able to send a strong message to their promotion rivals.
Under Farke, Leeds have the best goals-per-game ratio (under a permanent manager) since Simon Grayson back in 2008-2012, according to LUFC Data. The Whites average 1.60 goals-per-game under the German, but their goals conceded is equally impressive.
In ten games under Farke, they’ve conceded just nine goals, with an average of 0.90 goals-conceded-per-game. Those statistics place him higher than the legendary head coach Marcelo Bielsa whose side scored an average 1.51 goals-per-game and conceded an average of 1.29 goals-per-game.
However, it’s worth baring in mind that the Argentinian head coach took charge of 170 games with Leeds, and had just short of two years in the top flight. For further reference, Jesse Marsch’s Leeds United side scored 1.41 goals-per-game and conceded 1.62 goals-per-game, under Javi Gracia they scored 1.25 goals-per-game and conceded 2.50 goals-per-game and under Sam Allardyce scored 1.25 goals-per-game and conceded an 2.75 goals-per-game.
It may be early days, but if the Whites are able to continue on their current trajectory, they’ll surpass Bielsa’s records and a return to the top flight seems more likely than first thought at the start of the campaign.