Leeds United cruised to a 3-1 victory over Bristol City on Sunday to kick off their campaign in style. Goals from Pablo Hernandez, Patrick Bamford and Jack Harrison sealed a comfortable victory for the West Yorkshire side. This tactical analysis will look at how they did so.
It wasn’t quite the frenetic levels of Bielsa-ball we saw for much of last season from United, and City did their part in containing them. But it was still a dominant display from Leeds, who cracked the deadlock thanks to a wonderful strike from Hernandez. Bamford and Harrison then added close-range efforts in the second half.
A late strike from Andreas Weimann inspired a flurry of attacks in the last 10 minutes for the Robins, but it was too little too late as Leeds claimed all three points at Ashton Gate.
This analysis will have a look at the tactics of both sides, and how it influenced the final result.
The Setups
Bristol City went with a 4-2-3-1 shape, that often leant more towards a 4-4-1-1. Famara Diedhiou led the line for the Robins acting as a target man but was generally isolated throughout the match.
Kasey Palmer showed glimpses of his talent in the No10 role, but City never really saw enough of the ball to really let him shine.
If you want to read the full tactical breakdown of Leeds United vs Bristol City’s match, head over to totalfootballanalysis.com or click HERE
If you love tactical analysis, then you’ll love the digital magazines from totalfootballanalysis.com – a guaranteed 100+ pages of pure tactical analysis covering topics from the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and many, many more. Buy your copy of the July issue for just ₤4.99 here, or even better sign up for a ₤50 annual membership (12 monthly issues plus the annual review) right here.
