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Leeds United At Cardiff City – What We Learned

Leeds United and manager Garry Monk have put together consecutive wins for the first time this season in the Championship, securing another three points in a 2-0 victory over Cardiff City on Saturday.

Now languishing at the bottom of the table, Cardiff City and manager Paul Trollope are facing a difficult campaign moving forward. Owner Vincent Tan is certainly not going to be pleased with recent results from the Bluebirds.

This past Tuesday evening, Leeds were in excellent form, and the performance exhibited in a 2-1 home victory against Blackburn Rovers provided a reason for optimism.

Forward Chris Wood has now scored in consecutive matches and the defence has been holding firm with an organised approach to finishing out tight contests.

As yet another matchup with Blackburn at Elland Road approaches in the EFL Cup on Tuesday, we take a look at areas that stood out for Leeds United this week.

LEEDS UNITED SCORING CONSISTENTLY AND PUSHING FORWARD

“We have a new group, new manager, new ideas, and we are taking it step by step”, manager Garry Monk said after the victory on Saturday in Wales.

Leeds had themselves a busy summer transfer period, bringing in several new faces along with their new manager.

Exciting youngster Kemar Roofe, veteran goalkeeper Robert Green and former Sunderland midfielder Liam Bridcutt were all part of a massive roster overhaul and certainly will require time to come together as a cohesive unit.

This past week has seen the club come together in many ways, as the midfield has looked sharp in both defending and getting the attack forward into the opposing half of the pitch.

On-loan players Hadi Sacko (Sporting CP), Kyle Bartley (Swansea City) and Pablo Hernandez (Al-Arabi) all enjoyed an excellent week as well.

Hernandez scored a late goal to seal Saturday’s victory after Wood found the opener from the penalty spot.

FLEXIBILITY IN THE LINEUP

Both Garry Monk and his players have shown great flexibility during a busy week.
One of the most difficult challenges of the Football League Championship is the consistent play and often taking part in two matches per week.

A more attacking 4-4-2 formation at home against Blackburn was used to exploit play on the wings and create space in the attack.

A more reserved and centrally focused 4-2-3-1 lineup was utilised at Cardiff on Saturday, which helped to control the second half and keep a clean sheet.

While Leeds were fortunate to see two Cardiff shots bounce off the post and the hosts starting off strong but without a goal, their midfield and defence finished off the afternoon in a decisive manner.

CONFIDENCE MOVING AHEAD

A 3-0 away defeat to Queens Park Rangers started the season on a sour note, and two consecutive home losses to Birmingham City and Fulham put immense pressure on Monk and his squad at a very early stage.

With two straight victories this week and a chance to advance further in the League Cup on Tuesday, Leeds should feel a significant boost in confidence.

While there is still a long road ahead in 2016-17, this week has provided both Leeds United and their supporters reason to feel confident.

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