Head Watermelon Rösler set out his tactical mantra early on; heavy metal. High tempo, high pressing and all action. 4 games in to the season Leeds are undefeated (one of only 7 teams yet to lose) but clearly lacking a bit of dynamism. Not that we were expecting a 4-0 demolition of every opposition this season, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t expecting a bit more forward momentum in these games.

Not that I’m unhappy necessarily, aside from a 2-goal collapse against Bristol (which I do attribute to a combination of Uwe’s changes and a Silvestri mental breakdown, sadly) I think we’ve been okay. We’ve had a couple of terrific goals scored against us and, had we not folded against Bristol, we might have had 3 draws and a win from our first four games, which would see us in 7th/8th place. The right ingredients are there, I think.

For me the problem is less about personnel and more about tactics. We observed under Milanic (remember him?) that Leeds are entirely unable to sit back and absorb pressure. If we consider a game won and try to see it out, we’ll concede and that single concession opens the proverbial floodgates. Whereas if we continued to press and continued to attack we’d keep the ball in the right area of the pitch – theirs. Bristol was a great example of Milanic-style naivety where we tried to see the game out with 25 minutes left to go, prompting an assault on our goal. Granted, Marco should have done far, far better with both goals but I think we tactically put him at a disadvantage by inviting that pressure anyway. Not that he’s blameless, the point I’m making is that we shouldn’t ever try to sit back.

Reggae Reggae Sauce

I’ve found myself watching the games and thinking if we’re more Bob Marley than Black Sabbath; where we should be assertive, compressive and a downright bloody nuisance to play against, we’ve often seemed unnervingly casual. Granted we’re finding our feet in terms of structure, formation and fluidity.

It’s now very obvious that Chris Wood is better with a partner, while Mirco Antenucci is playing a bit like Ross McCormack which is a welcome thing indeed. Stuart Dallas has been such a huge addition to the team with his direct running, eagerness to cut inside and innate ability to “do what wingers do” and create chances from the wing. The goal against Wednesday showed that; Dallas ran around a couple of players and fed Wood the easiest finish you could ever need.

I just think we’re better when we press high and press hard. Too often we’ve seemed relaxed and that’s where mistakes come out. The game against Wednesday was perhaps the most “heavy metal” we’ve been; with 60% of the possession and twice as many shots, it was a game we would have otherwise won were it not for a worldie of a goal. Not that this takes anything away from them at all, but statistically I’m more happy with our performance there.

Goals? You want goals?

I guess it’s been a recurring issue in a post-Becchio-post-McCormack-post-Beckford Leeds; where do the goals come from? 4 goals in 4 games isn’t a bad record necessarily, with 2 goals from Antenucci and 2 from Wood we might have a partnership worthy of regular selection. Look at how Burnley managed to do in their promotion season, Sam Vokes and Danny Ings were sufficient to power them up.

Dallas has been unlucky not to get a couple too and it’s obvious that Byram and Mowatt will chip in with a couple themselves as time goes by. Murphy, too, is worth a few goals a season in his reborn state. If we keep growing and keep pressing, I think we’ll score more and more.

The Doukara Fringe Festival

What is he for? Seriously. It’s frustrating because he has all the physical attributes to be a Benteke. He’s young, big, fast and strong. What more could you need in a striker? But he just seems to be bloody useless, unless you need the ball dribbling into touch and clumsily controlled off the shin every few minutes. He showed last season against Derby that he can be a superb defensive forward and he showed he CAN score goals, but I can’t work out what he’s for this season.

Lee Erwin on the other hand scored a lovely goal for the development squad last night, showing composure and ability to dribble into the box, drag the ball onto his right foot and bend it past the keeper. He’d be someone I’d like to see more of. Doukara needs to try far, far harder to be near the first team for me. I’d like to see him in the development squad scoring and performing before he’s on our bench again.

And that’s about it. With games coming up against Derby (away), Brentford (home), Ipswich (home) and MK Dons (away) we’re going to need to find that incisive edge. Derby won’t be easy to break down (even if they’ve started poorly), Ipswich are a great unit (and top currently), Brentford are around where we are and the Dons are in the playoff spots. These aren’t going to be easy games for us. I think we’ll really get a handle on where this squad is at over September.

Hopefully by the end of September we’re far more Paradise Lost than Peter Tosh, more August Burns Red than Augustus Pablo, more Cradle of Filth than the Congos.

That’s right, I’m beating this music parallel to death.

Death metal? I’ll stop now.