It has once again been an interesting season for Leeds United who are currently 2nd in the Championship. They have managed to keep their momentum for now but have wavered at times allowing West Bromwich Albion to establish a strong lead at the top of the table.
Marcelo Bielsa has done a fantastic job since he arrived at the start of the 2018/19 season, as Leeds have produced some fantastic football and impressed fans and pundits alike. However, they choked at the end of last season leaving the Yorkshire side in the play offs as oppose to the automatic place they had occupied for so long.
Losing in the play offs last season hurt the club and left several sections of the fans questioning if the side actually had what it takes to return to the Premier League. As a result, of the disappointment in the 2018/19 season, Leeds had a complete overhaul of the side with the club letting 25 players leave in the summer.
To a certain extent, this overhaul has worked as Leeds are 2nd in the league and are three points clear of Nottingham Forest with a game in hand. However, they have been in a similar position before and it was in late April that a slump in form allowed Sheffield United to storm past them in to the final automatic promotion place.
With disappointing results at the start of February against Wigan Athletic , Nottingham Forest and Brentford they need to be careful that their inconsistency will not lead to more failure come May. However, with strong 1-0 wins against Bristol city and Reading they will be hoping that they can get back to their mercurial best and secure one of the top two places.
Leeds face Middlebrough and Hull City to complete their February fixtures and you feel that these are two must win games. The Championship is a funny league and you have to concentrate because anybody can beat anybody. Two strong performances would send a message out to the chasing pack that Leeds are not for buckling this season and are going to go all the way.
To push forward, Leeds need their top goal scorer Patrick Bamford firing again. He has not scored all February and his last goals came in the 3-2 win over Millwall. He himself, like his club, has to become more consistent if they are to play top flight football again.
It is an old cliché in football but Leeds have to take each game as they come and concentrate on their own game. If they start worrying about the other teams around them then it is easy to become distracted and let their own performance slip. The real test will be if they can recover, like they have done now, if they hit another defeat. Instead of letting that become two or three losses they need to put one loss down to a bad day at the office and follow it up with three or four wins on the spin.
It is going to be an exciting end to the Championship season and Leeds United will be well and truly up there.
