Do Leeds miss Chris Wood’s defensive work this season?

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The former Leeds United striker was not just a goal-scorer.

When Leeds United sold Chris Wood to Burnley in the summer, the Whites were not only losing a proven Championship goal-scorer. They also waved goodbye to a player who did his fair share of work at the opposite end of the field.

The New Zealand international was vital when it came do defending corners and free kicks, regularly getting his head or a foot onto the ball and clearing the danger, before going up the other end and putting it in the opposition net.

Leeds manager Thomas Christiansen replaced Wood with some impressive additions, most notably Pierre-Michel Lasogga. However the loanee has proved far less effective at defending, albeit in just five appearances so far this season.

The same can be said of Leeds’ other attacking options, with Wood’s average clearances last season far exceeding those of any of the Whites’ current options.

Last season, Wood averaged 1.2 effective clearances with his feet and 0.86 effective clearances with his head.

Lasogga gets closest to those figures yet still falls short, while Leeds’ other options have plenty of work to do to ensure they are making a valuable contribution not only in the final third.

Leeds still have the majestic Pontus Jansson to call on, while Liam Cooper has upped his game considerably and summer signing Matthew Pennington looks a class act despite a recent injury setback.

But Wood’s influence was not just determined by the goals he scored and that is something Christiansen needs to work on in the weeks ahead.

Leeds may have had a dip in for in recent games but if they can get a settled back-four, replace Felix Wiedwald with Andy Lonergan and get their attackers doing their fair share of defending, they could still mount a serious assault on the top two between now and May.