Leeds United played a different formation in their last pre-season friendly of the summer this past weekend.
Adam Forshaw said something interesting after Leeds United’s 1-1 draw with Cagliari on Saturday.
As quoted by The Yorkshire Evening Post, the Whites midfielder confirmed that Marcelo Bielsa used a different formation in the stalemate with the Italian outfit.
He said: “We played a different formation so that’s something we can work on and going into the season it’s definitely confident.”
The interesting thing here is that it was Leeds’ last pre-season friendly, and surely Bielsa wouldn’t have experimented if he didn’t plan on using this new formation when the Championship kicks off next week.
United looked to line up in a 3-3-1-3 system, which is quite a departure from the 4-1-4-1 formation that took United so close to promotion last season.
It seems like a bit of a gamble by the Argentine coach to meddle with a tried-and-tested system.
Then again, everything we know about Bielsa indicates that if he takes a risk, it’s a calculated one with plenty of data to support the reasoning behind it.
If Leeds do line up 3-3-1-3 at Bristol City this Sunday then it’s because Bielsa believes that it’ll make the team better – and that, in itself, is an exciting prospect.
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