Heckingbottom is under pressure at Leeds following a poor run of results.
Leeds United defender Gaetano Berardi, 29, has heaped praise on under-fire Paul Heckingbottom in his Thursday press conference, as quoted by the Whites’ official website.
Since taking over at Elland Road after the sacking of Thomas Christiansen, Heckingbottom has managed just one win in seven Championship outings in charge of Yorkshire giants – in the form of a 1-0 win over Brentford.
His side have shipped 14 goals in that time, keeping a clean sheet only once and losing three times. But they have the chance to put that right on Saturday afternoon when they play host to Sheffield Wednesday at Elland Road.
Heckingbottom has had to come under plenty of criticism since his arrival but Berardi has been impressed by the former Barnsley boss and believes he is an improvement on former boss Christiansen.
“I know the head coach and his staff are doing their best for us, like the club has been doing the best for us since the beginning of the season,” Berardi said. “He has come in with a lot of passion and happiness to be here, which is good.
“He came here with his philosophy of how to play football and that is what we needed, we need to follow one way, not three or four ways, to find our style of football.
“We need a win, especially in this next game which is a derby, we need to show something, we need to show that we are not bad.”
One-time Switzerland international Berardi has put his disappointing form behind him of late and impressed at right-back, and is expected to start on Saturday in what will is a crucial match to fans of both sides.
Three points for Leeds could see them climb back into the top half of the Championship table, if Ipswich Town lose to Bristol City at Ashton Gate.
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