The Leeds United manager is under pressure but is it the right move to ditch him?
Leeds United’s terrible run of form has seen the pressure mount on their manager Thomas Christiansen, but plenty of blame should be directed at the club’s director of football Victor Orta.
After all, the latter was responsible for targeting and signing many of the players that arrived at Elland Road back in the summer, with the Spaniard putting his faith in foreign imports rather than proven Championship players.
Much to the frustration of Leeds supporters, only a tiny minority of those investments have paid off thus far, with Samu Saiz the star of the show but most of his new teammates flattering to deceive.
Orta needs to hold his hands up in that regard and, if Leeds keep faith with Christiansen for the rest of the campaign, they need to ensure he has more say in regards to January targets.
After all, by now he should have some understanding of English football and will have identified potential targets from the players he has come up against thus far; identifying areas of weakness in his squad and accepting that only a certain type of player can cut it in the Championship.
It was always a risk bringing Christiansen in as Garry Monk’s replacement at Elland Road, but it is arguably even more risky paying for a glut of players who have no idea what it takes to succeed in the English second tier.
Even though Leeds fans will rightly point the finger at Orta, the buck stops with Christiansen, and for that reason he should be given more of a say the next time the Whites look to strengthen their squad ahead of a potentially era-defining promotion push in 2018.
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