Stuart Dallas’ renewed importance to Leeds highlighted by one stat

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Stuart Dallas has become a hugely important player for Leeds United after being a peripheral figure under Thomas Christiansen.

Several Leeds players appear to have enjoyed a boost in confidence since Thomas Christiansen was replaced by Paul Heckingbottom earlier in the month with the new manager overseeing an encouraging return of five points from four potentially tricky games.

The player that appears to have enjoyed the greatest transformation is arguably Stuart Dallas. The Northern Ireland international barely featured under Christiansen – he started just two times during the previous boss’ tenure – but has started all four games since Heckingbottom took over.

And he has arguably reminded the supporters of why he was so valuable during his first season at Elland Road in particular, proving to be more than capable of contributing at both ends of the pitch.

He set up Leeds’ opener in the draw with Derby County with an excellent run onto Liam Cooper’s pass before playing a decent cross into the box for Pierre-Michel Lasogga, while he had also demonstrated his versatility by putting in a strong performance at right-back in the defeat to Sheffield United.

And perhaps one statistic from the month best highlights just how valuable Dallas has been for Heckingbottom’s side – and that is how many successful tackles that he has made.

As the table shows, only one player in the entire division has made more successful challenges in February, and Preston North End’s Alan Browne has played significantly more minutes than Dallas.

In the final weeks of Christiansen’s tenure, it appeared that his Leeds side did not seem to have the right amount of aggression – and when they did show any aggression, it usually resulted in a red card.

Dallas’ form in that one particular area hints that Heckingbottom is getting the balance right – or at least, putting the right players in place to make sure that the team do have that bite without crossing the line.