Defensively, Leeds United were simply not good enough last season, shipping 78 in total – the most in the Premier League – as they suffered relegation to the Championship in just their third season back in the top flight In a frantic campaign, the Yorkshire club went through three managers, starting with Jesse Marsch, before handing Javi Gracia the task of keeping them up, and eventually having one more desperate throw of the dice, hiring Sam Allardyce. None of the three managers could address their defensive issues, however.
Now it is up to new man Daniel Farke to get them back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. And to do that, he may need to replicate the leadership of the likes of Liam Cooper by securing summer target Nat Phillips – something that transfer insider Dean Jones believes the Liverpool defender is capable of doing.
Speaking to Football FanCast, Jones said: “I mean, Liam Cooper was never someone you would typically get most excited about seeing on the ball or anything like that, but when you see the team sheet, he was a player as a Leeds fan that you’d always want to be on there on their rise to the Premier League.
“And they need to find that again, and maybe Nat Phillips has the determination and the focus and the talent to replicate that. They certainly have got to find figures like that if they’re going to bounce back.”
