Is Pedraza Leeds’ Secret Weapon?

Article by Leeds United Correspondent Gwyn Hughes

When Alfonzo Pedraza joined Leeds at the tail end of the January transfer window, a lot of Leeds fans thought he would slot into the team with ease. In fact we all to a man probably went crazy about him when we checked him out on You Tube!

He looked a class act and we couldn’t wait to see him run at opposing defences. It appeared to be a shrewd move by Leeds, especially with an option to buy him at the end of the season.

He came on against Huddersfield and started against Cardiff, both ending up disappointing defeats for the Whites. Pedraza then found a home on the subs bench a la Becchio at Norwich, as the team then tried to pick up form from those slip ups.

Fans began to wonder why he wasn’t getting any minutes on the pitch. There seemed nothing wrong with him physically and what I could see on tunnel cam footage on LUTV, he seemed in good spirits.

Perhaps he got a bit of a rude awakening by those defeats.

Garry Monk got the team winning again by relying on the players he had before January. He went back to basics and used his ‘trusted’ squad. In many ways the strategy has worked. Two home victories against Bristol City and Sheffield Wednesday and a ‘lucky’ draw at Ipswich, has restored the momentum somewhat.

But what Monk did against Birmingham City last week shows his mettle and skill as a manager.

Outplayed for most of the match, Leeds hung on and stayed in with a chance of winning the match thanks to a wonderful deft chip by top scorer Chris Wood in the opening quarter.

When Birmingham equalised I thought the worst to be honest. By their manager’s admission, it was the best game Birmingham had played all season, so it looked likely they would come back and win the game.

But Monk knew what he was doing.

He brought on Kalvin Phillips which did not fill me with a lot of confidence. Phillips can be a liability sometimes, getting himself booked for rash tackles, and in some matches being out of his depth. But sometimes he has provided a welcome bite in Leeds’ midfield when it’s crying out for it.

There is no doubt that he did just that against Birmingham and changed the game for Leeds.

The midfield had been over-run up till then. Eunan O’Kane was unaffective, and Pablo Hernandez playing more like Guiseppe Bellusci at times! O’Kane is still trying to find his form after a recent injury layoff. Pablo Hernandez, I feel, tends to play better in the home matches. It looked likely he was one of the favourites to be substituted that night.

A few minutes after Birmingham scored, Leeds re-took the lead with a sublime move that led to a tap in for Wood. Phillips got the assist by finding space and slipping the ball across the penalty area to a grateful Wood. The Kiwi could not miss.

With fifteen minutes to go, Monk puts Pedraza on. It wasn’t long before Leeds’ extra urgency in midfield hustled Birmingham to win the ball in the middle and Hernandez fed Pedraza on the left wing who slotted the ball powerfully into the corner of the net.

A great moment for him and the fans! His first of, I hope, many goals for the club.

I had no doubt he would score as soon as he got the ball. It was a text book strike and reminiscent of those You Tube clips I had checked on him when he signed for Leeds.

Those substitutions by Monk secured the win. He could have taken Hernandez off even at half time. But he kept him on to supply Pedraza with the killer third goal. Phillips got a stranglehold on a midfield that was lacking authority which effectively put Leeds on the front foot for the first time in the game.

So, has Monk been secretly preparing Pedraza for the all-important final few games of the season and the play-offs?

With his regulars back doing their stuff, it’s good to know that Monk has an ace up his sleeve. Perhaps two of them when Modou Barrow gets his chance!

I thought Leeds were generally awful against Birmingham. On another night the home side would easily have won. I’d like to say our defence was sound and shut Birmingham out but they had 27 shots at goal! To score just one is an issue they have to sort out but for me it must be down to a weak midfield who couldn’t stop the tide reaching the shores of Jansson and Bartley. Green again did well and is thankfully becoming more reliable between the sticks.

But in Pedraza Leeds have effectively a player who is largely unknown to Championship defences. Monk has managed him well I feel. He may have been hoping that his current squad could manage to get to the safety of the play-offs, and then unleash this classy winger to see if he could help Leeds climb the table.

But I would feel happier if they controlled games better. At times I was frustrated with Leeds. Giving the ball away so frequently will only invite teams on to us and eventually score. Their passing left a lot to be desired too. If they could improve on these then we would have a pretty effective team.

The last remaining games will be tough on a team like Leeds. With limited lack of depth in the squad, they will have to grind out games and hope Wood pops up and get the points they need. Why not? It’s worked with so many games already this season.

It will be a mad scramble to get to the promotion places and Leeds have shown that they can win when not at their best.

That’s a really useful asset to have at this stage of the season.

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