For the second season in a row, Leeds United have made a major decision to change managers mid-season in a bid to keep themselves in the Premier League.
The Whites have gone with former Watford manager Javi Gracia to take charge of this latest relegation scrap. But is the Spaniard the right man to steady the ship and save Leeds from the drop?
Read on below as SBOTOP provides more background on the new Whites boss and whether he can keep the club up this season.
A decent track record at Watford
Javi Gracia is hardly a household name in terms of top European managers. The 52-year-old has bounced around clubs throughout his coaching career, with spells in Spain, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and England. His longest tenure with a club is with Malaga, where he managed for 84 games from May 2014-May 2016.
But arguably Gracia’s best managerial job might be his 20-month spell at Watford when they were in the Premier League.
After Marco Silva’s dismissal in January 2018, Gracia took charge of a Watford side that, while not in immediate threat of relegation, had the form of a club that could easily go down. Gracia stepped in and capably steered the club to safety.
The following season, Gracia again succeeded in keeping the Hornets out of relegation trouble as they finished a comfortable 11th. And if that wasn’t enough, he led to their first FA Cup final since 1984. Although, they were summarily smashed 6-0 by Manchester City.
But despite that massive accomplishment, coupled with one-and-a-half fairly strong seasons, Watford let Gracia go after a slow start to the following campaign.
So while he does not exactly have an extensive resume, there is decent evidence that Javi Gracia is a capable manager who can lead a Premier League team to safety, which is what Leeds are desperate for.
Pragmatism over philosophy
However, it should be noted that Gracia was far from Leeds’ top choice to succeed Jesse Marsch, who was sacked after a string of disappointing Premier League 2023 results. The Whites were linked with several managers such as Andoni Iraola of Rayo Vallecano, former River Plate boss Marcelo Gallardo and former Leeds Under-23 boss Carlos Corberan. Even former manager Marcelo Bielsa was linked with a shock return to the club.
Iraola, Gallardo and Corberan all have close ties to Bielsa, which was likely a significant factor in why they were considered for the job. Leeds are trying to build an identity of exciting and energetic football that Bielsa had established at the club, and as with Jesse Marsch, they have been targeting managers who share that same style of play.
But things did not work out for the Whites as their preferred philosophical targets turned them down. And so they went with Gracia, who was more of a pragmatic choice, both because he was a free agent and because of his more functional way of setting out his football teams.
Unlike Iraola, Gallardo and Corberan, Gracia does not have the Bielsa DNA. Instead, the Spaniard is a more flexible manager in terms of his systems and formations. He is more inclined to play a more defensive style when needed, but he does share some similarities in that he prefers his sides to press and play with a high intensity.
Gracia himself is a hard worker. He recently revealed that he has been sleeping just a few hours a night as he tries to find solutions to Leeds’ problems, so he is more than committed to the task of trying to rescue the club from the drop.
Possibly the right man for Leeds’ promising squad
For all of Leeds’ struggles this season, their underlying numbers point to a much better team than their 17th place in the standings suggests. Leeds have an expected goals goal difference of -4.7, which puts them comfortably at midtable, just behind Chelsea. But their actual goal difference is -10, which is tied for sixth-worst.
Those stats suggest that Gracia will inherit quite a capable squad, one that has been significantly strengthened over the last few transfer windows. Willy Gnonto has quickly emerged as one of the most exciting youngsters in the Premier League, while American midfielders Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie are capable of covering a lot of ground in the middle of the park.
With the chaotic energy Jesse Marsch brought both on and off the pitch now out of the picture and the cool and calm Gracia now in charge, perhaps Leeds can finally start to play more to their potential.
Gracia has shown in the past that he can put a cohesive and controlled plan in place, and he has a fine collection of bright young players at his disposal that can execute that plan on the pitch. So while Leeds’ process in ending up with Javi Gracia as their new manager was not what they had planned, the result could end up being to their benefit as he might just be the coach they need to defy the Premier League 2023 odds and successfully escape relegation yet again.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
