White Smoke At Elland Road - On Javi Gracia

On the 7th February, at 5:29pm, the day after the sacking of Jesse Marsch, Andrea Radrizzani tweeted as thus; ‘"We are on it ….hopefully white smoke by tonight or tmw morning.". Two weeks, three games, a caretaker committee, one alien sighting at Elland Road and a single point later, Javi Gracia is that anointed one, pending a work permit - and given the way the rest of the search has gone, that holds no guarantees.

It’s difficult to see the appointment of Javi Gracia in isolation from the period between the announcement and the tweet from Radrizzani, which saw Leeds slip into the relegation zone with Michael Skubala in caretaker charge, amidst a sea of rejection - both from Andoni Iraola and Arne Slot, and post the Manchester United home game Alfred Schreuder was rejected by the fans about as brutally as an unsuccessful organ transplant. In a world without social media, this is an article selling the merits of Alfred’s 3-1-4-2 and convincing ourselves it might all be okay. From there Leeds flirted with giving Skubala the job until the end of the season, which appeared to be the preferred choice until the non-showing at Goodison Park exhibited the desperate need for direction and fresh ideas to a group of players who appeared devoid of confidence and quality, wedded to ideas which no longer worked. However Gracia works out from here, this has been a deplorable week for the board - Orta in particular.

Skubala has impressed despite results - the games against Manchester United were the most organised and solid Leeds had looked in months, and a step up to the first team coaching staff is a fitting endorsement of both his ability and his instincts on the game. He’ll do alright. It’s also true this was a deeply unfair situation to put a young coach into, especially one who’s worked in the professional 11 a side game a grand total of 7 months since Leeds took him on as the U21s boss. That said, if he becomes as good a football mind as he is a futsal one then Leeds have a gem.

To Gracia, then. Truth be told, if at the time of tweeting Radrizzani had got Gracia in, we’d all probably have been satisfied with it. The man has a solid record in this country and comes with a history of making difficult jobs work. When he arrived at Watford in January 2018, the club were sitting in mid-table but only 3 points above the trap door. They finished that season in 14th, safe and sound 8 points from danger. The following season Gracia delivered Watford their most successful season of the premier league era - 11th and an FA cup final. What Leeds would give for returns like that for 2 seasons. The following season, The Pozzo family let Gracia go for the heinous crime of gaining one point from four games (for reference the other three managers Watford employed that year fared little better - Watford went down in 19th).

The other job people might remember is his time at Valencia, which is no longer the same club that got to the champions league final. Javi was brought in at the start of the 20-21 season, when Valencia sold around 85 million worth of talent, including Ferran Torres, club captain Dani Parejo, and Rodrigo, Spain’s number 9 (at the time) and re-balanced the squad with the signing of absolutely nobody. Chairman Peter Lim was and is running Valencia in much the same way the Tories ran the city of Liverpool. Having sacked Gracia with the club in 14th, Valencia are currently in 19th having lost their last 5 games. The blame appears to lie elsewhere.

In terms of Javi’s philosophy, it’s probably best to examine his time at Watford, given that’s where he was most successful. At their best, Watford used a 4-4-2 system with slightly more flexibility than the English version we’re familiar with. There were two powerful midfielders in the middle of the pitch in Capoue and Doucoure and wingers who were encouraged to come inside - usually Pereyra and Will Hughes, which means the full backs are encouraged to bomb on. However from clips it is striking that although the two wingers are coming inside and making runs across the box, a kind of aggressive penetrating diagonal run, it’s key how wide they actually start from, which vacates a space for the fullbacks to come into, which will be a refreshing change from the whole team playing 2 yard passes to each other, trying to fashion space that doesn’t exist within the width of the 18 yard box, and when all fails, trying to launch a ball at the penalty spot. The two up top is completely sensible; Deeney occupied the centre backs, Deulofeu did whatever he wanted. It was a landmark year for Deulofeu as it goes, scoring 12 and assisting 5 in all competitions.

Gracia likes to choke the middle of the pitch in a mid block, pressing sensibly and staying solid without ever inviting the opposition onto them. Clips can exhibit a potency on the counter and also an ability to build attacks from deep and keep the ball for long periods. They were a team that allowed their creative players to shine, were hard to break down, and could hurt you in a lot of different ways. In that 18-19 season, they were such a functional and sensible team it was a legitimate question as to why more teams didn’t set up like this.

It’s definitely unfortunate how we arrived at this conclusion but Javi Gracia appears to be a solid manager, a fixer with a simple but effective style of play which suits the Leeds side about as well as any other in the bottom half. Perhaps Javi isn’t the man we wanted, but the one we need right now.

By Adam Geldart | @whitesmoke_lufc