Post by weasel on May 8, 2018 10:13:01 GMT
An early signing last summer and one that on paper looked very good. He was already playing a decent level, an international for a reasonably good national team and hadn't cost a lot. With midfield having been a problem the season before he looked to be a key cog in the new machine with us needing tweaks rather than revolution (until Green and Wood followed Bartley and Taylor out of the club). At the start of the season Phillips and O'Kane were the starting pair in midfield, Bridcutt (who had suffered from the Leeds loan to buy curse) was sold to Notts Forest and Klich and the very promising Vieira found themselves competing for a place on the bench as the first choice back up midfielder.
The season started well, Phillips knocking in the goals from midfield that we hadn't been doing the season before and O'Kane earning rave reviews with many suggesting Monk had made a huge mistake not playing him more as our previous season had fizzled out. As the season wore on and Phillips's goals dried up question marks started appearing with fans opinions of Phillips divided. As we hit a bit of a wobble the calls for Klich and Vieira to start picked up momentum. Klich however just didn't seem to figure in Christiansen's plans though and a rare start (v Cardiff) saw him make an error leading to us conceding and that seemed to be it for his Leeds career with appearances in the main limited to cup matches before he was sent out on loan. Many questioned whether it was some sort of personality clash with TC as Klich, on paper, certainly seemed to be worthy of more of a chance. Vieira though was favoured though as TC tried to get the midfield balance right and later Forshaw was signed.
At present we still don't really know whether Klich is good enough for the championship or suited to the more physical and fast tempo play in the championship. He may be suited to the championship but not suited to the way TC wanted us to play (and don't forget that TC seems to be cut from the same cloth in regards the style of play and tactics as Pep Guardiola who jettisoned YaYa Toure out of Barcelona and also more or less froze him out at Man City despite him being the driving force of the City side for a few years prior to PG's arrival). With the director of football at Leeds we don't know whether TC had any say in the signing of Klich. It may be that Klich could be suited to the championship but just didn't fit into any role that TC available for him. On loan he seems to be more of an attacking midfielder but with Leeds having Saiz and Hernandez for that role (and Phillips even playing it there on a couple of occasions under TC) perhaps it was just a case that he was 4th choice attacking midfielder but not deemed good enough to be first choice in a more defensive role. Until TC talks about the subject we won't really know an answer definitively. If Klich though is given a chance for Leeds next season we will get the chance to judge for ourselves.
I would certainly dispute any notion that he wasn't played due to some personality clash with the manager. As a football manager myself in the past I would always look to pick my best team and often people I liked more as people wouldn't be in the team if someone better was available (even if I didn't like that person). Football management is a results business and certainly in the 2 bad runs we had you would have expected TC to pick what he considered to be his best side. The only reason a better player wouldn't be included, in my opinion, would be if he wasn't popular amongst the other players, although again unless TC, or any of the players, speaks about this then we won't ever know. Howard Wilkinson had that situation with the very talented Eric Cantona who just didn't fit into the group of players at Leeds, a group that were predominantly hard working (that isn't to say they didn't have flair but they would work their socks off for each other too). As such Wilko was left with the situation of getting rid of one player to restore harmony or possibly rip apart the tea that had won the title just a few months previously. In hindsight perhaps the better option might have been to rebuild the side with Cantona as the fulcrum but Wilko could hardly be blamed (although some fans still do) for getting rid of Cantona and giving his faith to a team that had been a well oiled machine prior to Cantona.
The season started well, Phillips knocking in the goals from midfield that we hadn't been doing the season before and O'Kane earning rave reviews with many suggesting Monk had made a huge mistake not playing him more as our previous season had fizzled out. As the season wore on and Phillips's goals dried up question marks started appearing with fans opinions of Phillips divided. As we hit a bit of a wobble the calls for Klich and Vieira to start picked up momentum. Klich however just didn't seem to figure in Christiansen's plans though and a rare start (v Cardiff) saw him make an error leading to us conceding and that seemed to be it for his Leeds career with appearances in the main limited to cup matches before he was sent out on loan. Many questioned whether it was some sort of personality clash with TC as Klich, on paper, certainly seemed to be worthy of more of a chance. Vieira though was favoured though as TC tried to get the midfield balance right and later Forshaw was signed.
At present we still don't really know whether Klich is good enough for the championship or suited to the more physical and fast tempo play in the championship. He may be suited to the championship but not suited to the way TC wanted us to play (and don't forget that TC seems to be cut from the same cloth in regards the style of play and tactics as Pep Guardiola who jettisoned YaYa Toure out of Barcelona and also more or less froze him out at Man City despite him being the driving force of the City side for a few years prior to PG's arrival). With the director of football at Leeds we don't know whether TC had any say in the signing of Klich. It may be that Klich could be suited to the championship but just didn't fit into any role that TC available for him. On loan he seems to be more of an attacking midfielder but with Leeds having Saiz and Hernandez for that role (and Phillips even playing it there on a couple of occasions under TC) perhaps it was just a case that he was 4th choice attacking midfielder but not deemed good enough to be first choice in a more defensive role. Until TC talks about the subject we won't really know an answer definitively. If Klich though is given a chance for Leeds next season we will get the chance to judge for ourselves.
I would certainly dispute any notion that he wasn't played due to some personality clash with the manager. As a football manager myself in the past I would always look to pick my best team and often people I liked more as people wouldn't be in the team if someone better was available (even if I didn't like that person). Football management is a results business and certainly in the 2 bad runs we had you would have expected TC to pick what he considered to be his best side. The only reason a better player wouldn't be included, in my opinion, would be if he wasn't popular amongst the other players, although again unless TC, or any of the players, speaks about this then we won't ever know. Howard Wilkinson had that situation with the very talented Eric Cantona who just didn't fit into the group of players at Leeds, a group that were predominantly hard working (that isn't to say they didn't have flair but they would work their socks off for each other too). As such Wilko was left with the situation of getting rid of one player to restore harmony or possibly rip apart the tea that had won the title just a few months previously. In hindsight perhaps the better option might have been to rebuild the side with Cantona as the fulcrum but Wilko could hardly be blamed (although some fans still do) for getting rid of Cantona and giving his faith to a team that had been a well oiled machine prior to Cantona.
