This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
Gjanni Alioski believes that Leeds’ struggles this season stem from problems beyond their control.
Speaking after the game against Preston North End, the Macedonian bemoaned their perceived lack of luck, not just in this game, but throughout the season so far:
“It’s not only tonight, because we play beautiful football but it’s not only the football we need to play. At the end, [we play] to score and we keep working on this and I hope the goals will come in the next games.
I think we need to be a little bit lucky, and [have a bit] more concentration, because what we want to work. We create so many chances. We create not only one or two, I think we have 21 shots and one goal. It’s not enough and it’s not only this game so we need to work how we work. Not only to be more lucky but I hope this will come.”
The old saying in football is that ‘luck will even itself out throughout the season’, and if Leeds’ problems with failing to convert their chances is down to good or bad fortune, we should expect a whole host of 5-0 victories once we get around the Easter period.
At the end of the day though, you have to be able to take these sorts of things into your own hands.
Struggling to convert chances is not something that is about ‘luck’.
When Mateusz Klich failed to score the penalty against Derby, there was no bad luck involved there, just a missed opportunity. Good fortune would be more akin to the beach ball goal that Sunderland scored against Liverpool all those years ago.
A lot has been made of Leeds United’s lack of ability, with the latest expected goals table from Experimental 361 showing that they are 12 points off where they should be in the league right now.
So if they can just learn to execute better, they wouldn’t have to worry about where the next points and goals are going to come from. As the famous saying goes, ‘the harder I practice, the luckier I get’.
There is one small area that Alioski might have a point on when it comes to ‘luck’ with Leeds and that was last season when they went through a catastrophic amount of injuries that hit the squad throughout the season.
If they can avoid going through spells like that, they might be onto something this season.
But given the injuries to Liam Cooper and Jamie Shackleton, it looks like their off to a bad start in that department. Earning promotion will certainly be easier said than done.
