How Leeds United can win the tactical battle against West Ham at Elland Road

There are few managerial careers in football quite so unique as that of David Moyes.

Early successes at Everton earned the Scot the Holy Grail of football management: the Manchester United job.

But after things went catastrophically wrong in Manchester, Moyes got a reputation as a bit of an unserious manager.

Looking back now, the decision to work in Spain with Sociedad and then to return to the UK to the nightmare that is present-day Sunderland AFC was perhaps ill-advised.

Twice now, he has been brought in as an interim manager at West Ham.

The first time around, he kept a struggling side up, dragging them out of relegation. In his current tenure, he has taken a poor West Ham side and made them competitive again.

For any Leeds fans who think this weekend’s clash with West Ham will be easy, they should think again.

Here are three aspects of Moyes’ system to look out for tonight:

A new system

Last season, replacing Manuel Pellegrini, David Moyes stuck with broadly the same system as his predecessor. This season, though, the West Ham manager has adopted a 3-4-3 system which has suited the Hammers well.

Moyes has his team playing a counter-attacking style of football with a high-energy front three of Pablo Fornals, Jarred Bowen and Michail Antonio.

The back-three gives his wing-backs the licence to push forward and link defence and attack.

In the middle, Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek cover the back-three, making it difficult for oppositions to break through. With the wing-backs dropping in during defensive phases, they are a tough team to break down.

Pressing issues

Last weekend saw Frank Lampard’s Chelsea switch up their pressing approach in the second half, causing Leeds a lot of problems. By dropping into a mid-block and focusing the press in the wide areas, Chelsea were able to break down Leeds’ transition into the opposition final third.

The 3-4-3 formation has a fantastic structure from which to build up a wide press, and we’ve already seen teams like Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers use this approach to good effect against Leeds.

That said, West Ham have some of the lowest pressing numbers in the league at present. It might be the case that Leeds are given an easy ride tonight.

Set-piece woes

Last weekend, Leeds faced eight corners from Chelsea. Of those eight corners, seven of them saw a Chelsea player get to the ball first.

So far this season, Leeds are getting to the ball first in less than half of the corners they defend. For context, Crystal Palace are above 75% and Everton are in the high 80s.

With Michail Antonio likely to be out and Sebastien Haller replacing him, West Ham will be a threat from set-pieces. Leeds can’t afford to keep being dominated from corners and free kicks.

Let’s hope in this game they don’t become the difference between the two sides.

Jon runs All Stats Aren't We, a Leeds United media channel that focuses on the tactical and statistical aspects of the game.