Marcelo Bielsa has tough Leeds United balancing act without Kalvin Phillips - Dominic Matteo

It’s obvious to say but in any team that plays a similar way and shape to Leeds, the position of the Kalvin Phillips role is of the utmost importance.

It covers so many crucial areas, especially defensively and starting attacks from that anchor slot in front of the back four.

With Kalvin not out there in the last few weeks we have really missed that person who can do the donkey work but also who has composure on the ball to keep it when we need to.

He has been a huge loss and for Marcelo to try and replace him is a huge task because of his clear importance to the side.

You’re talking about a £40-or £50-million rated player in terms of how crucial he is to his team and its set-up. Without him in there it does feel like Bielsa doesn’t quite have the balance of the team right and I think that has been evident in the way they have shipped goals.

There has been some talk of Kalvin potentially taking an injection to play against Arsenal this weekend. If he’s close but not quite there then in my eyes you just can’t risk him for fear of a longer layoff – and I say that as a player who used to have all sorts done just to get me out on the field.

They have tried a couple of different variations in his absence with three or four players sitting in there, but it just hasn’t worked so far and it feels like it’s an area they need to look into quickly to get that stability between attack and defence.

Kalvin does get the odd knock here and there and Leeds can’t afford when he is missing to not have adequate cover if they are going to stick to their guns, as we know Marcelo will, when he is out.

One way that it may be solved is by Robin Koch coming into that defensive midfield role given he has played there for Germany recently.

That has been another big frustration because it might have been something Bielsa would’ve tried had Diego Llorente been available but we’re yet to see him out on the pitch since he arrived in the summer.

In the Premier League if they don’t get it sorted quickly defensively then they will get found out and there has been an element of momentum loss in the last few games.

We’re so attacking that we’re almost forgetting our duties at the back and it’s causing a major imbalance to the team.

The big clubs know how to sneak these narrow victories and a habit Leeds need to get into is shoring up and putting together a string of clean sheets.

It’s great when we fly forward and score at will but when that dries up there needs to be some knowledge of making sure we’re set up at our best defensively to give us a platform.

When we get down to the simple facts, Leeds need to be harder to play against than they have been and it needs to be a chore for teams to score against us.

I fully understand that with the way they play under Marcelo there is always an element of risk, but it cannot simply be the case that you take one or two players out and it all falls apart.

They spent big in the summer and it does feel like there needs to be a bit more strengthening in certain areas of the overall squad to add more depth.

That seems obvious for a newly-promoted side because it is baby steps. Whether they will do that again in the New Year remains to be seen, we know the demands that are required by arriving players – especially in winter.

There is a lack of experience in the group and playing against the quality of opposition they have been week in, week out was always going to be tough initially.

We do need to afford them a bit of time to adjust to their new surroundings but we know Bielsa is a perfectionist, so the defensive issues will be causing him sleepless nights, I am sure.

It’s about trying to find that right defensive mixture without Kalvin in the side that allows them to play with the freedom that they have done in the past. I know it’s tough from my own experiences.

I was put into a defensive midfield role during my career after playing at the back and struggled at first and that was with a bit of knowledge of the position. So I can only imagine how difficult it might be for someone like Pascal Struijk.

The amount of international games recently seems even more intense than usual and you have to wonder whether there is going to be a worry over burnout across the game as a whole for players.

After the elongated end to the season in the summer there is a concern now we’re coming up to another busy time as we turn our attention towards the festive period. Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola had a point when they were talking about reintroducing the five-substitution rule.

From a Leeds perspective, we’re seeing more players involved for their countries, so it might have been beneficial. For now it remains the same, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on the amount of muscle injuries over the next few months.

Dominic Matteo's column, in association with Data Facilities