Nasty or just eager? Marcelo Bielsa disagrees with Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl on Leeds United and tactical fouling

Ralph Hasenhuttl didn’t really mean it when he talked about Leeds United being ‘nasty’ against his Southampton side.
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He was not making a ‘dirty Leeds’ accusation and nor could he, the Whites were not out of control, they were not reckless and no more aggressive than usual in their fouling. They were guilty of two fewer than the side they beat 3-0, in fact.

What the Saints boss was talking about was his perception of the little challenges, here and there, that halted Southampton attacks.

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Tactical fouling is something that has often been spoken about in analysis of Manchester City’s response to losing the ball.

It’s something Pep Guardiola denies is a team instruction.

Hasenhuttl more than hinted it was by design that the fouls Leeds committed happened to prevent Saints from hitting them on the break.

“They’re very clever,” he said.

“They always stopped our counter attacks with a simple foul in the midfield. It stops everything. They do it very smart. They have been nasty today and we haven’t been in the second half.”

RESPECTFUL DISAGREEMENT - Marcelo Bielsa did not share Ralph Hasenhuttl's view on Leeds United and 'tactical fouling' after the win over Southampton. Pic: Bruce Rollinson.RESPECTFUL DISAGREEMENT - Marcelo Bielsa did not share Ralph Hasenhuttl's view on Leeds United and 'tactical fouling' after the win over Southampton. Pic: Bruce Rollinson.
RESPECTFUL DISAGREEMENT - Marcelo Bielsa did not share Ralph Hasenhuttl's view on Leeds United and 'tactical fouling' after the win over Southampton. Pic: Bruce Rollinson.

This was no case of sour grapes – Hasenhuttl went on to admit his side did it well in the first half but were too nice in the second, too passive in their own half. And he pointed out more than once that Leeds deserved their victory.

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Marcelo Bielsa respectfully disagreed with the Austrian’s view on Leeds’ transgressions.

“If we made tactical fouls which stopped them from counter attacking then I understand his comment but I sincerely think that we didn’t make them,” said the Whites head coach on Thursday.

“The question is to analyse the game and where we committed the fouls and with who and in what situations, you will see whether what he is seeing is fair or not.

“I sincerely don’t think we did this but, if the opponent’s coach said this, then perhaps the one who is in the wrong is me.”

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Taking Bielsa’s suggestion and looking at where Southampton players were fouled, by whom and in what situations, it could be argued that Hasenhuttl had a point.

The first, Liam Cooper’s take down of Che Adams level with the Leeds penalty area, was an isolated incident in so much as the rest occurred much closer to the halfway line or inside the Saints’ half.

In the Amazon documentary about Manchester City, Guardiola’s former assistant Mikel Arteta was seen advising his attacking players that it was better for them to commit fouls than midfielders or defenders. The logic behind that might be that a defender would be unwise to use up his good will with the referee stopping counter attacks far from his goal, when he might need it later in a more dangerous situation.

It was said of the All Blacks, during Richie Macaw’s captaincy, that they were adept at taking it in turns to risk the wrath of the referee, spreading the responsibility for slowing the play and dissipating the risk of a sin binning.

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Six of Leeds’ fouls against the Saints were committed by wingers Jack Harrison and Helder Costa, who conceded two free-kicks apiece, and forwards Patrick Bamford and Tyler Roberts.

The Leeds back-three, along with wing-back Luke Ayling, accounted for the rest.

Ayling’s 85th-minute foul on Moussa Djenepo stopped the winger when he had bypassed him just inside the Leeds half.

It happened in a similar manner and area to Costa’s second foul on Ryan Bertrand – the first appeared to be a more genuine attempt to win the ball.

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One of Harrison’s two fouls on Stuart Armstrong looked even more like the inevitable contact that comes when a player presses to win back the ball having been responsible for losing it.

Fouls by Diego Llorente and Pascal Struijk on Moussa Djenepo and Adams had a slightly more cynical look about them. When Bamford’s run across the back of James Ward-Prowse clipped the midfielder’s heels and prevented a Saints attack, the Leeds man raised his hands in innocence.

As it happened, Leeds’ disruptor in chief, Mateusz Klich, the man most often found at the scene when a free-kick is given against his side, did not concede any.

Speaking earlier this season he described his fouling as a ‘calculated’ risk and the by-product of his attempt to win the ball back as high up the pitch as possible.

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If he’s successful, Leeds are away, if he makes too much contact, the result is simply a free-kick and not an opponent marauding into space behind him.

Leeds would not deny they set out to stop opposition counter attacks - pressing is one of the keys to their success and everything they do is done at pace, which brings physical collisions.

One man’s ‘nasty’ is another man’s eagerness. Leeds’ fouls against Southampton were perhaps a bit of both but good luck proving intent, for the majority.

Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so too is cynicism.

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