Why Leeds United reshuffle makes sense, Whites positives and Manchester City plan - Tony Dorigo

It's been pretty clear that the momentum that we seemed to have built up towards the end of the first part of the league campaign had gone. The friendly match against Elche showed exactly that - it was very disjointed with lots of different players playing and we came through that. We got better in the second half after a first half which wasn't so great.

But in Friday's game against Real Sociedad we came up against a quality side and, to me, that looked very much like trying to work out how we might play against Manchester City because Sociedad kept the ball extremely well. They are third in La Liga, they are absolutely flying and they had a playmaker in David Silva. What they didn't have was the front three or four that can really really hurt you.

But I thought everything else was very much in the style of a Man City with how they kept the ball. We had to be patient and we changed it up with three men in midfield playing a bit differently so there were some new things. After going a goal behind once again we came back and got the win so step by step we are going in the right direction. We are not quite there yet but it's building up nicely with the opposition that we're playing, the tempo the games are being played at and with the fitness levels and everything else.

Rodrigo bagged the winner against Sociedad and in the previous couple seasons his goal tally hasn't quite been what we wanted. But so far this season it has been very, very good indeed and if Patrick Bamford is out then we need someone else to score those goals. Rodrigo is doing that and long may that continue.

We know that strikers go through their moments throughout the season but his confidence will be high and if he can keep that bubbling along then ever better. It was also a good finish from Pascal Struijk for the equaliser. He sat the goalkeeper down and tucked it away in the bottom corner.

The positions were interesting as you had Brenden Aaronson almost through the middle of a front three and Rodrigo playing slightly to the right. All these little changes that Jesse Marsch is trying will all be with an eye on what is coming up.

Jesse has traditionally lined up with a 4-2-3-1 with Tyler Adams and Marc Roca in front of a back four. With the way that a team plays, if you are dominating possession all the time then you stick to your style because that's what gets you all that position.

But we don't do that and so we have kind of got to nullify what the other teams are doing and then break and close down at the right time. Sometimes you will have a team that will have a load of possession, who will dominate the midfield and you can't get overrun.

That's why an added body in there sometimes will be important by making it a three-man midfield with a runner joining in rather than starting a bit further afield. But I think that the Adams and Roca combination has always been extremely good, right from the off.

They have been a really good foil for each other but unfortunately we are missing Adams who is suspended for the City game and if you are missing out on that strength then that's why I suppose you would beef it up with an extra player in there. You can see the thinking behind it but it's also a case of who is fit and who is playing well and who can do that job for the team.

We now face our friendly at home to AS Monaco tonight and I think that they will be very similar to Sociedad. We know that technically they have got some very good players and they will try and play and keep the ball. But I think that's good for us and a good style to play against because of what will likely happen against Man City and then Newcastle away. It's hard to see us having a load of possession in those games so we will have to pick and choose our moments well in terms of when we press when we don't.

I think these games are kind of a reflection of that and the friendly against Monaco will be another game no doubt where we'll get a good tempo against a good quality side. It will be difficult, which is exactly what we are after. We must finish with a word on Sunday's World Cup final which was incredible.

For me, the World Cup fell into two parts with the location where it was held and all the hubbub surrounding that. But then of course there was the football itself and thankfully there were some great games. I thought it was really good.

I still feel a little aggrieved that England couldn't get through and beat the French because I thought that we were just marginally the better side. But those fine moments change games, they really do and the great players are the ones that have those moments and we saw it in the final. What an incredible final.

I understand the pressures. I only got to sit on the bench in the World Cup semi final but I understand the pressures of what that's all about. And for Lionel Messi it was a career pressure. It was all about that game.

It shouldn't be but for a lot of people it was and for him to play like he did was just incredible and then Kylian Mbappe is just a freak as well. He is the king in waiting.

It was an absolutely cracking game, an amazing game which went down to penalties which I hate watching but it was brilliant and I am delighted that Messi has now been crowned a world champion as well because what an incredible career he has had. It was a great final but I want to put that to bed now and get on with Leeds United.