Leeds United took another step towards their ultimate goal of automatic promotion back to the Premier League at the second time of asking when they were held to a 1-1 draw by West Bromwich Albion.
Daniel Farke’s side played host to the Baggies at Elland Road on Saturday and failed to claim all three points, despite taking the lead through Junior Firpo.
The Whites are now three points ahead of Sheffield United in second place in the Championship and eight points clear of Burnley in third, with 11 matches left to be played.
This means that Farke and his team are in a fantastic position to ensure that they miss out on the lottery of the play-offs, going straight up to the top-flight instead of heading into the post-season matches.
Leeds are competing to land automatic promotion despite a disruptive summer that saw many key stars, including Crysencio Summerville, Archie Gray, Georginio Rutter, and Glen Kamara, move on from Elland Road.
Impressive recruitment has been at the heart of the team’s success and one summer signing, in particular, who has caught the eye this season has been Ao Tanaka.
Ao Tanaka's form for Leeds
The Whites reportedly paid a modest fee of £3.4m to sign the Japan international from German side Fortuna Dusseldorf in the summer transfer window to bolster their options in the middle of the park.
However, Tanaka was not brought in to immediately start in midfield for Farke. He was a substitute in his first four Championship appearances, as Ilia Gruev and Ethan Ampadu started together, and an injury to Ampadu against Coventry provided him with a chance to nail down a place as a regular starter.
The 26-year-old star has gone on to start 27 matches in the second tier to date and has established himself as the go-to option for Leeds in front of the back four.
Tanaka, who recently scored a big goal against Sheffield United in a promotion six-pointer, has offered an incredibly reliable presence in possession for the Whites.
Leeds are a dominant team, averaging 60.9% possession per game in the Championship, and this means that their midfielders have to be comfortable with taking plenty of touches.
Passes attempted
74.87
Top 5%
Pass accuracy
89.8%
Top 2%
Progressive passes
7.40
Top 5%
Passes into the final third
7.03
Top 5%
Passes into the penalty area
1.38
Top 10%
As you can see in the table above, Tanaka ranks incredibly highly among midfielders in the division when it comes to completing passes and progressing play into the final third.
He is the midfield maestro for Farke and has been a joy to watch in the Championship this season, but he is not the first of his kind to play in a (potentially) promotion-winning side at this level for the Whites.
Marcelo Bielsa had his own Ao Tanaka
Former Leeds head coach Marcelo Bielsa, who won the second tier title in the 2019/20 campaign, had his own version of Ao Tanaka in the form of English metronome Adam Forshaw.
The ex-Whites man struggled with injuries throughout his time with the club and was restricted to seven appearances and six starts in the league that term, but he was exceptional in the games that he did play.
As you can see in the chart above, Forshaw’s use of the ball that season was incredibly similar to Tanaka’s this term, in terms of his progressive passing and his efficiency with the ball at his feet, whilst offering more than the Japanese star as a creative threat.
Forshaw, who averaged 1.23 passes into the penalty area per 90, provided Bielsa with a metronomic figure in the engine room, as he had the technical quality to constantly get on the ball and make things tick in a dominant side chasing promotion.
Unfortunately, his fitness issues ultimately hampered his time at Elland Road, as the midfielder, who was described as “valuable” by the Argentine tactician, went on to play just 34 Premier League games in the following three seasons.
He did show signs of promise in the top-flight, however, ranking in the top 15% of midfielders for passes into the final third per 90 (5.64) and in the top 16% for key passes per 90 (1.5), which shows that he offered quality as a progressive and creative passer in the Premier League.
This shows that he was Bielsa’s own version of Tanaka because he was another diminutive metronome who could be a terrier in midfield, buzzing around the pitch to dictate the tempo of games whilst also having the ability to progress play and find teammates in dangerous areas.
What happened to Adam Forshaw
His contract at Elland Road expired in the summer of 2023 and it was an awkward time for the out of contract players because Leeds had just been relegated and they did not appoint a permanent head coach until Farke arrived in July, after deals had expired.
CEO Angus Kinnear did not opt to extend Forshaw’s contract before appointing a new manager and that meant that he allowed the midfield star to walk away on a free transfer that summer.
Where Are They Now
That has turned out to be an excellent decision by Kinnear as Forshaw, despite the quality he displayed during his time under Bielsa at Elland Road, has bounced around the Championship in recent years.
He joined Norwich on a free transfer after his exit from Leeds and only made nine appearances in the first half of the season, before being allowed to join Plymouth Argyle on a free transfer.
The 33-year-old lasted a year with the Pilgrims, playing 30 times in all competitions, before he secured another free transfer to a Championship team in January of this season – joining Blackburn Rovers.
Forshaw has scored one goal in ten matches for Blackburn in the second tier so far, since his move at the start of the year, and may be hoping to finally settle down after three free transfers in the space of 18 months.
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The fact that the English central midfielder has bounced around the Championship, without commanding any transfer fees, suggests that Leeds allowed him to move on at the right time and that they were right to not award him a new contract in the summer of 2023, despite his quality when available in the past for the Whites.