(Photo: Action Images via Reuters)
Six games don’t make you the next Mourinho – although four games get you the sack, eh Palace fans – so nobody should be getting too carried away with the achievements of Thomas Christiansen at Leeds just yet.
However, for a club that has so often been starved of any kind of hope in recent years, the temptation to grab on tight to this stubbled, Danish messiah and never let go is already proving too much for some Whites fans.
The 44-year-old has seemingly swept in out of nowhere – or Cypriot side Apoel if we’re being picky – and transformed the club into something at least resembling its former glory at long last.
Six wins, two draws and no defeats in half a dozen Championship games is the reward gained by new Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani for this courageous appointment. Despite the fact that foreign bosses are en vogue at the moment, clubs rarely look to the footballing wilderness of Cyprus for their next appointment.
But Leeds did, and Christiansen appears determined to ensure they never have cause to regret it. A 5-0 win over Burton at the weekend propelled them to the lofty heights of second in the table, and that victory was punctuated by two goals from summer signing Pierre-Michel Lasogga.
Lasogga is one of a whole host of summer reinforcements brought in by Christiansen. The Dane has vigorously reinvigorated his squad this summer, while also having to cope with the loss of last season’s star man Chris Wood to Burnley in a reported £18m deal.
The German Lasogga, on loan from Hamburg, was one of those brought in to fill Wood’s substantial boots. Jay-Roy Grot from NEC Nijmegen, Samu Saiz from Huesca and Pawel Cibicki from Malmo have also signed on at Elland Road.
This policy of replacing one vitally important player with a few different weapons may prove vitally important to Leeds’ success this season. Christiansen’s transfer dealings appear to show that he has very quickly realised that he will need immense strength in depth if the club are to survive their gruelling second tier schedule.
In addition to the aforementioned forward purchases, Leeds have also signed the likes of Ezgjan Alioski, Vurnon Anita, Felix Wiedwald and Caleb Ekuban.
They now appear to have the necessary strength in depth, as well as the quality, to mount a challenge for promotion back to the Premier League after a thirteen year absence. For that is the aim of all involved at Elland Road. In size, scale and history this is a top flight club – the fact they have languished in the second and third tiers of English football for this long is remarkable.
Again, it’s just six games – but Cardiff are top of the table and all the noise is about Warnock‘s renaissance. So why not, Leeds fans, get a little excited. Lord knows it’s been long enough.
