Tony Pulis has revealed the way he set his Middlesbrough team up last year to have success against Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United.

Pulis was sacked as Boro boss in the summer after missing out on the play-offs last season but had a reasonable amount of success against the Whites in the Championship.

Boro drew both of their league ties with Leeds last season, with the match at Elland Road ending goalless and the return tie finishing one-all.

Speaking to Sky Sports, (via Leeds Live), the Welshman explained how he made changes to his side to counteract Bielsa’s tactics and provided a blueprint, which other Championship sides may look to follow.

He said: “I never change very much for what I do against teams but we changed against them (Leeds).

“What I didn't want to do, and they do it brilliant they push their two full-backs right up high, if you play four in midfield they actually push your wide players back.

“So we actually went to a swivelling five. The centre-forward stayed up there and we played two central midfielders in there and a holding midfielder.

"There would be (Pablo) Hernandez on the right-hand side coming in and then you'd get (Stuart) Dallas going around the outside. (Jamie) Shackleton today would be in that pocket and last season it was (Kemar) Roofe who would come forward.

"It leaves you either outnumbered where they play through you there (left-hand side) or it leaves that big space. We played with George Friend on the left-hand side and Dael Fry on the left-hand side and they swivelled that side.

“What we did which was very important is we made sure then that we still had bodies on the opposite side of the pitch.

“What they do really well is they get the ball out and switch it. (Jack) Harrison gets it and in one-on-ones they are very good and they fill the box. They get a lot of chances from overloading one side and then switching the ball.”

Leeds 1-0 win against West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday saw them briefly return to the top of Championship.

With Swansea City now one point ahead of them, the Whites need to win on Saturday to ensure they don’t allow the league leaders to create a gap.

The Verdict

The fact that Pulis changed his side’s tactics to face Bielsa, despite never usually making big tactical changes, is high praise indeed for Leeds and shows just how tough they are to play against.

The Welshman did have success against the Whites last season and drawing twice against a team at the top of the table is a pretty good record, irrelevant of who you are.

It will be interesting to see whether teams take Pulis’ comments on board moving forward and line-up in a similar swivelling midfield five in the future.

As the season wears on and Pulis remains jobless, it will be intriguing to keep an eye on which Championship teams may feel that a promotion-winning manager like him could be a better option than what they already have.

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