This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
The script that played out at Elland Road on Saturday may not have gone exactly according to plan but it’s ending was worthy of any fairytale.
On the club’s centenary it was fitting that a player born in Leeds and one of their own scored what turned out to be the winning goal.
Kalvin Phillips was the man of the moment as he fired home under Lee Camp to present the Whites with just their second win in five matches.
Marcelo Bielsa hailed it an act of God after the game and he may be right. Phillips was the saviour, the man who rolled away the stone from their poor performance against Millwall two weeks ago.
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It may not have been convincing but they were able to get the job done as they kept up their pursuit of promotion.
It was appropriate that a legend in the making was the one to score in front of heroes of the past too. Certainly, after rejecting Premier League interest to sign a new deal at Leeds, he’s on the right pathway to being acknowledged alongside some greats.
His display against Birmingham last weekend showed signs of top-flight quality and that largely happened in the final third of the pitch, a role we rarely see Phillips in.
The 23-year-old put in a mesmeric performance for his team in the middle of the park, registering a colossal six tackles.
That part of his game is no secret. After all, he’s won 4.4 of them per game in 2019/20.
But despite being a presence when Birmingham had the ball, he was also a heavy influence going forward, making two key passes.
The heat map above, provided by WhoScored, shows the areas Phillips got into throughout his 90 minutes on the pitch.
Although a large segment comes inside his own half, there is also evidence that he was keen to break into the opposition’s third as well, regularly moving into wider areas.
The fact he was up with play for his goal, however, was the best proof of that. Phillips strode forward and unerringly found the net like a clinical striker.
Throughout the second period he was almost playing in Mateusz Klich’s role, roaming around in midfield.
Above shows the areas Klich got into before he was substituted for Tyler Roberts and it displays that when playing from deep, they got into similar positions.
In fact, Phillips was more willing to get into central areas near the penalty area than his Polish teammate who often drifted towards the flanks.
When Leeds needed someone to stand up and be counted, Phillips was their man and he did it in a way we’ve not really become accustomed to.
No wonder Bielsa was singing his praises.
