Tarik Muharemović’s 13 clearances against Spurs show why Leeds can think about Europe, if Farke stays brave on the ball

Tarik Muharemović made 13 clearances in the 1-0 win over Tottenham, nine of them with his head, and no centre-back in the Premier League is clearing more balls than the Leeds defender this season.

Noah Okafor’s late winner took the headlines at Elland Road, and rightly so. But the reason Leeds United were still level when Daniel Farke sent him on was the back line, and Muharemović was the best player in it.

Leeds go into the international break on 14 points, two off fifth place. That is a team with a real chance of Europe, and it is being built from the back.

How good was Muharemović against Spurs?

As good as a centre-back gets. On top of the 13 clearances, he made four recoveries, won four of his five aerial duels and every one of his ground duels. Anything that dropped into the Leeds box, he dealt with.

That matters more now than it used to. The league has drifted towards man-for-man pressing and direct one-v-one battles all over the pitch, and a defender who loses his physical duels gets found out fast. Muharemović has arrived from abroad and made that look easy.

Across the season, the clearance and headed clearance charts are led by him, and not narrowly. He has separated himself from a group that includes Virgil van Dijk. For a player in his first Premier League season, that is a remarkable start.

Is the Leeds defence really one of the best in the league?

The numbers say yes. Leeds are top five in the Premier League for expected goals conceded at 12.6, a better figure than Manchester City’s. They are top three for clearances per match, top eight for interceptions and top nine for tackles, and they have conceded only one goal from a set piece all season.

Leeds are even conceding slightly fewer goals than their expected goals against suggests, so there is a little luck in there. But the shape is the real thing. It is hard to remember many games this season where Leeds have looked like conceding more than a couple of chances, never mind more than two goals.

James Trafford deserves his share of the credit too. He was excellent against Spurs, with his shot-stopping and his passing. His mistake in the defeat at Bournemouth brought the usual questions, because one week you are the hero and the next you are the villain, but he has everything a modern goalkeeper needs. The talk of him as a future England number one doesn’t look far-fetched.

Does Melvin Bard’s cameo mean Gudmundsson should lose his place?

No, and that is the wrong way to look at it. Gabriel Gudmundsson went off at half-time with a hamstring problem, and Bard was very good in his place. Some fans have taken that as a sign the summer signing should now start every week.

The two of them bring different things. Bard plays quicker and further forward, and his passes into the channels from deep are his best weapon. Gudmundsson times his overlaps better and is more dangerous when he gets outside his full-back. He was seeing plenty of the ball in the first half against Tottenham, even if the final decision was missing.

Some games will suit one, some will suit the other. The same goes for James Justin and Jayden Bogle on the right now that Joe Rodon is back. Competition like that is what a side chasing Europe needs.

Why Farke should trust his defenders on the ball

If there is one thing Leeds fans want from Daniel Farke, it is for him to be bolder. That doesn’t have to mean starting more forwards or dropping a midfielder for Harry Wilson. It can simply mean what Leeds do with the ball.

Early in the season Leeds were brave enough to play through teams on the ground. In the weeks before the win over Tottenham, they went longer and longer. Against Spurs, the old version came back.

One second-half move showed it. Trafford spread the ball out to Muharemović, who could easily have launched it long. Instead he played a firm pass through the middle to Ao Tanaka, who had pushed up to receive it in the centre. Tanaka headed it down to Bard, and Bard went straight down the line to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the kind of quick ball into the channel the striker wants.

From there Leeds flooded forward. Calvert-Lewin found Lukas Nmecha, Nmecha drove in and played it back to Calvert-Lewin, who punched a pass into Sean Longstaff. Nmecha moved off his marker to pick up the loose ball, and the late runner was Ethan Ampadu, the deepest midfielder, arriving on the edge of the box. His shot was deflected behind for a corner.

It wasn’t a goal, but it was the point. Tottenham’s press was aggressive, and Leeds beat it by playing through it rather than over it. Sometimes the long ball to Calvert-Lewin is the right call. But a side with Muharemović, Tanaka, Ampadu and Trafford can do more than that.

Can Leeds really finish in the European places?

They have to aim for it now. Fourteen points from ten games leaves Leeds two points behind fifth and one behind Bournemouth in seventh, which could easily be a Europa League or Conference League place by May.

The defence gives them a base most sides around them don’t have. The question is still at the other end: Leeds have not scored enough, which is why a January striker is on the agenda. If the goals come, a top-seven push is realistic.

Our verdict: Muharemović is the signing of Leeds’ season so far. If Farke keeps letting him and Trafford start attacks as well as stop them, Leeds can be the side nobody wants to face in the second half of the season.