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…
Eight red cards tell the sorry story of Gaetano Berardi’s Leeds career.
The Swiss defender arrived from Sampdoria in 2014 with a degree of promise. However, five years on he’s seemingly on the verge of an exit as his contract expires next summer.
Berardi has never set the world alight and his mistakes in the white of Leeds have proved not only damning but also incredibly strange.
A horrendous high challenge against Accrington sums the man up, as does his red card in the playoffs last term, one of the club’s biggest games in recent years.
Finally presented with a chance this season, he had it torn away from him after 13 minutes against Millwall.
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The less said about the decision over a week on the better but it’s safe to say it shouldn’t have stood as he received his marching orders yet again.
Regardless of it being overturned, can Marcelo Bielsa still trust the 31-year-old? It would be hard to say he deserves another chance.
The defender has already had one too many in west Yorkshire, but if he is to be afforded another crack of the whip, perhaps reverting him to his former position would make more sense.
What’s most alarming about Berardi’s record as a centre half is the nine yellow cards he’s collected in just the 21 games WhoScored have recorded with him in that position.
In that time he’s also collected two sending offs. It’s a woeful record but demonstrates his inability to focus and cope in a central role.
Chaos seemingly ensues when he’s on the pitch and the playoffs are a fine indication of that. Why he was moved from the left in the first place seems a little baffling but that’s the situation Berardi now finds himself in.
It would be wrong to suggest he looked completely at home in that position – he did still collect three red cards there – but his overall disciplinary record is far better.
The experienced head also demonstrates a greater sense of purpose and he can actually defend to a competent level.
When playing at left-back, Berardi makes 2.6 tackles per game in comparison to the 2.2 he completes in the middle of the pitch.
Considering he makes more tackles on the left, it’s surprising given his play that he makes fewer fouls, just one per match. Compare that to a central position and he makes 1.3.
That says a lot about the type of player he’s become. He’s rash and ill-disciplined and if he’s to have any chance of reviving his Leeds career, he needs to be moved back to whence he came.
With Barry Douglas and Gjanni Alioski already occupying that role, it’s a task that’s easier said than done.
