LEEDS: WE WON’T BLOW IT THIS TIME

IT’S 12 months since the wheels started to fall off their last campaign and Liam Cooper is in no mood for an unwanted Groundhog Day at Leeds United. Birmingham’s accumulatorshredding win saw Marcelo Bielsa’s side surrender the Championship’s only unbeaten record, and while they remain top on goal difference, some worried supporters are drawing uncomfortable comparisons with last season when things started to go badly off the rails after a first defeat in September. Leeds have done enough so far to suggest this is more likely to be a blip than the start of a sustained nosedive in a division where dips in performance are inevitable over a gruelling nine-month, 46-game slog. They were badly off the pace in the opening half-hour as Che Adams was afforded the freedom of Elland Road to score twice from the edge of the box, with head coach Bielsa’s tactical acumen coming under the spotlight for the first time since his arrival three months ago, after the Argentine admitted that he got his starting line-up wrong. The damage had already been done when Kalvin Phillips was hauled off as the sacrificial lamb before half-time, and although Ezgjan Alioski pulled a goal back late on, the Blues were good value for their first win since May. Cooper admits it was a harsh lesson in the dangers of not being at the races as they look to quickly put things right in Friday’s Yorkshire derby visit to Sheffield Wednesday, and he admitted: ‘When you are not on it in the Championship, you get found out and we certainly did for half an hour.’ The captain added: ‘The manager might say he blames himself, but I don’t think that. As players, we have got to take it on the chin. We know this wasn’t good enough. ‘There’s not a single team in this division who has the right to not be at it for as long as we were today, and we’ve learnt the hard way.’ Birmingham’s performances this season have belied their winless run and lowly league position, as manager Garry Monk’s stifling tactics worked perfectly against his old club. ‘It’s great to have got that first win for the fans,’ Harlee Dean, who was immense at the back, insisted. He added: ‘This victory was just what our hard work and previous performances deserved.’