BIG GUNS HOLD UP LEEDS... BUT IT’S A SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR BEAUTY

THE opening scene of the greatest movie ever made features Butch Cassidy walking into a bank.

He looks around, sees spy holes, reinforced glass and iron, heavily armed guards, and so on.

“Hey,” he asks one of those guards on the door, “What happened to the old bank? It was beautiful.”

Guard: ‘People kept robbing it.”

Butch: “Small price to pay for beauty.”

People keep robbing Leeds United. But to those of us with no vested interest, it is a small price to pay for beauty.

When Marcelo Bielsa’s team play, it is normally worth tuning in.

But last Sunday ’ s shellacking at Old Trafford brought their approach into sharp focus.

Can Bielsa (right) continue to attract a considerable amount of acclaim when his side are shipping so many goals? The six at Old Trafford means it is now 30 in 14.

That is an average of 2.14 goals per game.

I doubt there has been a team finished a season with that ratio of concession and not been relegated.

Yet while it is being portrayed as a coach sticking to idealistic principles, Bielsa’s approach could well be a calculated one.

For starters, the goals against column is skewed by the 10 they let in against Manchester United and Liverpool.

But there is a philosophical defence of Bielsa. Adapting tactics to opponents is, of course, a fundamental part of elite coaching but his is such a defined style that switching it on and off, game by game, would be tricky to say the least.

And when Bielsa analyses the other teams, he will see plenty without the counter-attacking potency of, say, a Liverpool or a Manchester United.

Teams such as Newcastle United, for example, who Leeds cuffed 5-2 recently.

There might be a chance

Portrayed as sticking to idealistic principles, Bielsa’s approach could well be a calculated one that wins against less threatening sides are supplemented by the odd point against the powerhouses, such as the one taken from the home game with Manchester City.

And strangely enough, going into today’s meeting with Burnley, it does not feel as though the hammering by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side has halted any momentum Leeds felt they had.

If the Leeds fans need reassurance, the evidence so far

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To those not emotionally involved, the reassurance comes from the knowledge that Bielsa is not going to change his style.

And who would you rather watch? Teams that settle for 25 per cent of possession and hope they nick one from a set-piece and get a point, or the hardpressing, free-flowing football of Leeds United?

Anyhow, relegation to the Championship is not the apocalyptic disaster it is made out to be. Norwich and Bournemouth appear to be having fun in Tier 2.

Even if they do not change their ways, Leeds United are very unlikely to be relegated, but the more accomplished teams will keep robbing them.

But as Butch said, small price to pay for beauty.