Bielsa: I picked wrong team
Marcelo Bielsa took the blame as Leeds surrendered the Championship’s only unbeaten record with their first home defeat in the league for more than six months – and to a Birmingham City side previously without a victory this season.
Che Adams found the net from the edge of the area twice in the opening half-hour to pave the way for Birmingham’s first win since May. Bielsa hurriedly reshuffled the hosts’ formation in replacing midfielder Kalvin Phillips with Stuart Dallas, but the damage had already been done.
Leeds remain top of the league on goal difference, but their supporters will hope this defeat is not the prelude to the kind of fall from grace the Yorkshire club suffered 12 months ago, when they lost for the first time at a similar juncture.
“The team I chose for the beginning of this game wasn’t right,” the Argentine admitted.
He added: “We had to right what was wrong because I made a mistake. We weren’t fluid for the first 30 minutes and we looked tired. When we corrected the mistake the other team had already scored twice and that’s a high price to pay for a tactical mistake.”
Garry Monk, who left Elland Road last summer after less than 12 months in charge, received a hostile reception from the home supporters yesterday.
His present side had drawn four league games before yesterday. The Birmingham manager had expected them to improve on that run. “This result has been coming. There’s been a lot of talk about our winless run but if you’ve watched our performances this season you’d know we deserved a result like this.”
The 39-year-old is confident that Birmingham can build on the moraleboosting victory. They moved up to ninth in the table with this victory.
He added: “I’m very proud of the players, they deserved that. We’ve performed really well in pretty much all of our games and have been unfortunate not to have had a win already.
“To come here and beat the league leaders is magnificent and I’m pleased for the players and the fans.
“My time at Leeds is water under the bridge, and I hope they get to the Premier League because this club deserves to be there.”