Plenty of positives for Bielsa as Championship leaders Leeds urged to maintain winning run
MARCELO BIELSA told Leeds United they just have to keep winning every game after a 5-0 win he refused to admit he “enjoyed”, but every supporter of the club surely will have.
The Whites were playing catch-up football having been knocked off the top of the Championship by West Bromwich Albion’s win over Derby County the previous evening. But their victory sent an emphatic message to the clubs hoping to catch them, and moved their goal difference ahead of the Baggies.
Stoke manager Michael O’Neill called Leeds the best team his relegation-threatened side had faced, and praised their pace and physicality.
Leeds will again play last at the weekend, and could be second again when they travel to Swansea City, but coach Bielsa insists it makes no difference.
“Whether we play before or after, we are forced to win every week,” he argued. “The fact that we know the other results doesn’t change anything. We are (always) forced to win.”
He also refused to attach any significance to the manner of the win, secured by a Mateusz Klich penalty and second-half goals from Helder Costa, Liam Cooper, Pablo Hernandez and Patrick Bamford.
“Every game is a new story,” he reflected. “What happened in the previous game does not define the next one. The confidence and security of a team are not linked 100 per cent with the previous result.”
Some of the football Leeds played in the second half, having broken Stoke’s backs-to-the-wall defending shortly before the interval, was wonderful to watch, but Bielsa refused to get swept up by it.
“It’s not exactly the right word ‘enjoy’,” said the Argentinian.
“I think it was a positive performance and the manager will always be happy if you have that sort of positive effort.”
Stoke are locked in a relegation battle with the likes of Barnsley, Hull City, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield Town, and O’Neill admitted they were up against it as soon as Tommy Smith gave away an unnecessary penalty by fouling Costa after 43 minutes.
Their whole gameplan was geared to stopping goals, not scoring them.
“When you give a team of this quality a leg-up as we did with the penalty, the second half was always going to be difficult,” he said. “It was a needless penalty – they are going away from goal.
“I’d be very surprised if they didn’t go up. They’re the best team we’ve played and physically we just couldn’t deal with them.
“I thought we couldn’t deal with them physically, we didn’t win many one-v-one duels all over the pitch.
“The pace at which they played in, particularly when they got ahead, it was difficult for us.
“I thought at times in the first half we gave a decent account of ourselves and we tried to stay in the game but against a team of that quality you can’t give them a leg up and we did that with the penalty.
“Once we went behind in the game it was always going to be very difficult for us.”
Leeds need another seven points from their four remaining games to secure promotion to the Premier League. West Brom are at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, when third-placed Brentford travel to Derby.
THERE were two blankets over Elland Road in yesterday’s first half game between Leeds United and Stoke City, a grey one hanging over the roofs of the stands and a black one over the final third of the pitch as the visitors sat back and challenged Leeds to break them down.
For nearly 45 minutes, it looked like they might get away with it but as soon as the on-field blanket was lifted, Stoke were left horribly naked.
As soon as they were in front, Marcelo Bielsa’s side put on an exhibition of football that deserved a better audience than 15,000 cardboard cut-outs. If the Argentinian meant what he said afterwards about not being able to enjoy their 5-0 win, he must either have a heart of stone or be a secret Potters fan.
Leeds even waited until stoppage time to get Patrick Bamford on the scoresheet and put their goal difference beyond title rivals West Bromwich Albion’s.
More importantly, Leeds are two wins and a draw away from the Premier League, with four matches to play. Even bearing in mind the crazy unpredictability of the Championship, it looks a matter of time.
Michael O’Neill sent his Stoke side out in what looked a bit like a Christmas tree formation but within minutes they had switched to a back five with James McClean, who revels in the role of offensive player, switched to left-back.
Leeds are used to tactics like this, especially at Elland Road. They knew it was just a question of patience.
Bielsa happily admitted in the build-up his team feels the pressure, but they rarely panic in possession.
Their main approach was to hit sweeping passes from the central defenders and holding midfielder Kalvin Phillips to switch the play and release their wingers.
But for some incredible defending by McClean it might have paid off, but in the end a temporary drop in Stoke’s defensive discipline opened the door a crack, and that was all the Whites needed.
Jack Butland was busy from the second minute, tipping a shot from the impressive Tyler Roberts around the post, but largely the blanket protected him.
Bamford shot off target from distance, and Mateusz Klich’s attempt was blocked after a gorgeous ball from Roberts, and a feint from the Pole.
Jack Harrison missed the target at the end of the move started by a lovely driven pass from Ben White.
At that point it seemed the emblematic moment of the first half might have come midway through when Leeds again played with invention, only to be denied by Stoke determination.
Bamford played a lovely onetwo with Harrison and dinked beyond Butland, only for McClean to brilliantly clear off the line.
But Stoke are in the relegation battle for a reason, and it was always asking a lot to keep up that approach for 90 minutes against a team of such quality.
In the 43rd minute they cracked, Tommy Smith catching Helder Costa as he ran away from goal, making contact as he briefly entered the penalty area. Klich sent Butland the wrong way and the roar of the fake crowd, augmented by plenty of genuine delight from the directors’ box, signalled a significant breakthrough.
The second half was an exhibition. Pablo Hernandez came off the bench oozing quality as Leeds too switched to a back three but they could have played more or less any formation, any personnel and strolled to victory, their football was so well-oiled, Stoke so exposed once behind. That is not to downplay their football, just to point out that everyone in White played to Bielsa’s tune.
The second half was just three minutes old when the game was done and dusted, Costa taking his time from an exquisite Stuart Dallas pass and finding the net.
The third and fourth goals were works of art, Phillips finding Hernandez, who pulled the ball back for central defender Liam Cooper to drill in, and Costa doing similar for Hernandez, with Bamford dummying over the ball to add to the beauty.
Include added time and there was 20 minutes to go but Leeds could take it steadily, with Dallas, Klich, Harrison and Cooper given time off for good behaviour.
It looked like centre-forward Bamford might miss out on the fun, hitting the bar and denied by Butland from a tight angle, but in stoppage time he pinged a goal in off the far post.
Leeds threw it away with four games of last season remaining. It would be a massive shock if that particular piece of history repeated itself.
Leeds United: Meslier; Ayling, White, Cooper (Berardi 83), Dallas (Douglas 75); Phillips; Costa, Roberts (Hernandez 46), Klich (Shackleton 78), Harrison (Alioski 78); Bamford. Unused substitutes: Poveda, Miazek, Struijk, Stevens.
Stoke City: Butland; Smith, Collins (Chester 46), Batth, Martins; Campbell (Gregory 61), Cousins, Clucas (Thompson 81); Powell, McClean; Vokes (Diouf 61). Unused
substitutes: Ward, Lindsay, Ince, Davies,
Sorensen.
Referee: D Bond (Lancashire).