HAS BIELSA BEEN RUMBLED?

ASK M Marcelo l Bielsa a question, any question, and he launches into what looks to be a passionate and detailed reply with just one downside. It’s in Spanish. By the time the interpreter delivers the response, the answers have been boiled down to bite-size football-speak.

Enquiries about formation, team selection, even performance, become redundant and then there is the biggest question of all. Has Bielsa been rumbled with six season- defining matches to go?

A Leeds team full of attacking intent and flair has lit up the Championship, responding particularly to opponents with the same mindset.

There have been suggestions of a lack of Plan B, usually easily dismissed by another burst of goals and points and a rousing rendition of Marching On Together.

Yet this morning Leeds find themselves out of the automatic promotion places having lost twice in three games and Bielsa has some problems to solve after a

match in which keeper Kiko Casilla was his best player.

Playmaker Pablo Hernandez — who left the ground in a protective boot — was shackled, winger Jack Harrison marginalised to the extent he lasted 45 minutes, Tyler Roberts was not allowed to dictate, the list could go on. Up front, Patrick Bamford hit a post and missed a couple of chances.

In contrast, rival striker Che Adams made a thorough nuisance of himself on the way to scoring the only goal half an hour in as Leeds were denied time and space.

Birmingham boss Garry Monk, formerly in charge of Leeds, has become the first manager to do the double over them this season. But he is rightly more preoccupied with a relegation battle he had already won once before the nine-point deduction.

‘ Pablo is their biggest supply line, that’s for sure,’ Monk said. ‘He’s the one who can deliver that and scores goals himself. We did well with him. Leeds are a huge club, with massive expectations and a big following, and passionate fans. fans Their ambition is to go to the Premier League this season and they have a great chance to do that.

‘The promotion race is the most competitive it’s been. There’s no standout team.’

So how hard is it to manage Leeds? ‘That is not for me to comment on. It’s a different club that has moved on since I was there.’

Monk, the target for a verbal battering from Leeds fans, could have a further say in the promotion battle with Sheffield United next up at St Andrew’s on Wednesday.

‘We need to win,’ he added. ‘ With results going against us below us — with Rotherham winning — it stresses the importance of what we need to do in the next six games.

‘Sheffield United are unique in the way they set up in this league but there will be twists and turns for them as well. Hopefully we can give them a twist, like we have with Leeds.’