Monk gets the better of Bielsa again as wasteful Leeds made to pay
Marcelo Bielsa argued that it was more important to remedy his Leeds side’s defensive failings than to worry about their need to find a new striker after Sheffield Wednesday capitalised on another frustrating afternoon for the home attack with two late goals.
The defeat knocks Leeds off top spot in the Championship in what is becoming an undeniable mid-season stumble. Including when they surrendered a 3-0 lead to draw with Cardiff here in the second week of December, Leeds have won only one in six league matches, conceding 13 goals.
They have picked up only six points in that sequence, slipping back to second behind West Bromwich Albion in the table with the gap between them and third place, which not so long ago stood at 11 points, down to six.
Leeds had countless opportunities to assert themselves but took none and were stunned as Wednesday struck twice in the closing stages, Jacob Murphy putting them in front in the 87th minute before substitute Atdhe Nuhiu added the second in stoppage time.
“Even if we didn’t play a brilliant match in attack, we were up with our average of 10 chances per match and when you create those chances the attack is not the problem,” Bielsa said. “We didn’t risk losing the ball in our half during the first 85 minutes and then we lost two goals in the last five minutes. This has happened a lot and we know we have to protect ourselves from those situations.” Since Eddie Nketiah was recalled by parent club Arsenal, Leeds have had only limited back-up for top scorer Patrick Bamford and are expected to move for a striker, with Southampton’s Che Adams and Sheffield United veteran Billy Sharp among potential targets. Bamford, Jack Harrison and Helder Costa missed chances to give their side control against Wednesday, but Bielsa insisted the problem was at the other end. “With Nketiah gone there is an empty space to fill, but this situation is not linked with the result today,” he said.
Bielsa threw on three attacking substitutes in the second half, but nothing worked and as Leeds pressed increasingly high up the pitch in search of the breakthrough, it was Wednesday substitute Nuhiu who made the telling impact. After Stuart Dallas was caught in possession, Nuhiu swept the ball out to Murphy on the right and the on-loan Newcastle forward finished well from a difficult angle.
Nuhiu then applied the killer blow in stoppage time, Adam Reach cutting out a pass from Ben White before pulling back for Nuhiu to blast home.
The result gave Wednesday manager Garry Monk a second winning return to a club he left under something of a cloud in 2017. His record against Bielsa is exceptional, having beaten him home and away with Birmingham City.
“Sometimes it just happens that you do well against one particular club,” Monk said. “It was a hard game for us, but we matched their intensity and stepped up in the second half. Nuhiu made an impression, as you want your subs to do, but it was a real team effort.”