MOT View: Bielsa will have learned big lesson at Leeds, can showcase improvement v Cardiff
Marcelo Bielsa’s done such a magnificent job in charge of Leeds United that you’d be forgiven for forgetting that he does make the odd mistake.
Leeds missed out on promotion for a number of reasons last season but ultimately, you cannot pin that on one single mistake by the Argentine.
There haven’t been that many moments this season where you can turn around and say Leeds have missed out on a win because of Bielsa, but the 3-3 draw against Cardiff at Elland Road in December is one of them.
After 52 minutes, Leeds were 3-0 ahead against Cardiff but ended up drawing the match 3-3, with the away side grabbing an 88th-minute equaliser with only 10 men on the pitch.
It was such a poor result and the cataclysmic second half was largely down to Bielsa’s in-game management.
In the 77th minute, Leeds were looking comfortable with a 3-1 lead but Bielsa, who doesn’t usually change too much in terms of personnel, opted to take Patrick Bamford off for Eddie Nketiah.
Bamford divides opinion among Leeds fans, especially as his goalscoring record isn’t too great but his exit from that match showed just how vital he was for Leeds as they missed his cool composure in the attack that saw him link up with midfielders and retain possession.
Nketiah is arguably as good a goalscorer as Bamford but everything else a striker does in Bielsa’s side, Bamford exceeds at and is why the ex-Chelsea striker started over Nketiah so often.
That was mistake number one by Bielsa.
His second, and arguably biggest mistake, came in the 84th minute, two minutes after Cardiff score to make it 3-2.
Experienced defender Gaetano Berardi has taken off for youngster Pascal Struijk to make just his second Championship appearance for Leeds.
Within two minutes, Struijk was involved in a defensive mix-up that saw Cardiff equalise and Leeds’ capitulation was complete, courtesy of Bielsa’s poor in-game management on that day.
Bielsa will have learned a lot from this.
He will have learned to always stick with what he thinks is best and not bow down to the pressure of the crowd or to throw on a loanee just to appease the loanee’s parent club.
Bielsa will have also learned that he must always stick with experienced and never throw a young, inexperienced player into a game where Leeds are defending a narrow lead with their backs to the wall.
It seems obvious now, in hindsight, but Bielsa can showcase this on Sunday when Leeds United travel to South Wales to play against Cardiff in a bid to vanquish the memories of that capitulation in December.
In other Leeds United news, these Championship promotion hopefuls have confirmed a positive coronavirus test.