Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie has said that Leeds United are the best side he has seen in the Championship this season as he delivers his verdict on the duo chasing automatic promotion in the top two.
The Whites lead the Canaries at the summit of the second tier after midweek fixtures which reversed the duo’s standings, Bielsa leading his men to victory over Swansea City while Daniel Farke’s men suffered a shock defeat to Preston North End away from home.
Speaking of the pair, Hendrie was left bowled over by Leeds’ performance against Aston Villa earlier in the campaign, saying it was the best he had seen from any Championship side.
He told Sky Sports’ EFL Matters (15/02, 18:30): “I’m looking at Norwich and thinking they’ve been superb all season, Daniel Farke’s done a fantastic job.
“Leeds, dropping off the pace I think that was a massive win (v Swansea). Not in great form, to get back to winning ways, I always said they’d be up there. When I watched them against Aston Villa, they were the best side I’ve seen in the league.
“Possession-wise, going forward. Obviously they’ve had that little bit of a dip in form but is that down to the intensity that Bielsa wants and the way they play? They’ve been superb.”
Opinion
Leeds had been pretty consistent with their performances until recently, while Norwich’s loss against Preston was a result very few would have seen coming. The Canaries have perhaps been the better performers on a regular basis – their comfortable win over Bielsa’s men demonstrating their quality – but the Whites have had better individual displays. As Hendrie says, their win over Aston Villa, a side widely tipped to be pushing for promotion at the start of the season, was exceptional and is rightly heralded as one of the best performances the second tier has seen this season. If they could do that week in, week out, then there would be no doubting their title credentials. Unfortunately for Bielsa such performances are not a guarantee and his side will have to grind out results rather than blowing teams away if they want to be picking up the winners’ trophy come the end of the campaign.