Many Leeds United fans have been reacting on social media to comments made by head coach Marcelo Bielsa, but not all of the Elland Road faithful agree with his thoughts on the Whites’ recent performances.
Bielsa spoke at his press conference on Thursday, and shared his thoughts on how Leeds have been performing of late.
The West Yorkshire outfit have taken two wins in the last six Championship games, and needed an 87th-minute Eddie Nketiah equalising strike from the bench to secure a point away to Preston North End on Tuesday night.
United have not scored more than one goal in a single league game since beating Barnsley 2-0 midway through September, either, despite taking 13 shots against Derby County, 19 against Charlton Athletic and West Bromwich Albion, 15 against Birmingham City and 22 at Deepdale during the week (WhoScored).
If the second-tier only took into account the last six games, Leeds would currently find themselves 14th in the standings, with Saturday’s opponent Sheffield Wednesday fourth on goal difference to second-placed Brentford, after taking 11 of a possible 18 points.
Bielsa, though, is not concerned by his side’s recent dip having missed a chance to top the table against Preston, and is adamant the Whites are playing better football than they managed last season on route to a Play-Off Semi-Final finish.
“This team is much better than last season,” Bielsa said, via quotes by Leeds’ official Twitter account. “Last season they played very well, but today they are more regular in their performances. If [Barry] Douglas or [Ezgjan] Alioski play it’s similar. Same with [Patrick] Bamford, Nketiah, [Gaetano] Berardi [and Liam] Cooper.”
But not all of the Elland Road faithful agreed with Bielsa’s comment on feeling happy with how the Whites are playing, as some Leeds fans noted the squad are ‘miles away from last season’ in terms of their performances.
One supporter proposed that a year ago, Leeds would also have managed to turn their vast chances against the likes of Nottingham Forest and Swansea City into more than just a single point overall. United took 15 shots against Forest in August, and failed to score with any of their 21 efforts against Swansea later that month.
sorry but hes deluded. The team maybe better in the sense of personnel, but in playing terms we are miles away from last season.
— Steve?? (@Yorkie6013) October 24, 2019
Bielsa seems desperate in defence of Bamford, by equating scoring chances (Eddie) as similar to squandering them (Bamford). He has run out of excuses but still remains stubborn.
Is this the beginning of a Shakespearean tragedy at ER?— LUFC Shah Alam (@AlamLufc) October 24, 2019
Last season we would have seen out or won the games against preston, forest, Swansea to name a few after dominating the entire 90. This season we have dropped a lot of points late on and are not scoring….cant see the big plus point from any of that
— Adam ?? (@adam2986) October 24, 2019
But we’re not scoring enough goals which is a big problem
— Jude Burr (@BurrJude) October 24, 2019
While many fans are disgruntled with Leeds’ results this season, there are still lots of supporters who back Bielsa as being the right man to guide the West Yorkshire outfit forward.
After 13 games, United remain in contention for promotion with West Brom only top of the table by two points, while the Whites have also taken one more point than they managed in the 2018/19 campaign at this stage when they sat fourth in the standings.
With 33 games still to play, as well, there are plenty of opportunities for Leeds to overturn the slender gap to the Baggies and build an automatic promotion-challenging run of form.
So much negativity among Leeds fans at the moment , we have played 13 games and still have 33 games left to play , we sit second in the league and injuries are few
So what more do you want— Andy Smith ?? LUFC ?? (@Reeconn_) October 24, 2019
WE ARE 2nd AND IN A BETTER PLACE THAN LAST SEASON REGARDING POINTS!
and yes I am SHOUTING!
Bielsa knows best
— andrew (@andrew99003736) October 24, 2019
Yes better than last season
— Sandro Calleja (@sandrobodo77) October 24, 2019
As well as taking note of where Leeds find themselves in the Championship table, some fans have responded to Bielsa’s comment by focusing on the performances of individual players thus far.
One name mentioned has been Brighton & Hove Albion loanee Ben White, who has started each of the league games played so far and is the only outfield United man to have featured for each available minute (WhoScored).
None of Leeds’ other regular centre-backs have achieved a higher number of successful tackles per ninety minutes than White, too, who has won 2.0 of 2.2 efforts, along with the most interceptions (3.1), second-most clearances (3.6), and second-most blocks (1.3).
White being the main difference defensively – so calm and reassuring when he is on the ball and the main reason I think why we have conceded less goals so far.
— Damien Cummins (@Damien_Cms) October 24, 2019