Many Leeds United fans have been reacting on social media to comments made by head coach Marcelo Bielsa, as the Argentine reflected on his side’s 1-1 draw with Preston North End.
Leeds salvaged a point at Deepdale when second-half substitute Eddie Nketiah found the back of the net in the 87th-minute to counter out Tom Barkhuizen’s earlier opener.
The Whites had enjoyed much of the ball and fashioned far more chances on goal than their hosts managed, with WhoScored data showing United as having 63.2% of possession that they turned into 22 shots, albeit with just three on target.
Bielsa’s men also completed 71% of their passes compared to Alex Neil’s Preston managing a 53% completion rate, as the hosts connected 129 times to Leeds’ 282 successful balls.
Taking a point at Preston ensured Leeds remained unbeaten since the international break, and Bielsa has noted that his side struggled to break the balance.
“Until they scored, the match had a direction difficult to change,” Bielsa said, via quotes by the official Leeds website. “After Preston’s goal, we multiplied our efforts to try to score after we achieved to score and we could have won the match.
“We cannot ignore after they scored they had some chances to score again and maybe they could have won the match, because until they scored the match was completely for us. After, in this period, until we equalised, we could have received the second goal or could have drawn as we did.
“After the draw, we had a sensation we could have won the match as well. What is clear is the opponent doesn’t need to command the match to create danger. We dominated, commanded the match, created a lot of danger, but it’s difficult for us to unbalance the match.”
Bielsa noting that Leeds dominated and commanded the match has not sat well with some United fans, who feel they are stuck in a Groundhog Day situation where their head coach is saying the same things week in, week out.
One supporter proposed that the Leeds Twitter admin should ‘just pin this tweet and repost it’ after each game, with only the need to change the opposing team name.
Here are some of the messages shared…
Dont need a translator for MB says the same thing every week. Its like groundhog day watching Leeds!
— Rich (@Lawt80) October 23, 2019
Just pin this tweet and repost it every few days & change the opposition name until we see some changes to the starting 11.
— Christopher ? (@CM4892) October 23, 2019
We dominated but didn’t win ?? same old same old
— Connor (@cpeno) October 23, 2019
Groundhog Day
— Richard Hammond ??????? (@Richard_hammond) October 23, 2019
Haven’t heard that one before
— Josh ? (@firthleeds) October 23, 2019
Change is becoming a particularly strong demand from the Elland Road faithful, who are keen to see Bielsa rotate his preferred line-up in a bid to change their current tendencies in front of goal.
United scored one goal from their 22 shots at Preston, having also scored one from 15 attempts against Birmingham City last weekend and one from 19 efforts against West Bromwich Albion prior to the international break (WhoScored).
But if Bielsa cannot see the urgent need to change, one Leeds fan has suggested it is time for the Argentine to leave his duties at Elland Road as he doesn’t ‘deserve to be the manager of our great club’.
We know. But yet again we couldn’t score and didn’t win. Not good enough. Changes must happen
— Barry Gilchrist (@gilchrist_barry) October 23, 2019
He must of being watching a different game to me. Time to go mr bielsa. Your team selection, and team formation are clueless. If you car,nt see whats wrong with that team then you don,t deseve to be manager of our great club
— Fletch. Lufc. ALAW (@Davefle43086532) October 24, 2019
What’s the point of dominating if we can’t convert possession and chances? Nketiah is on fire but warms the bench. Bamford couldn’t hit the jackpot in a rigged lottery. Bielsa’s stubbornness could be our undoing.
— I cast a Patrick Bae-curse upon thee ???? (@bakerthepatrick) October 23, 2019
There are many Leeds fans who still support Bielsa and his cause, though, as United’s dominant performances will soon return more favourable results.
One fan has also shared that the Whites are only two points off the top spot in the Championship after 13 games, and are one point better off than they were at this stage of the 2018/19 campaign in which they reached the Play-Off Semi-Finals.
Leeds currently hold the best defensive record in the second-tier having conceded just eight goals thus far, too, which is also a small performance increase on that produced last season when the Whites shipped 11 goals in 13 games.
Mate trust the process mate Bamford will be on fire once he grabs one goal mate just trust me on this mate trust the manager mate God Bielsa does no wrong mate soon this dominance will turn into goals mate someone’s getting slapped 5-0 soon mate trust me mate mate
— Tyler (@LUFCTy) October 23, 2019
37/63 actually to Leeds.
For Christ sake we are 2 points off top, 1 point better off than same stage last season and all people can do is moan.
Wait until we start converting chances, which we will, we are going up.
Appreciate Bielsa because he won’t be here forever.— Glyn Gillard (@GillardGlyn) October 23, 2019
Some people need to remember the position we were in before Marcelo arrived and back him
— Jackthomas24 (@Jackthomas241) October 23, 2019