Good Morning. It's Monday 20th January, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Gap narrows to just four points as Leeds undone at QPR
The gap between automatic Promotion and the play offs has narrowed to just four points as Leeds disastrous form continuous. The Whites had won once (in all competitions) in seven outings, so the last thing they needed was a trip to London where the West Yorkshire outfit had not recorded a win for over two years. Unfortunately for the Whites, Saturday was going to be no exception.
The only goal of the game came on 20 minutes when the Hoops were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. The ball was whipped in, hit Ayling in the face, and was intercepted by an in rushing Nahki Wells. The ex Bradford City starlet controlled the ball with one hand and then the other before finding the back of the net!
Once again, although obvious to the crowd and the Commentary box, Leeds did little to complain. Most teams that concede a goal will throw their hands in the air at the ref in a desperate ploy of putting doubt in the mind of the ref but for such a blatant error from the officials there need to be 11 players surrounding the ref. Is this against the rules - yes; but so were the handballs. This is one of the toughest leagues in the World to get out of, and its time to see some Yorkshire grit.
Leeds best chance of an equalizer came in the second half when Hoops keeper Liam Kelly upended Bamford in the box. The Scottish keeper made amends however, by pulling off a breathtaking fingertip save. To complete Leeds afternoon of misery Kalvin Phillips was given a straight red card two minutes from time for an ugly challenge on veteran defender Geoff Cameron.
Conceding a goal via two blatant hand balls, Missing guilt edge opportunities, Missing from the penalty spot, Sending off... This sounds like the Leeds of old!
Bielsa's post match reaction
Alarming statistic reignites burnout worry
Looking through the statistics over the weekend, I was gobsmacked to discover that only 14 players have started five or more games for Leeds this season! Hasn't Bielsa got trust in his squad? How long can this continue before burnout!
Leeds best performances this season have been high intensity, hard pressing games. This style of play uses up a lot of anaerobic energy (short length with high intensity). There is absolutely no chance that the players can find that energy over 90 minutes when they are being over used!
Is the squad not good enough or is that that Bielsa has his favourites?