Marcelo Bielsa on 'very frustrating' Leeds United defeat to Newcastle United and blown chance - YEP 22/1/22
Marcelo Bielsa was left to rue Leeds United's missed chances in a 'very frustrating' defeat at home to Newcastle United.
By Graham Smyth
In a goalless first half Leeds carried the most danger and
created the most chances, predominantly through the wing play of Raphinha and
Jack Harrison, but Newcastle had their moments too. Illan Meslier was forced
into action by a sweetly-struck Jonjo Shelvey volley and set-pieces caused a
few problems for the hosts.
The second half was a more even affair and both sides had
chances, particularly in a frenetic end-to-end passage of play when the killer
final ball eluded Leeds and their visitors.
Newcastle won it with a 75th minute Shelvey free-kick that
somehow deceived Meslier and Eddie Howe's men should have made the three points
safe from a number of counter attack opportunities late on.
The result, coming on the heels of back-to-back Premier
League wins and at the hands of a relegation zone dwelling side, was a 'very
frustrating' one for Bielsa.
"It was a game to show our differences, to have some
consistency and it was a very important opportunity that we couldn't take
advantage of," he said at full-time.
"We had many moments to unbalance the game. We could
unbalance them a lot but we couldn't convert. Normally in the games where you
could score and you don't, some detail unbalances the game against you. I have
the sensation that that's what happened. Even if in the last 15 minutes we
failed to create enough danger, prior to that we had done sufficiently to be
ahead."
As the game slipped away from Leeds they seemed unable to
create chances with the same quality they showed in the first half. Bielsa felt
he could make alterations that would help but instead the opposite of what he
wanted transpired.
"We always got to the final third with ease," he
said.
"We could pick the final pass, whether it be from out
wide or through the centre. In the closing of the game we were lacking clarity.
We lost the capacity to go on the outside. I swapped Raphinha and Harrison's
sides because I saw all the play was going down the left and Raphinha is our
most unbalancing player. From there on all the opposite happened. The ball
started going down to the right where Raphinha was initially. That prevented us
from getting in behind on both sides. Up until that moment we had it down the
right but with less balls available. We had it down the left because Harrison
was making contributions. After I thought that with Tyler, Rodrigo and Gelhardt
we were going to find passes in the box, but it didn't happen. That's why I
think in the moment where we had a major offensive, Harrison, Roberts,
Gelhardt, Rodrigo and Raphinha, plus the company of Ayling and Dallas, we
didn't create sufficient danger."
"I brought on Gelhardt and Tyler to do the role of
Rodrigo, but Rodrigo only lost importance toward the end of the game. Given
that James was on a caution, I thought that Tyler was on a first step to
unbalance the game and that’s how I did it. While Klich was playing well, I
preferred to have three players who could score, and because Joffy can nick a
goal and Tyler and Rodrigo also had the characteristics of the number nine. But
football has those things, we created more chances when we had Klich and James
than when Tyler and Gelhardt came on."
Newcastle received a number of cautions for time wasting
during the game but Bielsa said it was down to the officials to manage the
situation.
