It was a disappointing day at the office for Leeds United as they went down 4-1 to Leicester City at Elland Road on Monday afternoon. After the game the Whites head coach Marcelo Bielsa gave his thoughts on the clash to the media after the game.

  • Disappointing about the performance tonight

The Argentinian was asked what was disappointing about his sides performance and he said he felt that he got things wrong.

"I didn’t distribute the players correctly on the field. It was difficult for us to win the ball back and this caused us to defend poorly."

Bielsa also said that he didn't feel his players gave the ball away uncharacteristically too much.

"In the first 30 minutes we didn’t have the ball to give it away. We allowed them to play out very easily and couldn't get the ball back."

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  • How should you have distributed your players on the pitch

Bielsa mentioned earlier in his press conference that he distributed his players incorrectly and was later asked how should he had distributed them and he said: "What I explained is that I distributed the players wrongly in the first half and in the second half I corrected this error. You have to compare the two distributions."

  • Hernandez substitution - why did the change happen

United midfielder Pablo Hernandez showed his frustration as he was substituted during the clash with the Foxes despite seeming to begin to have an influence on the game and Bielsa explained the situation.

"I thought otherwise. Perhaps I am the one in the wrong and you are correct, I thought that putting on Roberts would be more influential in the final part of the field," he said. 

"I thought that he was going to give us a different option to the one that Pablo was undertaking, but I never discard the fact that my decisions could be wrong." he continued.

When Hernandez was substituted he kicked a water bottle and Bielsa was asked if he would need to speak with him about it: "No, I think not. If the reaction he had after I made my decision was to kick a bottle, what can I do?" Bielsa said.

  • Rodrigo and Raphinha not included in the squad

The Whites were without Rodrigo and Raphinha for the game with Leicester on Monday evening and at times during the game it felt as though they missed the influence of Rodrigo and his support for Patrick Bamford up top and head coach Bielsa addressed the situations regarding both players.

On Rodrigo, who missed the game due to COVID-19 protocols, Bielsa said: "There’s a regulation in place for people who have been in contact with someone who has the virus, he won't be available for the game against [Crystal] Palace on Saturday." he said.

Raphinha missed the game due to an ankle injury, however, the Whites head coach doesn't believe he'll be out for too long.

"For Raphinha I don't think it's an injury that will keep him out for long." he said. "It is not injury that will take long to heal."

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  • Leeds fought back well in the second half but how much credit should go to Leicester for their game plan

The performance from Leeds was better in the second half, however, Bielsa was asked about how much credit goes to Brendan Rodgers and Leicester City for their game plan last night.

"We had an hour to attack, the last 15 minutes of the first half and whole of the second half," Bielsa admitted.

"We couldn’t manage to cause any harm, any damage to the opponent's defence. We didn’t create enough chances given the amount of possession we had over this hour.

We lacked impact. We knew we were going to face a challenge like we did. The help I gave the players with regards to how we could defend better and attack better, I didn’t give." he revealed.