Leeds United drew 1-1 with Leicester City on Sunday afternoon in what was an exciting clash at Elland Road.
Raphinha gave the hosts the lead before only seconds later, Harvey Barnes scored a stunning goal to equalise. Ademola Lookman had a goal disallowed for offside to deny Leicester all three points.
Leeds have still only beaten newly-promoted teams this season but manager Marcelo Bielsa will be encouraged with his side’s performance against the Foxes.
The Argentinian spoke to the media following the game.
Thoughts on the game
Bielsa’s men were constantly a threat to Leicester and could have had a lot more goals. Leeds managed 18 shots on goal compared to the visitor’s nine.
Their all-round high-intensity football caused major problems for the Foxes throughout and they came away somewhat unlucky to only claim a point.
Bielsa said: "We created double the amount of danger than them. We dominated a large part of the game. We defended well and we attacked well. And even if we deserved to win, we didn’t manage to obtain it. We managed a good performance against a good opponent.”
Conceding seconds after the opener
Straight from the kick-off after Raphinha opened the scoring, Leicester replied with a goal of their own. Jonny Evans thumped the ball forward, Boubakary Soumare won the header to find Barnes and the winger cut inside to curl a wonderful striker into the top corner.
This killed the atmosphere inside the stadium and took the momentum away from Leeds, who had taken a deserved lead second before. Bielsa wasn’t happy with how his side let it slip so easily.
"We have to defend for every ball whether we’ve just scored a goal or not,” he said. “We should have neutralised the game in that moment."
Keeping Vardy quiet
Jamie Vardy only managed 18 touches on Sunday afternoon which was the fewest of all the starting players at Elland Road.
Leeds were able to keep him quiet and reduced his effectiveness throughout the game. Bielsa gave an insight into why Vardy had such limited involvement.
"Vardy is not a player who usually touches the ball a lot but he is a player who creates danger constantly,” the Argentinian explained.
"Probably because his team (Leicester) didn't have many final passes, he couldn't do what he does best which is going from just before the line of defence to past them.
"Of course Cooper and Llorente had the capacity to not let those passes in behind them and when he played with his back to goal near our goal we neutralised him."
Harrison’s miss and Lookman’s disallowed goal
With the score at 1-1, both sides should have taken the lead. First, Jack Harrison somehow missed from two yards out after a flick on to the back post, before Lookman had his goal ruled out after his tap in from close range following the same scenario.
Bielsa gave his thoughts on the two incidents. He said: "Football has those moments, there were two identical plays. They had one goal ruled out the same way but we couldn’t finish our chance.”
