Leeds United would be looking to bounce back after suffering their first defeat of the season when they take on Sheffield Wednesday next. The Whites struggled to cope up with the pressing of Birmingham City at times, and the players looked washed out for the most parts of the game. However, Marcelo Bielsa took responsibility for that defeat and said that he made a tactical error. Now to again show a vote of confidence in his players, the manager has already come out and said that he is not going to make a single change for the next game against The Owls.
Bielsa was quoted as saying,”I won’t change any player. You don’t react in the same way after a win as after a loss, but after the game, we lost we asked some questions together. We built our conclusions together. We’ve had so far two training sessions where each player could express himself. The conclusions are positive ones, and I have a lot of hope for Friday’s game.”
Kalvin Phillips was substituted early on in the game around the half hour mark and Stuart Dallas came in his place. We believe Dallas did enough in that game to show that he is ready for a start but Bielsa is now going to stick with the same team. Bailey Peacock Farrell made a costly error for the first goal but the former Chile manager downplayed that.
The manager is going out of his way to support his players, and it’s time for the players to repay that faith back on the manager in the next game. Bielsa hasn’t rotated his teams enough as he is constrained with his options, but we believe he could have made one or two subtle changes for the next game.
Coming out and announcing the team beforehand might seem like overconfidence to the opponents but to his players, it shows that the manager is ready to give them a long rope even if they make some mistakes. It is a good thing as the manager wouldn’t want his young players to play with fear in their mind about losing their place. Even when Kalvin Phillips was chucked out before halftime against Swansea City last time, he started the next game and did well.
However, the lack of energy from the midfielders was visible in the last game, and that is why we think the manager could have made some changes to mix it up. This way the opposition would be aware of what the Whites are going to come up with and what pattern they are going to play. This has sometimes been Bielsa’s downfall in the past years as he has always been rigid in his approach and doesn’t like to change things up.
