'Because they didn't score doesn't mean we're defending them better' - Marcelo Bielsa on Leeds United's corner problem

In fact the Whites head coach almost seemed to take umbrage at the suggestion that his side had improved defensively, from dead balls, after the 2-1 win at St James’ Park.

“You know that there wasn’t an improvement on this,” he said.

“Because they didn’t score doesn’t mean we are defending them better.”

Three times in the first half Newcastle players got into crossing positions but were blocked as they attempted to deliver into the box.

When the corners came in, Leeds did enough to survive but looked a little shaky for two of them.

For the first, Jamaal Lascelles got a header away but was put under sufficient pressure by Liam Cooper that he sent it wide. Illan Meslier dropped the second and was relieved to see Pascal Struijk on hand to mop up, before Cooper nodded the third away.

It was after the break that the problems really started for Leeds, in general play, which meant a lot more defending and more situations in which corners had to be conceded.

Struijk dealt with two quite comfortably, another two were headed clear by Luke Ayling and Cooper respectively.

But with the Magpies winning five corners in the space of nine minutes and boasting an aerial threat, chances felt inevitable.

Leeds didn’t always help themselves either; Raphinha’s temporary loss of his senses and a wild, looping back-pass turned a Leeds throw on halfway into a Newcastle corner, drawing an exasperated expletive from Cooper.

Had Tyler Roberts not got his head in the way to deflect the ball onto the crossbar, when Lascelles’ front-post run took him just clear of Cooper’s attentions, the captain would have had a few more choice words for his Brazilian team-mate.

The hosts came even closer when Ryan Fraser’s swinging 76th-minute delivery was met by Jonjo Shelvey, who evaded marker Kalvin Phillips, to force Meslier into a fine reaction save.

Both Cooper and Phillips show their aerial ability on a regular basis but were fortunate not to see their men hit the net from those two chances.

For Bielsa, improvement would mean a complete lack of goalscoring chances like these, for opposition sides.

“In the 20 minutes that the opponent dominated they had three opportunities from corner kicks,” he said.

“I understand there will be a solution to this problem when we don’t concede chances in this manner. In that sense it is difficult for me to say exactly what I think and, although we did defend some set-pieces better, there were some situations where we could have done a lot better.

“In the first half, when they had some chances from set-pieces, they were always under pressure so we could force them to miss the target.

“But, in the second half, there were chances in our goal due to this.”

Unlike ‘burnout’ which is a problem often suggested by pundits but never actually backed up with physical evidence, Leeds’ weakness at corners is very real and will remain a talking point that cannot be ignored.

It is not a problem to which there is a quick fix, or Bielsa, who has long agonised over the issue, would have found it already. So the search goes on.