5 key takeaways from Leeds United's defeat to Birmingham City

1 - Che Adams just loves playing Leeds

That's three goals for Che Adams against Leeds United this season alone.

Adams bagged twice in the reverse fixture at Elland Road and was on target once more at St Andrew's.

The 22-year-old proved a bullying nuisance for Marcelo Bielsa as his neat finish in the first-half settled the tie in Birmingham.

After going six Championship outings without a goal he provided the inspiration needed for his side after a lovely stepover from strike partner Lukas Jutkiewicz allowed him the freedom on the edge of the box.

His rifled shot found the bottom corner leaving Kiko Casilla no chance in the 29th minute to earn all three points.

One thing is for sure, Whites fans will be glad to see the back of him as the run-in heats up.

2 - The return of three centre-backs

It's been a while... but the three centre-back combination was out in force at Birmingham as 3-3-1-3 made a comeback.

Marcelo Bielsa has always held a preference for three central defenders when facing a two strike partnership but has held firm in his well-versed 4-1-4-1 formation in recent months.

The Argentine, though, moved Kalvin Phillips back into the heart of defence between Pontus Jansson and Liam Cooper in a bid to handle the powerful duo of Che Adams and Lukas Jutkiewicz.

Needless to say it failed to work.

3 - Marcelo Bielsa blames himself (again) - but isn't helped by Bamford

As has become the norm following a defeat, Marcelo Bielsa blamed himself for United's shortcomings in the West Midlands.

A defeat to Birmingham coupled with victory for Sheffield United saw Leeds drop out of the top two once again.

Patrick Bamford's finishing, though, left a lot to be desired as he missed two glorious chances in another disappointing display for the striker.

Bielsa admitted afterwards his substitutions failed to work but there is no doubt he was let down by some poor finishing from his £7m summer signing.

The 63-year-old said afterwards: “In attack we had a lot of time on the ball but we didn’t create a lot of chances and we didn’t take advantage of the chances we did create. So the performance of the team was not very positive.”

Leeds now face a trip to Preston North End on Tuesday in an attempt to right the wrongs of the Blues result.

4 - Birmingham City do the double

Garry Monk's side will be the only team to do the double over Leeds United the season.

For the first time since the 2012/13 campaign the Blues left the Whites pointless from their two fixtures and with it will be the only side to do so during the campaign.

"It's fantastic," Monk said. "To do it against Leeds is great. I think we fully warranted it today."

5 - Leeds fans pay tribute

19 years on from a tragic night in Istanbul Leeds United fans once again remembered two of their own.

The near 3,000 travelling support turned their backs on the game in the 19th minute to remember Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight.

Leeds fans observed the minute tribute by chanting "turn your backs for Kev and Chris" which was also met by applause from the home crowd.

The anniversary fell on April 5 with the trip to face the Blues the closet fixture to that date.