Leeds United 1 Norwich City 3 - Phil Hay's verdict: Canaries quality shines as Whites cutting edge is lacking at Elland Road

It could never have been decisive in itself, so far out from the finishing line, but Norwich City’s visit to Elland Road had that billing: sold out in an hour-and-a-half, a collision between first and second in the Championship and a game so sensitive that Norwich were brought in through the East Stand rather than the usual players’ entrance.

Their part in ‘Spygate’ lingered in the background but only as a tiresome sidetrack. Football, as Norwich defender Christoph Zimmermann said last weekend, is won and lost on the pitch.

Bielsa has been arguing as much since the long arm of the law caught one of his scouts outside Derby County’s training ground and each defeat for Leeds brings only introspection from him. The levity on Bielsa’s smiling face before kick-off on Saturday - Argentina’s answer to Willy Wonka - was removed at the end of a 3-1 loss with an admission that all was not well in paradise. Not enough goals and a shaky defence were Bielsa’s explanations for six points from six games since Boxing Day. “It’s something we can’t ignore,” he admitted.

Leeds were safe and sound on both fronts when they trounced Norwich at Carrow Road in August but Norwich’s form since then is better than theirs and City trooped out of Elland Road as the Championship’s leaders on goal difference. It is still as close as that on the top and Leeds play Middlesbrough this weekend in the knowledge that defeat would help to create a five-way fight for automatic promotion. The scenario Bielsa wanted was a win over Norwich which left the division trailing six points behind but Daniel Farke was typically German in keeping his head level. “It’s not like we’ve won the league,” Norwich’s manager said. “We’re totally level with Leeds.”

Leeds United 1 Norwich City 3: Phil Hay's player ratings as Canaries pile misery on WhitesThe night was one for fighting fire with fire, the only way this season’s versions of Leeds and Norwich know how to play, and there is something special about this fixture despite the absence of any historical rivalry: the injury-time winner from Jermaine Beckford many years ago, Davide Somma’s peach of a volley, the maddening 3-3 draw which almost rescued a dying season under Garry Monk in 2017 and Ronaldo Vieira’s strike at Carrow Road in the same season. Saturday was a delight for Norwich, a pleasure for the neutral but a gateway to plenty of criticism from Bielsa. Most of it, as usual, he aimed at himself.

There is, Bielsa conceded, a problem up front and a problem at the back. The former he has spoken about many times and the latter is now compounding it. “In every game we have difficulty scoring goals,” he said. “Our average of chances we need to score goals is worse than the teams at the bottom of the table. The leading teams need two or three. Teams at the bottom of the table usually need four. For us, we need five.

“We were strong before because we had a good defensive side but now we have lost that. It’s hard to score goals and at the same time we have lost our defensive strength. You see that in the results.”

Leeds’ present record is four defeats in six, a minor bloodbath in comparison to Bielsa’s excellent overall record. It is a new sensation for him to be foregoing the initiative but the quality of his side’s finishing has been on his mind for a long time, never quite meeting his standards. Can his coaching fix it or is he reliant on his players finding a solution themselves? “All the negative things that happen are the responsibility of the head coach,” he replied. “We have good players and skillful players but in the last few games I haven’t made the right choice (of team). I think I am deeply responsible.”

Bielsa pre-empted Saturday game by warning that Leeds’ intention to attack Norwich would not prevent his players “having to defend a lot” and the cost of their weak defending was extreme. City scored twice in the first half with the help of deflections, once when Mario Vrancic’s sixth-minute free-kick flicked off the wall and inside Kiko Casilla’s left-hand post, and again on 35 minutes as the ricochet from Vrancic’s shot allowed Teemu Pukki, Norwich’s poacher extraordinaire, to tap in from a few yards out but both goals were symptoms of what came before: Jansson giving away the early free-kick by tripping Onel Hernandez after first losing the ball and Pukki scoring when Adam Forshaw let possession slip. Seconds earlier, Liam Cooper’s sliding tackle had seemingly salvaged Luke Ayling’s error.

Around those moments the run of play was in Leeds’ favour, without yielding anything. Tyler Roberts failed to steer a lob into the net of Tim Krul, who advanced from his line and clattered the forward outside of his box at the cost of a yellow card. Krul took a risk with that and another at full-time when he lost his temper and stuck his head in the face of substitute Patrick Bamford. “Goalkeepers are always a bit crazy,” said Farke.

Leeds United 1 Norwich City 3: Marcelo Bielsa takes responsibility for Whites recent strugglesKrul’s parry kept out Kemar Roofe’s shot immediately after Pukki’s goal but Leeds did not come again in the second half. It was indicative of the dilemma in front of Bielsa at half-time that substituting Pablo Hernandez was part of his response but Norwich seized the moment and set about making Bielsa’s team look unusually ordinary. Their transitional play took hold in both directions as Leeds’ lack of care on the ball planted them in quicksand during the worst half of football Bielsa has been subjected to. Vrancic put the game beyond reach 12 minutes from the end by volleying through Casilla with no-one close to him.

Leeds nicked a consolation when Bamford headed in during injury-time, on his first appearance since his second knee injury and half-an-hour after taking to the pitch. Bielsa has one potential answer in front of him there and, in light of his defensive angst, another in Kalvin Phillips who watched Saturday’s match from the bench. Phillips has been one of the jewels in Bielsa’s crown, a personal project of sorts, but the defensive midfield powerhouse created by the Argentinian has not played in that position for more than two months.

Bielsa, over a relatively brief tenure, has not been known to knee-jerk or panic and even the collapse of Daniel James’ transfer on Thursday brought a philosophical shrug. The repercussions of that debacle were felt more keenly at Swansea City, whose chairman Huw Jenkins - a man fiercely opposed to James’ departure and responsible for blocking it - resigned on Saturday night. One is a club in a certain amount of crisis. The other has simply gone off the boil.

Farke, in contrast, wore a beaming grin but did not want to rub the result in. “It has the same significance as the other 45 games,” he said. “To be in such a game and produced such a performance is good for the self-confidence but I wouldn't say too much about it.” He and Bielsa are locked together in a league which no-one wants to call.