Leeds United 1 Norwich City 3: Top two place precarious; bringing back Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford improving poor Whites conversion rate - Talking Points

Crucial mistakes and four defeats in six

Saturday evening's display was disappointing enough in its own right with Leeds again dominating possession - with 63 per cent - but again failing to find any end product aside from Patrick Bamford's late consolation.

Norwich deserve plenty of credit for their organisation and clinical nature in front of goal - even allowing for deflections for all three goals - and Leeds were clearly the masters of their own downfall in continually giving away possession in dangerous areas and the Canaries making Leeds pay.

All three goals could and should have been avoided with Pontus Jansson's foul on Onel Hernandez leading to Mario Vrancic's free-kick first, Luke Ayling and crucially Adam Forshaw dispossesed for Teemu Pukki's second and Barry Douglas also losing the ball for Vrancic's second and Norwich's third.

Crucially, all three mistakes were committed in the final third and Norwich needed no second invatition.

Conceding three on his home debut was hardly the ideal Elland Road start for 'keeper Kiko Casilla but the Spaniard was helpless to saving the first two - with Vranic's excellent free-kick taking a deflection off Forshaw into the top right but probably going in anyway.

Jansson's block then unluckily fell perfectly for Pukki's strike - and while the former Real Madrid shotstopper might have done better with Vrancic's second, even that strike took a small deflection off Douglas to find the net through his legs.

A night to forget but worryingly Leeds have now lost four of their last league six games and the form table over that period would have the Whites 19th - sixth bottom - with Bristol City having amassed the most number of points over that spell with 16 compared to Leeds' six.

So while United remain in the division's automatic promotion places and three ahead of third-placed Sheffield United, it is abundantly clear that the Whites' stay in that position will be shortlived unless their form dramatically improves.

Worryingly, the third-placed Blades have amassed 13 points in their last six games and Chris Wilder's side would move second on goal difference with a victory at Aston Villa on Friday night following their weekend success at home to Bolton Wanderers.

Having had the chance to move six points clear at the top of the division, Leeds could now line up at Middlesbrough next weekend outside of the top two; unthinkable really given their long stay at the top.

Marcelo Bielsa's men reacted brilliantly to a similarly crushing loss at West Brom in November with seven-straight wins but the Canaries defeat felt even more damaging and the Whites are undoubtedly now faced with answering their most serious question yet with a testing run of games on the horizon.

Middlesbrough will be bouncing after Saturday's 3-2 success at West Brom and a victory for the Riversiders would put them only four points behind the Whites - and with a game in hand.

But Leeds definitely need to amass a decent haul of points from their next four games in particular with Swansea City at home, QPR away and Bolton at home following the trip to Boro.

After that, West Brom at home is followed by long trips to Bristol City and Reading within four days, proceeded by a home date with Sheffield United; hardly a kind of run games.

Millwall then come to Elland Road tio finish off what will surely be a pivotal March.

Missing Kalvin Phillips and changes for Middlesbrough

Marcelo Bielsa made two alterations to his side for Saturday's clash against Norwich with Pontus Jansson returning from suspension in place of Kalvin Phillips at centre back and with Tyler Roberts coming in for Jack Clarke and starting in the no 10 role with Pablo Hernandez out wide.

In truth, not one United player performed well but while Jansson has to be an obvious starter alongside Liam Cooper in a four-man back four, there are naturally strong calls for Phillips to be brought back into the side and back into the deep lying midfield role.

Roberts was one of United's better performers at no 10 and might find himself keeping his place with Jack Clarke failing to really excel on the right wing after coming on for Hernandez who alongside Jack Harrison was surprisingly withdrawn as a tactical move - again raising questions over whether Hernandez should be deployed out wide or in his favoured no 10 role.

United had a particularly large amount of potential openings down the flanks but failed to make the most of them and somebody like Dan James would have been a perfect addition but alas his proposed move from Swansea City went down the plughole.

But Bielsa still has other options in other areas and as well as the returning Patrick Bamford and Barry Douglas, the impressive young Jamie Shackleton could now have prospects of starting too at right back.

Additionally, Izzy Brown is also surely about to come into Bielsa's thoughts even if the South American has continually stressed that the Chelsea loanee would need between six and eight games for United's under 23s before returning to the first team after a year lay off with an ACL injury.

And the left back situation is another area that Bielsa will need to address with Douglas now back fit but Alioski looking better in that role than on the left wing and very unlucky not to score with a scorching volley in the 13th minute but then disappointing after the break.

Plenty for United's head coach to ponder.

The return of Patrick Bamford

On a night of few positives, the obvious plus for Leeds was the return of striker Patrick Bamford from what has now been seven weeks out following a second knee injury.

Bielsa had said Bamford would need an outing for the under 23s before coming back to the first team so his presence with the Whites squad was something of a surprise but in the circumstances it was no shock at all to see the £7m striker brought on for Tyler Roberts with 27 minutes left.

That meant the rare sight of Bamford and Roofe on the pitch at the same time as Roofe dropped back to become a no 10 as part of a frustrating night all round for United's top scorer.

But without exactly setting the world alight, Bamford took his headed goal well in injury time and his return is an obvious boost.

Bielsa now has to decide when to hand Bamford his first start since that second injury and if he and Roofe will line up in the same side and under the same system.

That might well be the case with Bielsa bemoaning the fact that his side need on average five chances to score each goal though creating clear chances is also becoming something of an issue with Leeds particularly flat on that front in the second half though Norwich's effectiveness at getting men back in numbers was particularly noticeable.

Leeds had 21 shots at goal compared to Norwich's 14 but, backing up Bielsa's comments, only six of United's efforts were on target compared to Norwich's five from far fewer attempts and really it was Norwich guility of the most glaring misses with the excellent Max Aarons blazing just wide when he should have scored at 2-0 in the 64th minute.

As Bielsa said himself: "We need five chances to score one goal so it’s worse than the teams at the bottom of the table."

The Canaries are no world beaters but on Saturday's evidence they are far more likely title winners than Leeds and now vying for favouritism with the Whites.

Lucky Tim Krul

It's impossible to form an argument to suggest that a clinical Canaries side were not worthy of their victory but there were hearts in mouths in the 27th minute when Norwich 'keeper Tim Krul clattered Tyler Roberts outside his box.

But a yellow and not a red card looked the right call with Krul appearing to endeavour to get out of the way after his mad rush off his line and with Norwich having covering defenders.

That said, Krul can definitely count himself fortunate for getting away with his antics in the game's aftermath when squaring up to Patrick Bamford and attempting a light headbutt at the Whites striker.

It will make no difference to the result but Krul can probably count himself lucky and the scenes at the end were not great to see.