Marcelo Bielsa admits struggling for Leeds United positives after Birmingham City blow

Leeds suffered a 1-0 defeat away at Birmingham City to surrender second place in the Championship and pile fresh pressure on themselves with six games to play.

Bielsa’s players had climbed back into second place last weekend amid drama in the division but succumbed to Che Adams’ 22nd goal of the season this afternoon while Sheffield United were beating Preston North End 1-0.

Two big chances missed by Patrick Bamford - one which struck a post 60 seconds before Adams opened the scoring on 29 minutes - proved expensive as Birmingham held out at St Andrews to move closer to safety at the other end of the table.

Bielsa said: “We could have drawn the game but we could have lost by more goals. We could have won the game too but in the moments when we took control we couldn’t make the most of our chances.

“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 relied on goalkeeper Kiko Casilla to keep them in the match in the second half with a string of saves, including one fine block from Adams in the final 10 minutes.

Birmingham, who were cast into a relegation fight by a nine-point deduction from the EFL last month, are the only side to beat Bielsa’s twice this term and saw out the final stages with a strong defensive display.

“The opponent maybe has a lesser level than us but we couldn’t show this different level,” Bielsa said.

“What we saw today was a performance from the team which has been repeated sometimes this season. We were playing against a team who gave us the ball and space but they scored and then they started to play a type of game which for us is hard to solve.

“In the first half of the second half we created danger. We didn't score but we created chances. In the last 20 minutes we couldn’t create chances.”

Birmingham boss Garry Monk, whose side inflicted Leeds’ first defeat of the season at Elland Road in September, was pleased to see City end a five-game losing streak.

"It was very similar to the first game we had (against Leeds),” the former United boss said. “We had to be very good defensively, organised and aggressive, but we had a much stronger performance offensively as well.

“They’re a quality side and right up there fighting for promotion but we warrant the six points (against Leeds). Today we thoroughly deserved it and tactically we got it spot on.”