Why Leeds United won't bother with New Year's resolutions with Marcelo Bielsa's promotion aims already firmly set

The festive period is often a time for reflection while the new year brings goals and ambitions for the months ahead.

For Leeds United, four games in 12 days over Christmas brought five points and sees Marcelo Bielsa’s side end a hectic run of matches as the ones to catch in the Championship.

Defeat to Fulham kicked off the Christmas campaign at Craven Cottage before a battling draw with Preston North End followed on Boxing Day at Elland Road.

Leeds concluded their busy run of fixtures with two trips to the Midlands which brought victory in the form of a nine-goal thriller at Birmingham City – an afternoon that had to be seen to be believed – before United made a stern point at West Bromwich Albion on New Year’s Day.

“I think it has been a tough period, but we are a fit team and we have ground out results,” Whites winger Jack Harrison said at the Hawthorns.

“Birmingham was a difficult game, but the difference between this season and last season is that we are able to fight through these difficult games and get points.

“It has been a big difference for us. Every game is a tough game, especially at Christmas where you have so many matches. I think we can be proud of ourselves and we have just got to keep this mindset going forward.”

The draw with the Baggies saw United maintain top spot in the division and stay firmly on track in their quest for Premier League football.

Social media is often filled with ‘New Year, New Me’ posts in early January as gym memberships are bought and Christmas chocolates often put to the back of the cupboard.

This year, though, brought along a new trend of 10-year challenges to our feeds.

United began the last decade in search of promotion from League One and earned a famous victory on this very day 10 years ago at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.

The win over bitter rivals Manchester United further whetted the appetite for the club to once again be playing Premier League football on a weekly basis.

A trip to Arsenal in the third round of the famous competition awaits on Monday night, and will give Leeds that very same feeling the club has been starved of for so long.

Leeds, though, 10 years on from that day across the Pennines against the Red Devils now have realistic aims of playing amongst England’s elite as equals and not challengers.

It might be the time of year for setting out aims and ambitions, but at Elland Road the goal for the season was very much set in May when Bielsa committed to a second campaign in West Yorkshire.

There is no need for New Year's resolutions, just a holding of nerve.

United are once again five months from the top flight and their 2019/20 season goal, but know all too well about the trials and tribulations of the Championship after play-off heartbreak last term.

This time, though, there’s an added focus from within that mistakes will not be repeated over the coming months.

“We can’t get too ahead of ourselves,” Harrison reiterated.

“We all know it is a tough league and every match is going to be tough from now on. We have to keep level headed, keep doing what we have been doing so far and be consistent with our performances.

“Hopefully then we can finish the season at the top.”

United left the Hawthorns holding the slenderest of margins in the race for the Championship title.

Two goals is all that separates the Whites and Slaven Bilic’s men, but all eyes in LS11 are cast to the nine-point gap Leeds currently hold over third-placed Brentford.

Twenty games remain for Bielsa’s men in one of the most unpredictable and unforgiving leagues in world football, yet, United fear no-one who stands on the path between them and promotion.

“I think with the way we play, we should not be fearing anybody,” Harrison continued.

“We know if we do what we can control and continue playing our style of football, we are going to make it difficult for other teams and they know that as well. We are just after not getting too ahead of ourselves and complacent with the position we are in and will continue to keep working hard and consistent in what we are doing.”

It’s a new year, but the same Leeds United. Just this time with the goal of maintaining the foundations that promotion campaigns are built upon.