Marcelo Bielsa on Leeds United's Adam Forshaw and why he dropped Samuel Saiz for Nottingham Forest clash

The Argentine handed Forshaw his first Championship start of the season in place of the ever-present Samuel Saiz for the visit of Aitor Karanka's men.

Bielsa, who was speaking afterwards, admitted he had been left impressed by the 27-year-old's performance despite his lack of game time in recent months.

"Very good," Bielsa said of Forshaw's display.

"He's a player who compared himself very well to play the game he played today. It's as if he didn't need to play many games to play as he did today. This tells you how prepared he was.

"He didn't prepare himself with games, he did it in training sessions."

Asked why he decided to drop Saiz for the controversial draw, he replied: "Because I thought that the association between Forshaw and [Mateusz] Klich could give us agility in the building of offensive play."

The 63-year-old also opted to start right winger Stuart Dallas on the left side of defence over 20-year-old left-back Tom Pearce and Bielsa's was quizzed over his decision to do so with the growing injury list at the full-back position.

"In the last game, when Dallas came he had a very good performance, as a right-back," revealed Bielsa. "It was hard for me to take the decision not to put him in the team."