Marcelo Bielsa rues first half tactical error in Leeds United's defeat by Leicester City

Marcelo Bielsa rued what he saw as an error of tactical judgement in Leeds United's first half against Leicester City.
MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB - Youri Tielemans got Leicester City's second goal to make life very difficult for Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United. Pic: Bruce RollinsonMOUNTAIN TO CLIMB - Youri Tielemans got Leicester City's second goal to make life very difficult for Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United. Pic: Bruce Rollinson
MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB - Youri Tielemans got Leicester City's second goal to make life very difficult for Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United. Pic: Bruce Rollinson

The Foxes took an early 2-0 lead and despite a spirited second half spell from the hosts, eventually coasted to a 4-1 win.

Bielsa felt his formation wasn't quite right in the first half and changed it during the interval.

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"I didn't distribute the players correctly on the field," he said.

"It was difficult for us to win the ball back. This caused us to defend poorly.

"In the first 30 minutes we didn't have the ball to give away, we allowed them to play out very easily and we couldn't get the ball back."

Bielsa replaced central midfielder Jamie Shackleton with right winger Ian Poveda at the break and played Jack Harrison inside Helder Costa, who swapped from right to left.

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Leeds hit back three minutes into the second half through a looping Stuart Dallas cross that crept inside the far post and hit the crossbar soon after through Pablo Hernandez.

But they couldn't find an equaliser or really fashion another clear cut chance, despite having two thirds of the possession and playing in the right area of the pitch. Bielsa took responsibility for that, too, lamenting an inability to give the players the help they needed against a Leicester team that played as the Argentine expected.

"We had an hour to attack," said Bielsa.

"The last 15 minutes of the first half and the whole of the second half. We couldn't manage to cause any harm, any damage to the opponents' defence.

"We didn't create enough chances, given the amount of possession we had over this hour. We lacked impact.

"We knew we were going to face a challenge like we did.

"The help I gave the players with regards to how we could defend better and attack better I didn't give."

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