Premier League safety beckons but results like win over Southampton matter so much to Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds United project- Graham Smyth's Verdict

Contrast the non-existent relationship between him and a sporting advisor he claims he could not talk to about football, a man he is alleged to have called a ‘bandit’ in a highly charged meeting, with the partnership he has forged with Victor Orta, a man whose competency Bielsa rates.

Orta is, in Bielsa’s words, a serious man, doing serious work and someone that can be trusted to find and acquire the players the project needs.

Hours before the latest round of his legal battle with Lille, Bielsa put on record his faith in the director of football.

“Victor has a clear vision of the composition of the group,” said the Argentine.

“He controls the needs of every player and position at the club. He’s a man with a big capacity for these evaluations.”

Orta understood what it was Bielsa needed to take the Leeds project to the next level and of all his summer signings Raphinha has most embodied that understanding.

His rampaging wing play and aesthetically pleasing free-kick that capped the 3-0 win over Southampton underlined for the umpteenth time just how good a signing he is.

Where Leeds have also had to show understanding is with Bielsa’s personal situation. After owner Andrea Radrizzani’s not-so-subtle nudge in a CBS interview that made public his desire to keep his head coach in place and his and Orta’s work on potential contingency plans, Bielsa used his pre-Southampton press conference to explain his position.

The crux of his wish to delay a decision until the end of the season is that everyone should not just be on the same page, but be entirely on the same page. And the significant number of games that lie between now and the end of May could introduce doubt. Where doubt exists in a project Bielsa will not. When he doubts that a club’s plans and ambitions match his own, the outcome is inevitable – see Marseille, Lazio and Lille.

So while Leeds are still a comfortable distance clear of the drop zone, the final games matter. The win over Southampton that pushed the Whites into 10th and onto 35 points, mattered, just as much as Orta’s ability to pull together a recruitment proposal that will move the project along another step next season.

The first action plan will be the pitch – Diego Llorente in his first home appearance joined Stuart Dallas and Liam Cooper in slipping over in the first couple of minutes against Southampton. By the 10-minute mark several others had fallen victim to the recently laid top surface, a £300k acquisition from Tottenham.

Leeds were still able to produce their slick football, Tyler Roberts and Patrick Bamford combining to carve open the visitors before the latter’s heavy pass ran out of play.

Jannik Vestergaard should have opened the scoring, getting across the front of Pascal Struijk to head wide a free-kick of James Ward-Prowse’s usual quality.

Another slip, this time from Luke Ayling, allowed the Saints to come close again, Nathan Tella bursting through the middle and shooting straight at Illan Meslier.

Southampton’s press was giving Leeds some trouble although not particularly leading to chances. When Leeds did escape their own half and Che Adams slipped over, Ayling was able to set Raphinha on his way to the byline and his cut-back was skied by Roberts.

Leeds posed their own set-piece danger, Raphinha curling a free-kick to a completely unmarked Llorente whose header was hooked goalward by Cooper, Alex McCarthy tipping over.

Tella’s loss of equilibrium just after the half-hour mark threatened to hand the Saints a penalty until referee Andre Marriner had a look on the VAR monitor and realised it was neither Llorente nor the pitch that was responsible. Tella could feel more than a little fortunate to escape a yellow card.

A good game appeared as if it might break out, Dallas spotting a chance to send Raphinha clean through from his own half, the winger sprinting to the area and weighing up his finish only for Oriol Romeu to appear at the last second and produce a perfect, last-ditch challenge.

It was the second half before it really got going, however.

Meslier had saved from Nathan Redmond’s strike before Leeds took a simple route to goal, Llorente passing to Roberts in the centre circle who played it quickly to Bamford and the striker unleashed the most clinical of strikes from outside the area, drilling it into the far corner of the net.

Another smart Meslier save, this time from Stuart Armstrong, kept Leeds ahead before the visitors started to wobble. Raphinha got in behind and cut the ball back for Roberts who fired wide. Dallas fed Bamford at the back post, his shot was beaten out by McCarthy, Roberts’ follow up also held.

The Southampton stopper produced his best save when Llorente joined an attack and Raphinha found him six yards out, a low goalward stab kicked away by McCarthy.

He was leading a charmed life but with the visitors in need of a goal and Leeds rampaging down both flanks into acres of space, it couldn’t last forever.

Adams had just chested a chance goalward when Leeds broke, Pablo Hernandez found Dallas, he found Helder Costa and the Portugese played it back for the Ulsterman to toe poke home with his left foot.

Raphinha’s curling, dipping free-kick from 25 yards into the bottom left hand corner was the icing on the cake but Leeds remained hungry and could have been greedy.

It was Raphinha, yet again, sprinting in behind and pulling it back for Costa, this time, who hammered it high into the stand. There was yet time for Hernandez to volley Gjanni Alioski’s cross over the bar as the Whites finished with a flourish.

The result, coming on the heels of a pair of defeats, ensured Bielsa is still yet to lose three league games on the bounce as a Leeds manager.

As Ralph Hasenhuttl’s recent record will attest, you can quickly find yourself several games into a winless streak before too long in the Premier League, so this one mattered.

Safety does not feel far away for Leeds, now nestled in between Spurs and Arsenal and just five points behind champions Liverpool.

But Bielsa, who was still demanding more from players in time added on while 3-0 up, will insist that results continue to matter because the project will not end when top-flight status is secured. This is still serious work to be done.