The low point
The fact it was Liverpool dishing out Wednesday night’s beating to Leeds United means there’s probably little sense in dwelling too much on the intricacies of the match.
The title challengers were better than the Whites in every department and there is no real value in comparing the attributes of Mohamed Salah and Junior Firpo, or Virgil van Dijk and Daniel James. We did not really learn anything new in that regard.
The lessons and bottom line are delivered on a wider, macro level. United have conceded 16 goals in their last four matches and 56 across the last 25, more than any other club in the division and more than the entirety of last term with 13 matches still to go.
Watford at least did Leeds a favour in taking a mauling at their own place from mid-table Crystal Palace, but Burnley’s improbable win over Tottenham Hotspur pulls them to within three points of Leeds with two games still in hand.
Newcastle United have shown signs of life too, while Everton, on paper at least, look to have enough quality in their squad to squeeze enough points out, especially at Goodison Park.
Brentford are dropping like a stone and may prove to be United’s saving grace if it’s a limp to the line for both of them. The visit to the Bees on the final day has, for the first time, got the look of a seismic match in how this campaign could finish.
The league table is not in a desperate state for Leeds. They have lost two matches many fans expected them to, though the manner of them has been concerning.
Tottenham’s Turf Moor defeat after a Manchester City masterclass makes Saturday feel like a mystery, while Leicester City have top-five quality on their day, but are yet to win in the Premier League this year.
More than ever, the Elland Road double-header with Aston Villa and Norwich City across three days next month has to be the point this run turns.
Those are critical matches, with the home support behind them, for delivering the points Leeds need to restore some kind of buffer to the bottom three.
Bielsa with the biggest fight of his Leeds tenure
The support inside Anfield for Marcelo Bielsa was plain to hear. His name rung out more than once from the away end throughout the loss on Merseyside.
Read what you like on social media or in forums, there are still plenty of Leeds fans backing Bielsa to turn this ship around.
There is no doubt, however, this is the biggest challenge Bielsa has faced during his tenure. His decisions on personnel and tactics are not producing the same results they once were.
On Sunday, it was the Firpo substitution which triggered a chain reaction of five positional shifts across the side for other players.
On Wednesday, some questioned Luke Ayling being played out of position in the centre, or Rodrigo in central midfield and the long-term issues around James as a striker.
The man-for-man system collapsed upon itself when faced with some of the best footballers on the planet. Leeds could barely lay a glove on the red machine last night. There needs to be some sense of pragmatism from Bielsa, if only to protect the goal difference.
Another perennial problem to rear its head was the free centre-back. For years now, opposition sides, with the right personnel, have been able to split their centre-backs and beat the Leeds striker’s press.
Once they’re past the frontline they’re into space with every other Leeds player tied up with their own marker. This has allowed the likes of Joel Matip, Victor Lindelof, Ben White, David Luiz and others to roam as far as the Leeds box at will.
Bielsa had no answers for how that problem is solved in his press conference.
“It's a problem with centre backs driving with the ball has become very evident,” he said. “The solutions are very clear.
“When the centre-back drives with the ball, he drives past the height of the wingers on the side he pushes up, [past] the central attackers and the central midfielders, and eventually they come up against our free man, the centre-back that's not marking.
“They are four scales where we can recover the ball, but it's clear that problem I haven't been able to resolve it.”
These quirks and frustrations have been tolerated for a long time because the team has always recovered and always shown they come good with time.
This run and the sheer quantity of goals being shipped is making it harder for some to swallow the deficiencies in this system.
A squad bereft of confidence and zip
The Leeds players have achieved so much in the past four years, but they are only human and there are only so many thrashings they can take.
The weight of goals going in has to be playing a part in their confidence and their belief they can compete with these sides and win these games.
Yes, the wage budgets of Manchester United and Liverpool soften the blow of expected losses, but Newcastle could not be beaten, Villa were at risk of running away with the game and then Everton dominated every facet of the last trip to Merseyside.
As soon as the first penalty was awarded the game changed and the confidence from the players seemed to drain away. A promising start hit its first bump in the road and the match took on the dynamic we expected with home dominance.
Leeds played with exactly the same kind of set-up and purpose away at Anfield in September 2020 and would have drawn 3-3 but for a clumsy, late penalty.
That showed how this system can work with, largely, the same set of players, but last night could have not been further away from that spirited loss on the opening day of last season.
The attack was isolated and the defence was run ragged.
It felt as though the players played a major role in the run of form which careered through the end of last term.
Leaders in the side managed the matches better. Clean sheets became the norm and the best clubs in the division were shut out. Can the players inject that pragmatism again?
Bielsa needs to find a way to restore belief and confidence in this group.
Considerations for Spurs
In less than 48 hours the match with Tottenham will be kicking off at Elland Road. There is no time for wounds to be licked. Bielsa needs to change something.
The one plus point which stood out at Anfield was Stuart Dallas’s welcome return to central midfield. He brought energy, running, direction and bite to the spine of the side.
If Diego Llorente’s injury is as minor as hoped, there is a major case for restoring Ayling to right-back and allowing Dallas into central midfield with Mateusz Klich or Rodrigo.
It’s the type of shift which at least feels like the team is trying something different to break them out of this rut. Seeing new faces in new roles may at least freshen things up for the side.
The missing three’s value skyrockets
If we thought Liam Cooper, Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford were being missed before Anfield, it’s hard to quantify now just how much they are needed.
Any footballer’s value increases while they are out of the side if the team is struggling without them. It’s easy to put all of the poor results down to their absence and assume their returns will immediately fix things.
It’s not as simple as that, but it’s hard to shake the feeling they are needed to inject some vitality and verve into a system which is creaking currently.
It will be virtually three months since Cooper and Phillips last played when they return early next month as Bielsa predicts. They will be rusty and expectations have to be managed, but their returns could be immense in turning the tide on those Villa and Norwich matches.
