Marcelo Bielsa admits Joel Matip exposed an ongoing problem with his Leeds United side in their thrashing at Liverpool.
The Reds romped to a 6-0 Premier League win at Anfield on Wednesday to register their biggest-ever win against the Yorkshire side.
Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane both scored twice and Virgil van Dijk also netted, although the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Joel Matip’s first goal of the campaign.
Matip was rewarded for one of his regular runs out of defence by driving forward and playing a one-two with Salah before finishing confidently beyond Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier.
PLAYER RATINGS: Salah and Matip shine in Liverpool victory
NEXT SIX GAMES: LIverpool's fixtures with Man City compared in title race
LUIS DIAZ: New song needed after long-term Liverpool question answered
And with Jurgen Klopp having highlighted the importance of such a move given the manner in which Leeds defend, Bielsa accepted it was an issue for which he was still unable to find an answer.
“The problem of opposing centre-backs driving forward has become very evident,” said the Leeds boss.
“The solution is very clear. When a centre-back drives with the ball he passes the height of the wingers on the side that he goes up, then the central attackers and defensive midfielders and eventually they come up against our free man who is often a centre-back.
“There are spaces were we can recover the ball but it’s clear that’s a problem I haven’t been able to resolve.”
Bielsa admits the chasm between title-chasing Liverpool and his relegation-threatened side was clear during a one-sided encounter.
“Evidently the two teams are not the same,” he said. “The differences between the two teams allow you to see they are completely different and the security we were able to play with last season, this season we have not been able to repeat it.
“It’s not just this game. We’ve been struggling to maintain what we want to do for the duration of the game. Our weakness was evident against Manchester City (where Leeds lost 7-0 in December) and today.
“These are two games where we have shown ourselves very weak to come up against the superiority of those two teams.
“But, after the defeat against Man United (on Sunday), we came into this game with me thinking we could depend on our strengths. But evidently the conclusions of the game today are totally negative.”
Bielsa added: “The only response I can give is I know my players gave their maximum. You can see that in the intensity and data we get from the games.
“So when the coach has this intensity at his disposal, it becomes very clear that my responsibility increases and I can’t redirect it towards anyone but myself.
“Do I question myself? Of course. How am I not going to question what I’m doing?
“The question is, I don’t think that a change in style is going to change what is happening to us.”
