Leeds United missed an opportunity to pull further away from the relegation zone and win three games in a row for the first time this season as they fell to a 1-0 loss to Newcastle United at Elland Road.
It was an open game throughout but the Whites had been the stronger of the two sides, with two big chances for Daniel James going begging, as well as several other opportunities going begging through a poor final ball or a lack of an option in the penalty area.
Subsequently, they were punished by a Jonjo Shelvey free-kick which Illan Meslier will feel he should have done much better with.
The goal came in the 75th minute and the Whites should have had good opportunities to score an equaliser, given that Newcastle had dropped 21 points from leading positions before the game. Their last game against Watford saw them shrink once they took the lead, making a Hornets equaliser seem inevitable by the time it came.
However, Marcelo Bielsa's side barely threatened after the away side took the lead. Eddie Howe's side easily dealt with crosses into the box, whilst any attempts to dribble into the penalty area were usually stopped well before any danger could be created.
It could be argued that one of the reasons Leeds struggled so badly to create any chances was due to the choices made by their head coach.
Throughout the game, Leeds had looked like they were missing a presence in the box and shortly before the goal, Bielsa called for Tyler Roberts from the bench to attempt to fix that problem. Whilst many would preferred to have seen Joe Gelhardt at that time, an attacking change was clearly needed.
After the goal, Gelhardt was brought on and Roberts was shifted to midfield with Mateusz Klich coming off. As Robin Koch - primarily a centre back - was playing in defensive midfield and Rodrigo - a striker before playing for Leeds - was in the other midfield role, this meant Leeds played the final 15 minutes of the game without a recognised central midfielder on the pitch.
Speaking about this choice after the game, Bielsa said: "I thought that with Tyler, Rodrigo and Gelhardt we would find passes inside the box but it didn't happen.
"That's why I think in the moment when we had the major offensive from the team because we had Harrison, Roberts, Gelhardt Rodrigo and Raphinha, plus the company of Ayling and Dallas, we didn't create sufficient danger."
In this case, it almost seemed like the thought process was that more attackers on the field at the same time must equal more danger but Leeds lacked a player to take the ball in deeper positions and successfully move it into areas where danger could be created from.
In the Championship, Leeds would often rely on Pablo Hernandez in these moments as he would constantly seek out the ball and almost pass the opponents into submission in looking to find a goal.
While Mateusz Klich isn't quite the same creative force that Hernandez was for Leeds, it seems that choosing to sacrifice his presence in midfield was a mistake. The Pole could have been the one to link the play and get the ball out to Raphinha, or to Gelhardt to dribble closer to the Newcastle goal.
Rodrigo had looked very dangerous in the first half, turning in space and playing through balls for Raphinha to get on the end of. However, he faded badly in the second half and it seemed a strange decision from Bielsa to leave the Spaniard on the field.
Perhaps another option could have been to bring on Lewis Bate, as the Whites had another substitute available. The ex-Chelsea youngster has proven himself in the U23s as very proficient at coming deep to get on the ball and playing forwards but perhaps the Argentine felt it was too pressured an environment for the 19-year-old.
It remains to be seen whether this decision to abandon the midfield is something Bielsa would do again or whether it was due to a lack of options he wanted to use on the day. Either way, it is clear that on this occasion it didn't work.
