Bielsa explains how Leeds and Liverpool caused problems for each other

Marcelo Bielsa was pleased that Leeds United were able to match Liverpool for “large parts of the game” in their 4-3 defeat.

Leeds visited Anfield for their first Premier League game since 2004, and produced quite the spectacle, going toe to toe with the Premier League champions.

Leeds equalised three times as they asked questions of their hosts, but a late penalty eventually gave all the points to Liverpool.

Bielsa had been relishing his first game as a Premier League manager after confirming he will be staying at Leeds for the season – and it lived up to his expectations.

The Argentine tactician said after the game that each team disrupted the other.

“Liverpool made it hard for us to neutralise them,” Bielsa said.

“In the second half especially we struggled to get the ball from defence to attack.

“We also stopped Liverpool playing like they usually do and we made a lot of effort. During large parts of the game we were able to match them.”

‘You can never be happy in defeat’

However, Bielsa admitted that Leeds conceded some avoidable goals, which added to his disappointment.

“You can never be happy in defeat. At this level errors equals goals.

“To be able to score three goals is a positive thing, we should have created more danger when we attacked.

“We were very efficient but we didn’t create enough goalscoring opportunities. We also cannot ignore we conceded four goals. A lot of those goals could have been avoided.

“You can’t predict football but there are situations you know are going to happen – just because you know they are going to happen it doesn’t give you the security you can stop them happening.

“But when you concede goals to opportunities you feel could have been avoided it makes the disappointment bigger.”

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