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Marcelo Bielsa wants more from his promotion-chasing Leeds side following a hard-earned derby win at Huddersfield. Goals from Ezgjan Alioski and Pablo Hernández secured a sixth consecutive win that put them on top of the Championship table, above promotion rivals West Brom, who host Swansea on Sunday. But Bielsa still believes there is room for improvement despite Leeds extending their unbeaten run to nine matches.
“We defended set-pieces badly but our first goal from Alioski made it easier for us to develop the play,” he said. “In the first half we should have created more chances but we had some opportunities and we couldn’t end them very well. We could have scored more goals but we could have conceded as well.
“We struggled with our last pass when we arrived in good positions but it’s good to have chances rather than not. The second half was different but we had problems in both halves with set-pieces.”
Leeds have four more points than at the same stage last season but Bielsa is adamant it is hard to make a comparison of their hopes of achieving promotion to the Premier League. “We cannot test the team in this moment, we need more time,” he said.
The former Real Madrid goalkeeper Kiko Casilla made excellent saves to deny the striker Steve Mounié and midfielder Elias Kachunga either side of half-time.
Leeds took the lead five minutes into the second half when Alioski rifled a volley into the bottom-right corner. Huddersfield pushed for an equaliser but Hernández secured the points with 12 minutes to go, heading in unmarked at the far post from Jack Harrison’s cross after a superb flowing break on the counterattack.
Danny Cowley was frustrated there was no end product to reward a battling Huddersfield performance. “We did well in the first half and played with energy and purpose, we disrupted their rhythm,” he said.
“They scored with their first shot on target. We then chased the game and that left us open, which is always going to happen against a team as good as Leeds. But I’m proud of my players because we changed the style and the system. We only had 11 senior players, so that’s why we did it.
“We tried to hurt them in the spaces behind and we showed good penetration at times. But we weren’t able to get good value for chances which we needed to.
“It’s been a learning curve in football because Marcelo Bielsa is a pioneer. It’s been one of my toughest weeks in football but we did cause them some problems.”
Huddersfield have gone five matches without a win and this defeat was their first to Leeds for four years.
Cowley said: “We have to roll with the punches and get over these disappointments. We spoke to him [Bielsa] after the game and he said: ‘In January, you’ll be a team on the way up.’ It was a nice thing for him to say. Hopefully, he sees we’re in a difficult position but fighting hard for each other.”
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