Brighton secured a well-deserved win against Leeds, thanks to the only goal from Neal Maupay in the 17th minute after a brilliant give-and-go from Mac Allister and Trossard who then squared the ball to Maupay who was unmarked to tap it into an empty goal. Leeds have now lost their last 3 matches in all competitions, some worrying signs for Marcelo Bielsa’s side to look at.
Marcelo Bielsa made six changes to his side that started against Crawley Town in an embarrassing defeat against the League 2 side. With Illian Meslier out due to illness, Kiko Casilla kept his place in goal, as Ayling, Dallas, Harrison, Klich, Raphinha, and Bamford returned to the Starting eleven. Graham Potter made only 3 changes to his Brighton side who lost to Manchester City with Solly March, Gross and Maupay returned to the side.
The Seagulls who just couldn’t find a way to score against Manchester City last time took the early lead in the 17th minute against Leeds with Maupay scoring his 7th goal of the Premier League campaign. Brighton tried to put more pressure on Leeds with Trossard hitting the crossbar after deflection of Ayling which wrong-footed Casilla, but the goalkeeper was lucky for the crossbar. Ben White made brilliant surging runs into the Leeds half which showed his attacking awareness and ability to run with the ball.
Leeds have now conceded fourteen goals at Elland Road this season in the Premier League. Even with Leeds having much of the possession on the ball they still couldn’t threaten the Brighton defence with any big chance. Patrick Bamford couldn’t get a single shot on target which summed up Leeds’ whole afternoon.
Leeds remain in 12th position while Brighton moves up to 16th place, 2 places clear of relegation. Leeds will need to perform better to claim their first win of 2021. The intent of dangerous attacking has been lost and their defence has been over the place since their 5-0 win against West Brom. Marcelo Bielsa will need to get the enthusiasm back from his players and the hunger to play beautiful football once again. Leeds are still in a better position compared to the other promoted teams.
Bielsa’s Thoughts:
A frustrating afternoon for Leeds definitely made Marcelo Bielsa very disappointed with the result. He commented saying, “I think we defended below our capabilities.”
Adding onto his team’s overall performance he said, “We were below our usual level, we only managed to recover the ball close to our own goal. Every time we lost the ball the adaptations took us to the edge of our own area to recover the ball. We were below our usual capabilities, we didn’t attack well or defend well either.”
Before facing Newcastle United in the Premier League, Leeds have a 10 daybreak. While Brighton will host Blackpool on Saturday in the FA Cup before playing against Fulham in the league.
