Marcelo Bielsa says his Leeds side are evolving as a Premier League force by learning from past errors against the top flight’s elite after holding Manchester United to a goalless draw at Elland Road.
Sunday’s stalemate continued Leeds’ fine run of results against teams in the top six since the turn of the year, having won at Leicester and leaders Manchester City, as well as holding Chelsea, Liverpool and, now, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United.
They have conceded just three times across those five games, a stark contrast to the opening months of the season when they shipped goals in thrilling but gung-ho fashion, losing 4-3 at Anfield, 4-1 to Leicester and 6-2 at Old Trafford.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.40.2/iframe.htmlLeeds 0-0 Man Utd: Marcelo Bielsa says his side are evolving
“In the game we defended well. We couldn’t attack how we wanted to. Even if we didn’t dominate, we avoided the game becoming unbalanced. There are signs of evolution,” Bielsa told BBC Sport.
“The group of players have constructed a solid group. Throughout this time they made errors and have learned how to correct them.
“In the same way, they learned to avoid errors that are avoidable. I have the feeling there has been a growth in their maturity in how to manage these games.
“Clearly at this moment we cannot go into the games to dominate them and think we can win while dominant.
“But the capacity for the players to go up against these very good players has also increased. We can impose ourselves on defences and can avoid being overcome by attackers of the highest level.”
The result means Manchester City will be crowned Premier League champions next weekend if Pep Guardiola’s side beat Crystal Palace on Saturday and second-placed United lose at home to Liverpool on Sunday.
United boss Solskjaer praised the hosts but felt his side were unfortunate not to come away with all three points after creating the game’s clearer chances.
“I have not seen many teams dominate in the second half the way we did against Leeds – they steamroller teams but I felt we steamrollered them,” Solskjaer told BBC Sport.
“Today we just didn’t have the moment, didn’t take them when we had them. A draw is disappointing because we wanted to put pressure on City.”
