Charlton Athletic beat Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United at the Valley on Saturday with the Championship title race blown wide open.
Marcelo Bielsa did what Marcelo Bielsa never does with Leeds United a goal down at half-time away at Charlton Athletic on Saturday – he resorted to a Plan B.
But a manager who trusts so implicitly in his Plan A simply had to change things at The Valley with his Leeds side once again struggling to turn their dominance into goals. And, thanks to a bundled Macauley Bonne tap-in which laid bare the Whites’ problems at set-pieces, the visitors had 45 minutes to find two goals.
So Bielsa scrapped his usual 4-3-3 and set Leeds out after the interval in a 3-5-2, pairing Patrick Bamford and Eddie Nketiah up front for the first time.
With the title-favourites sacrificing their trademark midfield control for two natural centre-forwards, the second ’45 descended into a scrappy, end to end affair with Charlton managing to hang onto their one goal lead.
No wonder Bowyer was thrilled after triumphing over a coach he, and so many others, holds in such high regard.
“We couldn’t get near them (in the first half). When they came out after half time with three at the back I couldn’t believe it. They never change their style. It shows how well we were doing,” the former Elland Road favourite told the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast on talkSPORT (30 September, 9:00am).
“Leeds are by far the best team we’ve played. The way they move the ball, their energy levels the way they create chance after chance.”
Once again, however, ‘chance after chance’ didn’t translate into ‘goal after goal’. Leeds dropped points against Nottingham Forest and Swansea after monopolising possession, wasting clear openings and conceding from a set piece at the other end.
History repeated itself in South London.
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