Did Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa miss trick with Ryan Edmondson?

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Leeds United suffered their first away of the season in the Championship, proving to be unable to take advantage of their late pressure.

With Ryan Edmondson featuring in Leeds’ under-23 side’s emphatic win over Barnsley on Friday, it always appeared likely that the youngster would not be involved in the squad for the Whites’ Championship clash against Blackburn on Saturday.

Edmondson did his first-team chances no harm at all with a hat-trick for Carlos Corberan’s men, but Marcelo Bielsa decided to bring Kemar Roofe back into the starting lineup at Ewood Park and hand Pablo Hernandez a spot on the bench.

It was a disappointing afternoon for Leeds. The visitors dominated possession, but were sloppy when it came to defending set-pieces and failed to take advantage of the late pressure that they applied.

During the final 15 minutes, Leeds were frequently getting themselves to the edge of Blackburn’s box. However, Bielsa’s men failed to create too many chances.

Mateusz Klich’s superb effort left the ground holding its breath before David Raya produced a stunning save to claw the ball over the bar. Jack Clarke meanwhile, also managed to create some problems after coming on.

But generally, there were not enough questions asked of the Blackburn defence. And that is perhaps why Bielsa may feel that he potentially missed a trick over not including Edmondson.

Leeds’ forwards certainly have quality with the ball at their feet, but did not have the height to compete with the home side’s defence when the balls were floated into the box, which perhaps left the Whites becoming slightly predictable when they got to the edge of the area.

The 17-year-old would have given Leeds a different option with his stature. And not only could that have made the Whites more dangerous when crosses were launched into the box, but it would also made life more difficult for Blackburn as it would have been harder to work out what the visitors were going to do when they arrived in the final third.

Bielsa making sure that doing Plan A better is the only time they deviate from their initial ideas is a key reason for Leeds’ success so far this season. But perhaps having Edmondson on the bench on Saturday would have been a wise move as Blackburn did not struggle to deal with the questions that the Whites posed.