Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa admits mistake over Dallas and Berardi

Follow us on Google Discover

Leeds United were beaten by Blackburn Rovers on a disappointing afternoon for Marcelo Bielsa’s men.

Marcelo Bielsa has admitted to BBC Radio Leeds that he made a mistake naming Gaetano Berardi on the left and Stuart Dallas on the right of the Leeds defence in his starting lineup for the Whites’ trip to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

Bielsa’s men suffered their first away defeat of the season as two set-piece goals allowed the home side to take the three points and deny Leeds the chance to briefly return to the top of the Championship.

Blackburn made a phenomenal start with Danny Graham scoring inside three minutes, and it looked as though Leeds could have landed themselves in even more trouble with Adam Armstrong causing all sorts of problems for Dallas down the visitors’ right flank.

Unsurprisingly, it was not too long before Berardi and Dallas swapped sides. And after the game, Bielsa conceded that he made a mistake by initially putting Dallas on the right and Berardi on the left.

“Gaetano Berardi’s a full-back who can play as a centre-back and Stuart Dallas is a winger who can play as a midfielder and as a full-back. And the number seven (Armstrong) makes diagonal movements and he becomes a second number nine. And the number four (Harrison Reed) is a midfielder who becomes a winger,” he told BBC Radio Leeds.

“For the creation part, Gaetano Berardi and Stuart Dallas were doing positive things on their respective sides. And the features of the (Blackburn) players made it better that Gaetano played versus the seven and Dallas versus the four. They don’t have any profile problem, that’s why they could switch sides without any problem.

“I think I should have noticed that before the game. I should have found out before the game that the right position were those that they occupied after (the change).”

The change did seem to help Leeds. Armstrong was less influential once he was up against Berardi and Reed also seemed to have less of an impact on the game as the contest went on before he went off injured during the second-half.

Berardi enjoyed some bright moments on his return to the side. It was his assist that allowed Mateusz Klich to equalise with the penultimate kick of the first-half, and he was regularly striding forward to try and contribute in the final third.

Dallas had a tough afternoon. He arguably looked much better after the break, but Leeds appeared to ask more questions down their left flank once Gjanni Alioski had dropped into left-back and Jack Clarke was brought on in the latter stages.