Leeds United v Newcastle United - Marcelo Bielsa aiming to generate positive response at Elland Road

It is just two-and-a-half weeks since they followed an excellent performance to draw 0-0 with Arsenal by beating Everton.

The team whose openness was causing so many palpitations kept back-to-back clean sheets against some formidable forwards. In 2020, though, three weeks can feel like an eternity. In the emotional roller-coaster that is football, even more so.

A club’s fortunes count so much to its fans, perhaps even more so in these Covid-19 times of greater problems and fewer distractions, that many Leeds supporters are on a bit of a downer at the moment. Some good news about the city’s tier restrictions and a stirring win over Newcastle United could just as quickly set them up for a happy Christmas.

If it sounds like media hype to call two defeats “a negative cycle”, those were coach Marcelo Bielsa’s words this week. He is even getting criticised for naming his team to face West Ham United two days early, despite the fact that throughout his two-and-a-half seasons at Elland Road he has usually been quite open about his selection plans for the next game.

Like Spygate and many other things besides, it is an example of something the Argentinian sees as a lot of fuss about nothing from England’s footballing fraternity. “I can assure you it doesn’t constitute a relevant advantage to know the XI of the team you were playing,” he insists.

Thank goodness for Zoom because it allowed us to see the raised eyebrows when asked if he thought his team were “naive” after Friday’s 2-1 defeat that were of almost Ancelottian proportions.

Bielsa might be known as ‘El Loco’ – the madman – but the coach’s job, even more so it seems with every passing year, is to keep a calm head above the maelstrom.

For someone who inspires such poetic football, his translated words often sound almost technocratic. Like all the best coaches, his personality is not easily pigeon-holed.

The reality is Bielsa’s is a newly-promoted squad light on Premier League experience, not an established club that forked out hundreds of millions of pounds in the last transfer window.

As well as working on the fallibilities – headed goals for Kurt Zouma, Tomas Soucek and Angelo Ogbonna have brought the issue of Leeds’s defending at set-pieces back to the surface – he also needs to show a little love, to reassure the players who have taken points off Manchester City, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Everton and put the frighteners up champions Liverpool they do belong in the Premier League.

Well, maybe not the love bit. Bielsa does not really do love towards his players – his approval is enough for most.

“To have only picked up four points from the last 18 is a negative cycle that of course generates consequences,” he says. “But half of the other teams in the Premier League have gone through a similar cycle.

“We know every time we play the difficulty is very high. We try to grow so that we can pick up as many points as possible. Every week we will fight to improve our position in the table, regardless of where it is.”

So how does he drag his players out of this cycle?
“In moments of adversity, any support shown to anyone in the group has to generate a positive response,” he argues. “A demonstration of affection is very difficult to administer in football.

“The function of a manager is to take decisions that favour the team which could, in turn, be unfavourable for some in the team.

“There are many ways to show support and closeness that are not linked to affection. Helping, talking sincerely, describing with honesty the good things and the bad things that were done. It’s part of my job to be able to manage all of this.

“The Premier League is of a certain level and we have to show we can play at that level. If you take different moments from the 12 games we’ve played so far you will find expressions that are very good and some that are not so good. In the Championship, we had the respect of a large percentage of the opponents and a superiority that was already clear. We had to impose it.

“Our challenge in every game in the Premier League is to demonstrate we can compete in equal conditions. Throughout these 12 games, we’ve been superior to some rivals and there has been times when inferior opponents have been superior to us.

“I understand the job of the journalist is to try and predict the future, to talk about what’s happened and how this will affect the future. For me, it’s very difficult to help out in this way. In every game our challenge is to be superior to every opponent we play, so we can impose ourselves.”

One thing this journalist can predict with certainty is there will be plenty more high and lows to come for Leeds this season.

Last six games: Leeds United LLWDLL; Newcastle United WWLLWD

Referee: S Hooper (Swindon)

Last time: Leeds United 0 Newcastle United 2, November 20, 2016, Championship.