Marcelo Bielsa highlights two main reasons Manchester United beat Leeds United

Marcelo Bielsa felt Leeds United’s lack of a holding midfielder and Manchester United’s ruthlessness in front of goal was the difference between the two teams on Sunday.

It was the Red Devils who came away from Elland Road with a 4-2 win thanks to late goals from Fred and Anthony Elanga in the, but approaching the final 20 minutes the score was level.

However, the Leeds manager explained his side were incapable of stopping Ralf Rangnick’s men from taking control of the centre in the closing stages, which led to the Whites conceding their 50th goal of the Premier League season.

Bielsa felt it was a lack of a defensive midfielder in the centre that allowed United to gain a foothold, with Kalvin Phillips injured, Robin Koch replaced in the first half and Pascal Struijk forced to operate at centre-back in the second period.

“Evidently we’ve conceded a lot of goals. The amount of goals conceded is not linked to the individuals defensively,” the Argentinian said via a translator after the game.

“It’s difficult for us to prevent the opponent from creating danger and to form a more compact block is not simple.

“The fundamental problems are in the recovery of the ball in the middle of the pitch, and so we had to be without Phillips, who is a defensive midfielder, after, without Koch, who is another defensive midfielder, and after, without Pascal, who is another defensive midfielder.

“In the second half we had to put Pascal back in the defensive line and, due to the absence of three players who can do that function, the composition of the midfield doesn’t have a defensive profile, and that had an influence on the defensive behaviour of the team today.

“That also isn’t an explanation as we have conceded 50 goals in the league, and I’m just commenting about the game today."

Red Devils were more ruthless

Despite United scoring two more times than the hosts on Sunday, Leeds only had one fewer shot throughout the encounter.

While Bielsa was pleased with the number of openings his team created, he was left frustrated at their lack of efficiency in front of goal.

“The game didn’t become chaotic from my point of view,” he said in the post-match press conference at Elland Road. “We stopped being in charge of the game, and the product of not being in charge of the game was that we lost the dominance of the ball.

“In the moment that the team was recomposing itself, we missed a very clear chance to score to make it 3-2. In the response of that play, they went down the other end and scored.

“Either way, the general transmit of the game, they missed very few chances, but they were very efficient and we were less efficient, and the difference comes through that.

“We had seven or eight chances to score a goal, just like the opponent, but they scored in a higher proportion, us not in the same proportion."