The Bielsa Way: Leeds United take top spot in emphatic 3-0 win.

The Goals

The Canaries dominated the first fifteen minutes of the game at Carrow Road and it looked like Leeds might be in for another tough ninety minutes following the 2-2 draw at the Liberty against Swansea. Leeds grew into the game very quickly, holding the ball much more and starting to work the spaces around the penalty area.

Leeds United opened the scoring 21 minutes in as Tim Krul’s goal-kick was met by the head of a returning Pontus Jansson. The Leeds midfield four in front of Kalvin Phillips were tight to eachother on the halfway line. As the ball was brought down by Roofe, the midfield dispersed as Hernandez grabbed the knock down from Roofe and brought the ball wide. As the ball was on the right side, Alioski swung his run inside where Hernandez could pick him out in a big Norwich gap. His deep cross reached the diving head of Alioski sixteen yards from goal which was beaten away by Tim Krul between the sticks. Klich was there on the edge of the box to pck up the pieces should the ball be cleared or go loose in the box, as the Pole pounced for the ball and finished with no chance for Krul to recover.

The second goal begun from a throw-in midway inside the Leeds half, Ayling gets the ball back from his throw and plays the unexpected pass across the pitch to Berardi. He then finds Douglas to his left who plays a one-two down the line with Klich. Possession is recycled and Norwich City feel they have a moment to relax. Douglas quickly gets the ball back on the left side as the midfield’s line proved too high. The Scot knocked the ball between the lines to Roofe who plays a perfectly weighted first time ball into the path of Alioski who had snuck into a pocket of space left by the Norwich defence and he lashed the ball past the keeper to put the Whites two goals to the good.

The third also came from a throw-in, this time from deep in Norwich territory. Douglas played a couple one-twos with Hernandez who had brought himself in from the right, and Alioski. Grant Hanley dropped away from Hernandez as Douglas got the ball back from Alioski, and as we know, leaving Hernandez free on the edge of the box is a big mistake. Douglas plays the ball between two defenders to the Spaniard, shifting the ball onto his right as he opened up space between himself an the ball to then open up his body and curl an absolute peach of a strike into the far corner to seal all three points.

Another fantastic performance from Bielsa’s men as the clever, calculated passing once again caused all sorts of problems fro the opposition. The Whites march on to the top of the league with two more matches this week.