Leeds vs ManCity Key Note:

One thing is sure, Guardiola adores Bielsa, and there is no denying that. He has sung his praises on a number of occasions and even sees him "as the most important figure in football management".

The feeling, however, is the same for Bielsa. #LEEMCI

While that is a common knowledge, what you would not have expected was for Pep to (beyond his words) make his team look completely like he was copying Bielsa in a match City were the clear favorites with all their riches, experience and better quality on parade #PL #LEEMCI

So Pep, against his usual double pivot tradition (since he's moved to City at least), decided to match Bielsa's customary 4-1-4-1 formation setup by dropping Fernandinho to the bench and playing only Rodrigo in the role Leeds' Kalvin Philips #PL #LEEMCI

The implication of this was very straightforward: KDB, alongside his No. 10 role would have to drop deeper than usual to offer support and respite to Rodrigo, who despite being a good deep-lying midfielder, does not have the energy or tenacity of Fernandinho #PL #LEEMCI

By so doing, KDB, unarguably the most important piece of Guardiola's City, had his eyes on both aspects of the game - defensive and attacking.
You do not need a magician to tell you that would limit his contributions at both ends. It's a chess game, you either lose.. #PL #LEEMCI

...or gain the queen.

This worked for some time, as KDB with Foden, engaged in a lot of first press on Phillips and nullified the effect the England midfielder usually have in Leeds' proceedings. They won some balls in the attacking phase of the game, one of which #PL #LEEMCI

KDB had an effort blocked by Koch; and another which Sterling later scored from.

But that only lasted for some time.

The moment Leeds got into their groove and Philips, Klich, Costa and Alioski started stringing passes together to bypass the press, Rodri suffered. #PL #LEEMCI

At that point, the defensive frailties of City was laid bare for all to see.

Foden and Torres especially (who offered next to nothing defensively) were nowhere to be found.

Ailing, Dallas and even Bamford had chances to score, but brilliantly denied by Ederson. #PL #LEEMCI

KDB, having made so much runs from d deep to join the attack, started tiring as early as the 40th min of the match. That is something you do not get to see often, if at all.

Bielsa's boys sensed blood from there and were not going to remove their feet from the pedals #PL #LEEMCI

Leeds started creating chances upon chances (they had 5 Big chances to City's 0 at FT) and one way or the other, the goal was going to come, and it did come from an unlikely Ederson's error

Rodrigo, who had just been introduced to offer fresh legs pounced on the ball #PL #LEEMCI

In a bid to correct this, Pep later introduced Fernandinho for Mahrez at 77' to revert to his usual 4231 formation. However, by this time, Leeds were already on the ascendancy and were not going to be swayed by that introduction.

#PL #LEEMCI

KDB gave away the ball 7 different times in the second half and of all the players that featured for City he had a performance rating of 5 (only Mendy and Mahrez had worse ratings of 3.5 and 4.0 each).

It's simple: when you don't utilize KDB properly, it'll backfire. #PL #LEEMCI

And it did backfire.

Sterling's goal (his 34th since the start of last season, more than any other #PL player) was not enough to guarantee the maximum points; and on another day, you reckon Leeds could have even won - if not for Ederson's heroics in goal. #LEEMCI

Leeds, in a true testament to how Bielsa likes to play the game, slightly shaded the possession with 53:47% and had 7 Shot on Target to City's 1, and were only bettered by City's Shot off target (3:14).
Those are interesting numbers to pose against any Pep's side. #PL #LEEMCI

Overall, it was a great game of football with lots of end-to-end stuffs as both sides were not going to renege on their philosophy of how to approach the game.

By now, we all know we have to take Leeds seriously.
They have 7 points from matches involving... #PL #LEEMCI

...Liverpool (A), ManCity (H), Sheffield Utd (A), Fulham (H).

That's not a bad start to their promotion.

They have also won 3 of their last 5 #PL matches against City (D1 L1), which shows history is in their favour.

Ruben Diaz, on his debut was outstanding and he showed he is meant for City. Ailing and Dallas were also superb, as well as Klich and Rodrigo

Mendy showed again he does not have any biz playing for Guardiola and Ferran Torres needs to work on his defensive disciplin #PL #LEEMCI

Most importantly, Pep should be reminded that he has not been given all the wealth at City so he could adapt to a newly promoted side, regardless of who their manager is

Rather, teams should adapt to Pep's team. And that starts by playing KDB in the No.10 role #PL #LEEMCI

I do hope you have enjoyed reading this.

Kindly RT for wider audience and contributions.

Also, do share your thoughts about this piece and the game generally.

Thank you.

#PL #LEEMCI