Amidst the bleakest of mid-winters, Leeds United found themselves down and out at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.
It was by far the most troubling run of results Marcelo Bielsa had faced as a Premier League manager, beginning with a 3-0 defeat to Spurs, a second three-goal loss to League Two Crawley Town in the FA Cup, capped off by a drab offering against Graham Potter's Seagulls.
That game finished 1-0 and will go down as one of Leeds' most forgettable contests in what has been an otherwise enthralling campaign.
Question marks were raised after the team began 2021 drawing blanks in three consecutive matches.
Had the wheels finally come off Leeds' wild ride?
Matters were not helped by a pitch which appeared at times like the Elland Road ice rink, but there were deeper issues at play in the defeat to Brighton.
In one of Bielsa's less effective tactical tweaks, he opted to deploy Raphinha on the left and Jack Harrison on the right, the pair swapping wings.
Part of Raphinha's charm is that he is so adept at cutting inside onto his favoured left foot and causing mayhem just inside the penalty area.
Three weeks earlier, he had managed just that with brilliant displays against Burnley and West Bromwich Albion.
But, against Brighton his efforts were quashed, his sharpness lacking and at every turn snuffed out and sent backwards.
Notably, Raphinha's touch map versus Brighton showed no touches inside the penalty area. He had been funnelled down the left flank, where his powers were lessened considerably.
This time around, Raphinha will be unavailable, but Bielsa will have learned and would ideally start Helder Costa on his preferred right side, with Jack Harrison on the left.
However, Bielsa's attacking tactics were not exclusively to blame - injuries too.
Pascal Struijk was forced to deputise in place of Kalvin Phillips, operating in the defensive midfield role that has become synonymous with the England international.
The highly-specific Phillips role was a bridge too far for Struijk against a tactically switched-on Brighton.
Midfield runners and No. 10 Alexis Mac Allister dropping into the hole whenever Struijk pushed up meant Brighton constantly had a counter-attacking run or out-ball.
In fact, Leeds were caught out by Brighton's first counter of the game. Ben White surged forward into acres of space vacated by Struijk.
The Dutchman was left chasing White's tail as the Leeds defence back-pedalled all the way to their own penalty area where Neal Maupay dealt the game's decisive blow.
Fortunately, at the Amex Stadium, Kalvin Phillips is expected to start. He will certainly be wise to Brighton's evasive and intelligent movement.
Struijk was continually caught ahead of the ball as Brighton exploited the space between Leeds' defensive and midfield lines.
At times, the 21-year-old opted to push up and mark Ben White at source, but that meant leaving the defence unprotected. This was a problem because Brighton defender Adam Webster is one of the league's best progressive carriers and passers from centre-back.
In this example, the Brighton man was able to thread a pass through to Mac Allister as Struijk had pushed up to join Rodrigo and Mateusz Klich in the midfield line.
Mac Allister was then able to turn and drive towards Kiko Casilla's goal.
It was something which occurred time and time again, leaving Leeds on the back foot and tired after chasing back Brighton's ultimately tepid attacks.
However, the damage had been done with Maupay's 17th minute opener.
Brighton's ability to tuck in and play on the counter meant Leeds were frustrated, generating shots worth just 0.6 xG (Expected Goals) as the Seagulls packed the penalty area with three centre-backs, two defensive midfielders and their wing-backs.
Bielsa will be wise to Brighton's capabilities this time around, and will ideally renege on the experiment that had envisaged Raphinha's directness exploiting Joel Veltman at right wing-back.
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