Marcelo Bielsa has spoken out on Leeds United's brilliant first-half performance against Arsenal in their FA Cup third round defeat on Monday, crediting his side for their fast counter strategy.
The Argentine's philosophy was arguably at the peak of its powers during the opening 45 minutes at the Emirates Stadium as the visitors roundly dominated their hosts under the bright lights in north London.
Though Leeds were ultimately unable to break the deadlock - and subsequently find a response to Reiss Nelson's winner after the break - Bielsa professed his satisfaction with how his side delivered against the Premier League titans.
The Argentine did however acknowledge that he thought his side would have been able to replicate their first-half showing again for the rest of the match, only for him to be proved wrong.
"In the first half we did three important things," he told his post-match press conference following United's narrow loss.
"We pressed well their playing out, we made first pass uncomfortable and easy for our defenders to anticipate and this way we avoid the striker to be involved in the play.
"After you recover the ball quickly in their half we were able to recover fast, combine passes in attack and we attack fast in a different way when we recover well.
"That happened in the first half, but we didn’t do it in the second half. We thought we were in good condition to repeat what we did in the first half, but it wasn’t like that."
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