Marcelo Bielsa reveals why Manchester United destroyed Leeds United

Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has revealed why Manchester United managed to beat his side convincingly on Sunday.

Sunday night was a glorious one for Manchester United as they broke into the top four of the Premier League table, as the Red Devils found the back of the net six times against Marcelo Bielsa’s side.

Back in 2012, it was Bielsa’s Athletico Bilbao side that stunned United with a 5-3 aggregate win to send them crashing out of the Europa League, but this time it was the turn of the Red Devils to give the Argentine manager a taste of his own medicine.

United were looking more and more confident as the game went on and could have even scored 10 had it not been for the saves made by Illan Meslier in the later half of the game. Although Leeds United managed to score twice, they were just mere consolation.

When asked about what caused such a heavy defeat, Bielsa claimed that United were too quick on their counter attacks which his side failed to handle and were thus handed a 6-2 defeat at Old Trafford.

Judging from his comments made to Leeds’ Official Website, Bielsa appeared to very disappointed with his team’s performance but was full of praise for Solskjaer’s side:

"“Our attacks came from combination play as we built the attack and their attacks came from the fact we were losing the ball in attacking positions.“They would transition from defence to attack.“Our return was slower than their transition and this was linked to the fact that we couldn’t finish our attacks and our return was not at the speed needed.“Of course, it is very hurtful.“We will correct what was bad and try to keep the good things, but we will not abandon the way we play.”"

More from Manchester United News

• Aaron Wan Bissaka out for ‘several weeks’ with injury
• Sofyan Amrabat set to miss game against Brighton
• Preview: Manchester United vs Brighton – What you need to know
• Jadon Sancho set to train away from first team squad
• Mike Phelan blasts Manchester United teammates over Ronaldo exit

Although Leeds United have suffered from this issue since moving up to the Premier League, the manager does not want his side to abandon their current style and seems to be positive that it will bear results over time.

Bielsa might be one of the most highly-rated managers in the world, but on the day, he was simply outclassed by Solskjaer’s tactics. The introduction of Daniel James provided them with that extra bit of pace to hit Leeds on the counter and the scoreline proves that the tactic worked to absolute perfection.

It looks like United are in the middle of a title race now although they will have to keep up their recent good performances in the league. Otherwise, this is the tightest the Premier League has been in recent memory. A couple of bad results and Solskjaer’s side will slide down the table. As a result, they cannot afford to drop their standards for a second.