Leeds United fell to defeat at the hands of Liverpool at Elland Road on Sunday afternoon.

The 3-0 loss saw the Whites drop two places to 17th in the Premier League table, and still awaiting their first victory of the season.

  • Why was the first half a real struggle for your team?

Goals from Mohammed SalahFabinho and Sadio Mane sealed an impressive win for the Reds at Elland Road on Sunday afternoon in which was overshadowed following a challenge on Harvey Elliott by Whites defender Pascal Struijk.

After the game, Marcelo Bielsa, spoke to the media and discussed why it was a real struggle in the first half for his side.

"Evidently the way I planned the game, did not allow our forwards to shine and the opposite happened with what the opposition manager planned," he said.

"They managed to get their forwards into the game to create danger and chances. In the first half every time we lost the ball, the opponents created danger but we did have some balls in the first half which we thought would have created more danger or risk for the opponent.

I'm sure that both teams planned to play, or Klopp decided, and what I decided. What he planned for facilitated the unbalance of his forwards - and what I chose didn't allow our very good forwards to create danger, unbalance and shine in the game." The Argentine added.

"In the second half it's not that we played better but the goal they scored quickly and the sending off, it made us drop back and with the rush not to concede more danger, we were more prudent, but we attacked very sporadically." he continued.

  • What were your thoughts on the [Pascal] Struijk tackle?

Struijk saw red for a tackle on Reds youngster Elliott on the hour mark which at first referee Craig Pawson didn't deem a free-kick or a foul until later speaking with fourth official Andy Madley and speaking on the tackle from his defender Whites boss Bielsa said: "Pascal [Struijk] recovered the ball, the action to get the ball didn't have an infraction but had the feeling that the movement of the rest of his body after he recovered the ball, made him hit [Harvey] Elliott."

"I'm totally sure that there was no bad intention. I don't know how to qualify it because any negative qualifier would be hard to say, but obviously there was some imprudence or an excess of power.

"These types of recoveries of the ball are totally frequent. The difference here was that the follow-through with Pascal's speed and power hit the opponent and this caused an injury. I regret dearly that such a young player playing at a high level has been interrupted by this. I hope he is able to get back." he explained.

Bielsa was also asked if he'd consider appealing the red card shown to Struijk on Sunday and he revealed: "For me the referee decides. He has plenty of resources to make the decision. I don't know why the decision wasn't immediate and it was after but I never like to condition the decisions that the referee makes."

  • Any news on Diego Llorente and Adam Forshaw?

Whites defender Diego Llorente was substituted after 33 minutes with what looked like to be an injury whilst midfielder Adam Forshaw who had been on the bench in recent weeks missed out on the squad all together.

After the game Bielsa gave an update on both Llorente and Forshaw: "[Diego] Llorente has a muscular problem, the severity I don't know. [Adam] Forshaw suffered a muscular issue and he is recovering himself."

  • Thoughts on the partnership between Stuart Dallas and Rodrigo in the middle - Did they offer enough control or struggle against Liverpool's midfield trio?

The partnership of both Northern Ireland international Stuart Dallas and Spanish international Rodrigo in the middle of the park hasn't seemed to be working for a number of weeks, especially the role of Rodrigo in a few people's opinions, however, Bielsa kept persisting with Rodrigo alongside either Dallas or Mateusz Klich and he was asked about the partnership of Dallas and Rodrigo against Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool midfield trio and Bielsa said: "As the first half wore on, we started to lose control of the ball - it was difficult for us to recover it."

"When we recovered it, it was difficult to put passes together and I've already said that the way Liverpool planned their game allowed their creative players to shine, and the way I proposed the game did the opposite because our creative players didn't perform." he added.

  • How satisfied have you been with the general performance level of the team over the first four games?

Some of the performances levels haven't been to the same standard as last season so far to date and Bielsa was asked if he's been satisfied with the general performance level of the team so far: "What I'm unsatisfied with is my own performance," he said.

"Against two opponents like Man Utd and Liverpool we were too far away to be able to compete on equal conditions. Today we lost by a three goal difference, against Man Utd by four - the results were fair. I obviously can't be satisfied with the way I managed these games."

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