Marcelo Bielsa was clearly gutted we lost to Brentford on Monday when he took to his post-game media duties. But unfortunately his comments, published by Leeds Live, suggest we will falter in the Play-Offs without a quick turnaround.
The defeat at Griffin Park was much like a range of our previous mishaps this season, as we simply failed to make our chances count to punish the Bees and keep the pressure on Sheffield United.
Now, the Blades stand a real chance of effectively securing a top-two finish the next time they take to the field, as a win over Ipswich Town on Saturday will move Chris Wilder’s outfit six points clear of us, while we will only have two games to play.
It would take a miracle for the Blades to let that go, and concede enough goals against Stoke for us to usurp their efforts with wins against an in-form Aston Villa and then rock bottom Ipswich.
Bielsa, then, has his work cut out to ensure we are able to fire on all cylinders in the Play-Offs, otherwise the all too familiar tale of the Whites missing the target will see us falter in our mission.
“I am very sad,” Bielsa told the assembled media after the Brentford game. “We had the hope to finish first or second, but with the loss of today, it’s going to be very difficult.
“It started with the last game [against Wigan]. It was very unfair. It was the game of the Championship where we had more chances to score and we lost this game. The game of today looks like many games we played this year.
“We didn’t take advantage of the positive moments where we could have made the difference. At the beginning of the halves, we could have scored goals. In the moments where we dominated less, they dominated us and scored goals. During the second half, when we were dominating and thinking the draw was coming, they scored.
“They have very good offensive players. We had twice as many chances to score as the opponent, they were not that evident of course. It’s hard for us to build actions at goal. Despite this, we had offensive actions, but without efficiency.
“This is the summary of our season. Many chances to score compared to the goals we score. If we had a normal efficiency, we would have 10 or 12 points more. That’s not the case. We had to put all our energy and options we still have.”
Altogether, we attempted 18 shots on Luke Daniels’ goal on Monday, with just three managing to find the target, let alone the back of the net.