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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Leeds suffered their first defeat of the season on Tuesday night, albeit on penalties as they exited the Carabao Cup.
The Whites went 2-0 down in the first half in what was a sluggish period out of character with some of their displays this term.
However, they fought back through Eddie Nketiah and Helder Costa before eventually losing 5-4 on penalties.
Jack Harrison was the unfortunate man to miss from 12 yards as Stoke went through to the next round.
But to have any chance of getting to penalties in the first place, Marcelo Bielsa had a large say on proceedings.
On the chalkboard
Leeds made eight changes to their starting XI to face the Potters on Tuesday night as a number of fringe players got their opportunity.
Alfie McCalmont was rewarded with his first start whilst Mateusz Bogusz earned his senior team debut for the Whites.
On top of that, Jamie Shackleton and Jack Clarke, more regular members of the side last season also played.
Despite that, three of those individuals were withdrawn at the break in what was a ruthless tinker from Bielsa.
He clearly wasn’t happy with the way things were going and as a result, he took off McCalmont, Shackleton and Clarke.
Making all three substitutes at the break is rather unusual but on this occasion, it paid off, even if they did lose on penalties as Harrison, Ben White and Adam Forshaw were introduced.
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The stats either side of the break demonstrate just how great an impact the Argentine’s methods had.
After the first half, Leeds had 64% of the possession, failing to have a single shot on target whilst they only played 199 accurate passes, per stats based Twitter account LUFC Data.
However, in the second period, they had 76% of possession whilst having three shots on target. Meanwhile, Leeds managed to play 295 accurate passes.
The comparison between the two was stark and that was largely down to the way Bielsa changed things.
Taking off three of your most inexperienced players was ruthless but it was ultimately the right call.
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