Chris Wilder talks Leeds and Marcelo Bielsa, identifies four key players

Chris Wilder has told Match of the Day 2 that Marcelo Bielsa’s desire to use a small Leeds squad makes the best players even more important.

Leeds secured a second Premier League win of the season and climbed out of the relegation zone on Sunday – beating Norwich City away 2-1.

Raphinha was excellent throughout, opening the scoring – before Rodrigo netted the winner from long range. A decent performance from Leeds.

But the result was so important. Leeds had slipped into the bottom three after Burnley’s excellent 3-1 win over Brentford on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking on Match of the Day 2, Wilder did share a joke about his past comments and rivalry with Leeds – during his analysis of the Whites.

But he commented on Bielsa’s preference of a small squad and named Patrick Bamford, Luke Ayling, Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha as key players.

“Marcelo runs with a small squad,” Wilder said, on the programme which aired at 10.30pm on BBC. “The injured players are huge players for them.

“Luke Ayling, Bamford, Phillips – an England international – and Raphinha today. He was a different class today, to anyone on the pitch.”

Wilder on Leeds: Out-of-work manager makes fair Bielsa point

For Leeds fans, looking past the fact it is Wilder is tricky. Back in 2019, Wilder branded Leeds – and Bamford – as “muppets”, after promotion.

Now, without a job, Wilder was on MOTD2 – but his analysis was sound. He is right, Bielsa prefers a small squad and it makes players more important.

It means that when absent, their impact is even larger. The absence of Bamford has been felt enormously, the goalscoring mantle left to Raphinha.

He has stepped up, netting four in nine league games. Rodrigo now has two in two. But Leeds miss Bamford, purely for his work rate – and his goals.