We all knew this difficult run of fixtures was coming, and so it begins with this afternoon’s away game against Manchester City. We can but hope that our inconsistent hosts have another of the off days they have been suffering this season.

We really needed to be several points clear of the relegation zone before we got to this point in the season, and we might have been if our performances in some of the games had earned the results they deserved, but as it is we come into this run of games having already lost five out of the last six. And with West Ham’s and Forest’s improvement dropping us into the bottom three for the first time this season.

Or as Daniel Farke put it when he spoke to the club’s official website "I'm fully concentrated on helping my team make sure that we win the momentum back. After a good spell, we've had one or two poorer performances, but after a spell of prior results, we didn't deserve to lose the game against Villa”.

"I think our performance was in many, many aspects, really, really good. But if you then don't win it, it's so difficult to win the momentum back. But overall, we are all competitors”. And at least he has a cunning plan to deal with Erling Haaland, probably the best striker ever to be born in Leeds, and that is to cut off his supply line.

"We spoke in the meeting room, and on the training pitch we worked on it, how to stop him. We have to make sure he doesn't get the passes, the crosses, the through passes or finishing passes that he then can finish. We try to handle these and make sure he doesn't get many situations, and then we have a chance to concentrate on him."

And our resources will be a little depleted, with Stach ruled out due to the concussion protocol after the injury he suffered against Villa, and Longstaff now expected to be out for almost four to six weeks with a calf injury. Tanaka will presumably be one of the two replacements, and Gruev may be the other, with Farke getting as close as possible to a like for like change.

Other options would be to take the opportunity to start Piroe as a second striker or put James on the right and move Aaronson into the centre, but we’re not likely to see these changes any earlier than the 70th minute when we’re a couple of goals behind. This is one of the games when he will be justified in stuffing the midfield with players who run around a lot, at least to start with.

At least City will be missing a midfield genius of their own, with Rodri not yet fit enough to come back from his latest injury. And they have also had a bit of a wobble in the last week, with defeats at Newcastle and at home to Bayer Leverkusen, so at his pre-match press conference Pep stressed the need for his talented side to play without fear. “I have a lot of confidence in them - I have huge value in them as football players”.

“But against Leverkusen they felt they played not to make mistakes - not to play to do something which is so difficult. In football you have to play offensive, defensive, and you have to try. If you lose in the actions, you did it. They played safe and [felt if I make] no mistake I won’t be noticed which is so difficult. It was a good lesson for the future.”

So it was slightly contradictory that he was also bigging up Daniel Farke and saying we will give them a tough challenge. “I have an incredible opinion of Daniel. I have a really good relationship with him and I know the Premier League is always like that with good runs and results and bad results because opponents are tough and have long weeks to prepare. So demanding. We have to be ready.”

I’ve got a couple of friends who are City fans, but I got some widely different predictions when I asked for their thoughts. One said that if they play like they did against Newcastle we might stand a chance, but another assured me that they had fielded their B team against Leverkusen, and that we are likely to feel the backlash. So I’m not really any the wiser.

Dare we dream of a repeat of the 3-2 we enjoyed in Bielsa’s first game at the Etihad? Or is a re-run of the 7-0 hiding in his second visit more likely? My guess is that the most likely outcome is something similar to the battling 2-1 defeat we enjoyed in big Sam’s debut as Leeds boss. And we might have to settle for that, as the name of the game tomorrow will be damage limitation.

Reuters

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