Bamford scored 17 goals for Leeds last season, but has only managed two in just seven games because of a succession of injuries. Phillips was one of England’s standout performers at the Euros last summer, but he has not played since Dec 5 and neither has Cooper, the dressing room leader and defensive organiser.

All are due back sometime in March and Leeds have been clinging on to the hope their return will reverse the slide down the table, like a capsized canoeist clinging to rocks in white water rapids awaiting the rescue team.

If you took three of your four best players out of any team, the impact is huge, but even more so for Leeds who are still relying on many of the same players who played in the Championship two years ago.

Bielsa did brilliantly to coach them into a team that could win promotion and really well to keep them up last season – in fact they thrived rather than survived – but the lack of quality has caught up with them. The failure to make any signings for the first team in January was also a mistake, partly because Bielsa was so difficult to satisfy in terms of achievable targets.

The injured trio have not played since the 2-2 draw against Brentford and it is not a coincidence the team has lost nine out of 12 games in their absence. 

With this in mind, there is a strong argument to make that Bielsa should have been allowed to carry on and judged more fairly when he has them back. The board decided otherwise.

Bielsa’s teams a limited shelf life

Leeds shocked the Championship with their relentless high-pressure press in Bielsa’s first season in charge, only to narrowly miss out on automatic promotion, before losing to Derby in the playoffs. They were even better at it in his second, honing and refining their methods, returning to the Premier League as champions after a 16-year wait. 

They caught most top flight teams by surprise last season too, which is why they were never in any sort of relegation danger, but they are no longer doing anything rivals do not expect. In short, they have been worked out. Teams are far better at passing through their high press and everyone knows you can expose the space behind a defence which pushes up to try and pin the opposition in their own half. 

The fact Bielsa will not change or adapt his methods makes him predictable. Against the best sides in England, the damage that can be inflicted is frightening. Leeds have conceded nine goals in two games against both Manchester United and Liverpool, seven against Manchester City in one match as well as four at home to both Arsenal and Tottenham. A defensive record of 60 goals in 27 games is unsustainable.

It is not just that the rest of the Premier League have found a way to exploit weaknesses, there is also a hint of burnout in the players. 

Bielsa has been at Leeds for three and a half years, the longest he has been in charge of one club. His normal shelf life is two years at most.

If you look back at his career, Bielsa’s teams have also had a tendency to start seasons well and then fade. It even happened to Leeds in his first campaign. His training methods are brutal and he prefers to operate with a small squad. It places a huge strain on the players, physically and mentally.

Bielsa’s reign at Leeds is a long one by his standards. While it has taken longer for things to unravel for him in Yorkshire, there is a pattern being followed. His intensity can only be sustained for so long before both his players and he start to struggle with burnout.

The end of lockdowns and the return of supporters

Football without fans in stadiums, as one prominent manager explained, was football without adrenaline. Playing behind closed doors last season affected a lot of teams negatively. The pace of the game was slower, there were more mistakes, less urgency, and most games resembled a reserve team fixture. That did not necessarily come across on television, but it did when you watched it live. 

It was not a problem for Leeds. They had the adrenaline of being back in the top flight for the first time in a generation, as well as the high energy and relentless running Bielsa demands of his sides. They caught a lot of teams cold. They played with adrenaline every single week and it gave them an advantage in lockdown.

The return of supporters to Elland Road was supposed to give them another boost, but visiting players feed off hostile home crowds too. Football with adrenaline is back after lockdown and everyone is playing with it again.