Marcelo Bielsa claims Leeds unfazed by winless start to season

Manager insists confidence is high as they face Watford before international break

Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa watches the defeat against West Ham. Reuters

Marcelo Bielsa claims confidence remains high despite Leeds failing to record a single victory in the Premier League ahead of their clash with Watford on Saturday.

The Whites kick off at Elland Road rooted in the relegation zone – and without star striker Patrick Bamford – after taking three points from their opening six matches.

Defeats to Manchester United, Liverpool and West Ham have sparked agitation among some Leeds fans on social media, but Bielsa maintained that self-belief remains high.

“The players haven’t lost confidence so there’s no need to give something that’s conserved, that’s already there,” he said.

“What we do in every case is to perceive the errors and to try and correct them.

“I sleep normally and I’ve always had the hope that we’re able to win our games.”

Bielsa felt last week’s 2-1 home defeat to West Ham was harsh on his players after Michail Antonio’s last-minute winner.

Leeds produced some of their best football of the season in the first half and the head coach believes several performances so far have gone unrewarded.

He acknowledged victory against Watford before next week’s international break could be psychologically significant.

“It’s always important to win, especially when you’ve gone six games without winning and if you occupy one of the last three positions in the table, even more so,” Bielsa said.

Leeds suffer at home to Liverpool

“The other reference is the performances, that go in the opposite direction to these negative aspects, and it’s (about) the support (to the players) to come back from this situation.”

Bamford has not recovered from the ankle injury which forced him to miss out against the Hammers and Rodrigo is expected to start again as the central striker.

Watford coach Xisco Munoz hopes his side can maintain their good record at Elland Road.

“They have a different style and we know what we need to work on,” the Spaniard said.

“We need a strong mentality and physicality. This is our challenge and this week we have important time to improve. It’s an important time to build up and work hard on this system. We know what we want, and we know exactly the style of Marcelo [Bielsa]."