'We can do better' - Mateusz Klich laments Leeds United's loss to Aston Villa and reveals Pascal Struijk injury

The Whites fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa on Saturday night.

Mateusz Klich believes Leeds United didn't do enough to hurt Aston Villa during the Whites 1-0 defeat at Elland Road.

Leeds United concede against Aston Villa at Elland Road. Pic: Bruce Rollinsonplaceholder image
Leeds United concede against Aston Villa at Elland Road. Pic: Bruce Rollinson

Marcelo Bielsa's side were narrowly beaten on Saturday evening in Premier League action by Dean Smith's outfit.

Leeds fell behind inside five minutes in LS11 as Anwar El Ghazi opened the scoring for the visitors following an inadvertent cross from Ollie Watkins.

United pushed on but were unable to break down a resistant Villa defence with the Midlands team deploying a low block in the second half.

The Whites were restricted to long-range efforts for most of the night before winger Raphinha missed a glorious chance to level late on with a header inside the six-yard box.

Klich - who was passed fit late on ahead of kick-off after battling a hip injury during the week - admitted post-match that the performance wasn't good enough in the final third of the pitch.

"I don't think so. I don't think we had a good game," the Poland international said over whether United created enough chances.

"We maybe managed the ball well but in the final third where it is most important, we didn't really create any danger. We can do much better."

Asked if Raphinha should've scored with his late opportunity, he added: "Maybe it should've been [a goal] but it wasn't. That's the problem. It only matter if it ends up in the net. It didn't this time. Sometimes in this game you just need to be more clinical."

Bielsa opted to make all three substitutions during a frustrating second half for the hosts.

Gjanni Alioski replaced Pascal Struijk while Jack Harrison and Pablo Hernandez were also introduced from the bench.

The first alteration saw Klich handed more defensive responsibility in midfield and he revealed it was actually a forced change rather than a tactical one.

"We brought on some offensive players to try to change the game," Klich said.

"Unfortunately Pascal had to go off because he was injured, which meant I moved back a little bit to play as a defensive midfielder. We tried. it didn't work this time."

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