Marcelo Bielsa makes honest Leeds admission after being hammered by Tottenham

Marcelo Bielsa confessed Leeds deserved to be thrashed after the crisis at Elland Road intensified with another heavy defeat on Saturday afternoon.

The Whites were beaten 4-0 at home by Tottenham in the lunchtime kick-off, conceding three goals in the first half an hour en route to their fourth consecutive Premier League loss.

The result followed a 6-0 drubbing away at Liverpool in midweek and leaves Leeds lingering dangerously close to the relegation zone ahead of the remaining weekend fixtures.

The Yorkshire club have the worst defensive record in the top flight having let in 60 goals in 26 games, while they have also struggled going forward in the absence of injured striker Patrick Bamford.

Bielsa is under increasing pressure with each poor result and offered a frank assessment of the match, admitting Spurs were deserving of their emphatic victory.

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"I think the result is fair," the Leeds manager told BT Sport. "We could have reduced the differences but we were never able to dominate the game.

"Even if we created goalscoring chances we never had a feeling of dominance over the opponent."

Bielsa also suggested his tactics did not produce the desired effect after his "more defensive" team selection wholly failed to keep Spurs at bay.

He added: "There are conclusions that the reality invites you to make. But there is also another way of looking at things.

"Were you at the game? To put a more difficult team out to beat fundamentally you have to use certain players on the pitch that are more defensive.

"That is what we tried to do in the first half but it didn't give us the results I was looking for.

"In the two ways we faced the game, with a more conservative profile in the first half and a more daring profile in the second - neither of the two ways gave a result."

Bielsa took charge of Leeds in 2018 and he is out of contract this summer. Although he is a hugely popular figure among fans, the Argentine is famously reluctant to spend many seasons at the same club, so his future is uncertain.

Former Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig manager Jesse Marsch has been linked with the Elland Road hot seat but recently laughed off suggestions he would take the role.

Leeds will look to arrest their slide as they travel to Leicester next Saturday before a midweek clash with Aston Villa the following Thursday.

Meanwhile, Spurs travel to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fifth round on Tuesday before returning to league action against Everton the following Monday.