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Leeds United’s title bid took a hit on Tuesday as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat to QPR at Loftus Road.

Despite having led the Championship for much of the campaign so far, a recent loss of form has caused Marcelo Bielsa’s side to slip into third place. Veteran Stoke City midfielder Charlie Adam believes there are two factors behind the Whites’ struggles.

What he said

Speaking on talkSPORT’s Alan Brazil Breakfast Show (27/02, 7am), as quoted by HITC, the 33-year-old said “earlier in the season they gave us a bit of a doing, but in the last match we played them they never really created much. They must be a good team to be up there all season, but I don’t think Spygate helped them as a club.”

Tensions boiled over between Leeds and Bolton at the weekend and our man Thogden was on the scene. Check out the video below…

The 26-cap Scotland international has blamed a lack of creativity and the fallout of the ‘Spygate’ scandal for the Elland Road club’s woes. However, Adam offers some solace for Leeds fans by saying “it’d be great to see them back in the Premier League but they need to steady the ship now and get over the line. Doesn’t matter how they do it, they just need to get the points they need somehow. It’s a tough league but they’ve got the balls to go score late goals so they’ve always got that going for them.”

Getting back in business

Leeds certainly do have a habit of scoring important late goals, and Adam is right, they do have the quality to claw their way back to the top of the pile.

All they’ve been missing in recent weeks has been the finishing touch. Defensively they’ve largely remained very solid and some of their build up play has been scintillating. All too often, though, the final pass or finish has been lacking.

25-year-old striker Patrick Bamford has the ability to be prolific at this level but looks to be struggling for confidence currently. If Bielsa can get the No. 9 firing soon then Leeds could quickly be back in business.