IF ever a match summed up the unpredictable nature of the Championship then it was at Elland Road on Saturday.

Unbeaten leaders Leeds United lost 2-1 to Birmingham City who arrived at LS11 without a victory from their opening eight games.

Leeds coach Marcelo Bielsa shouldered the blame for the shock defeat, citing an error on his behalf.

“It is a high price to pay for a tactical mistake,” said the former Argentina and Chile head coach.

Facing the Blues’ 4-4-2 formation, he opted to play Kalvin Phillips in midfield rather than as a third centre-back, as he often does when the opposition play two strikers.

But the decision backfired as Che Adams and Lukas Jutkiewicz proved a real handful with Adams scoring twice in the opening 28 minutes. Both were efforts from outside of the box which goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, formerly of York City, should probably have done better to keep out.

Bielsa said: “The proposal I chose for this game at the beginning was not the right one.

“Phillips played in front of (Pontus) Jansson and (Liam) Cooper to link defence to attack and we could not reach that goal.

"In the first 30 minutes we were not fluid with the ball and we didn’t feel safe because we didn’t recover the ball well.

“We couldn’t make the link between defence and attack because Phillips could not receive the ball. Phillips had to assume the consequences for the mistake I made.”

Phillips’ substitution for Stuart Dallas in the 34th minute did see Leeds improve but Birmingham were hellbent on not letting their advantage slip.

Despite United’s dominance of the ball it took them more than an hour to get a shot on target.

Garry Monk’s side retreated in the second-half and successfully broke up play to kill off the game, yet Leeds almost snatched a point at the death.

Gjanni Alioski’s 85th-minute strike pulled a goal back during a late rally, but Brum successfully negotiated eight minutes of added on time, Lee Camp making a fine late save to deny Dallas a point-saver.

It was a sweet win for former Leeds boss Monk whose Blues had played better in several of this season’s early games without great reward, drawing six of their eight games.

Despite a defeat in which many of their players were below par, Leeds remain top on goal difference after nine games.

They were also at the head of the pack exactly 12 months ago when they were two points better off only for the season to fizzle away.

Grim-faced Leeds fans drifting away from Elland Road were already muttering darkly about déjà vu.

But despite the Birmingham loss, Bielsa is confident Leeds will bounce back against Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night.

“We have to correct what was wrong. We have to recover from the mistake we made.

"The feelings after this loss will not prevent us from getting a good result in the next game.”

Leeds United: Peacock-Farrell, Ayling, Douglas (Edmondson 70), Cooper, Jansson, Phillips (Dallas 34), Klich (Forshaw 61), Alioski, Harrison, Saiz, Roberts. Subs (unused): Blackman, Shackleton, Baker, Pearce. Cautions: Saiz, Forshaw

Birmingham City: Camp, Colin, Pedersen, Morrison, Dean, Jota (Harding 87), Maghoma, Gardner (Kieftenbeld 58), Lakin, Jutkiewicz (Bogle 80), Adams. Subs: Trueman, Roberts, Mahoney, Solomon-Otabor. Cautions: Gardner, Morrison, Kieftenbeld, Pedersen. Referee: Peter Bankes Att: 34,800