Noel Whelan is unwilling to blame Leeds United's first defeat of the season on player fatigue and believes Birmingham City must take a slice of the credit for earning a 2-1 win at Elland Road.
Leeds were expected to put Blues to the sword, with Garry Monk's men arriving in Yorkshire not having won a game in the Championship this season.
But Birmingham were 2-0 up by the half hour mark due to a Che Adams brace and despite Leeds pulling a goal back with five minutes left through Ezgjan Alioski, they slipped to their first league defeat of the campaign.
Leeds have had a busy schedule of games of late and Marcelo Bielsa's decision to go with a small squad has increased worries over fatigue.
But former Leeds star Whelan does not believe the blame can be put just down to tiredness.
He said on BBC Radio Leeds: "There's no doubt that we weren't the Leeds United who played on Tuesday night [and beat Preston 3-0].
“I'd like to think it was just down to fatigue, but I also think you've got to give a lot of credit to Birmingham, how they came here and did their job", Whelan added.
Leeds now have midweek off, as they have been knocked out of the EFL Cup, and are next in action on Friday night away at rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
The Owls won on Saturday, beating Aston Villa 2-1 at Villa Park.
