I've lost faith in Marcelo Bielsa and it makes me sad

[Boo Radley]

The thing that is so very annoying with all this is at the end of last season we seemed to play counter attacking football I can't see why we can't go back to what was employed only a couple of months ago. I think the next few games would be perfect for this system and we could have used it tonight and against united. Prob would still lost but would have been more competitive.

Sent from my CPH2207 using Tapatalk

You’re the first one that I’ve seen to mention this, and it’s been in my head all evening.

Last season Bielsa changed tack considerably in January and that saved our season. At Christmas last season we had suffered a few maulings and we were all worried about who was behind us in the table. Then Bielsa took a different, more defensive and conservative approach and we suddenly started conceding less and winning tight games, usually by the odd score. That secured our ninth position.

This year he seems to have forgotten this volte face that he performed last year - now it’s stand or die!

He should go for the recent performances, especially Everton and Newcastle, even if the Scum and Pool games stand as an embarrassment to the club all on their own. However, as mentioned earlier, no one could come in and get what’s needed out of this squad now in time to save us.

The owners have a major hand in this calamity. Bielsa has always said that he would take any player that was better that what he had already. That means that either Orta couldn’t find anyone or Radz wouldn’t pay for anyone that met that criteria. So there is probably plenty of blame to go around here on the current dire situation we’re in.

We started the season without cover for Philips, Bamford and Meslier. The loss of any of them was always going to really hurt us, but still the owners and possibly Bielsa gambled that we’d be fine. That was a disastrous decision. Bamford is probably not going to play again this season and Philips has lost three key months. If Meslier had been injured as well we’d probably already be deep in the bottom three. Scandalous decisions that are going to cost us our place in the PL the way we are going.

No consideration was given to players aging, slowing down and fading from their best. That’s simply not credible in a top level squad that aim to stay in the PL.

Someone has to talk to Bielsa urgently. He’s dug a deep hole for himself on having only one plan. That’s not feasible in any walk of life, no matter how much we would like it to be otherwise. We either change like we did last January, or we will go down. We can’t stop conceding and we can’t score anywhere near enough to make up for that.

It’s all so depressing.

[whiteswan]

Great post Boo.....

[Norm]

Lots of mistakes made - a seeming lack of 'escape from relegation' thoughts, although I never expected him to go the 1-0 route.

If Kalvin ever does recover from injury we might have a chance.

Conundrum!

[Norm]

Above all I feel sad for Marcelo, our Argentinian Yorkshireman.

I hope he finds his magic hat before it's too late.

[1964white]

It's alright saying "hold your nerve"
But, where will that get us, even if we stay up, which I still think we will, Bielsa is a control freak who simply won't alter.
Any other manager would be sacked, no question about it, are you happy we had leaked more than 50 goals thus far, do you really, honestly think that when/if KP and PB come back we will start winning again !!!!!
The whole set up is a shambles, there's no passion in the side, even Bielsa shows nothing, absolutely nothing, the players are gone, they're dead, the is unrest in that squad, they've all lost heart.
Things have to change, Bielsa has worked his magic once, he can't do it again with that squad, nothing great about liverpools goals tonight, but, the same old piss-poor marking by United, stupid mistakes, constantly giving the ball away, poor distribution from Meslier, poor passing from just about every other player, no desire, no will to win even the 3 rd ball, nothing, the tank is empty, all that is down to the manager.
The board need to be sat down tonight discussing exactly where they want to be, not just this season, but in the future as well, this is the most shocking run a long long time.

Great summary and some of our fans find performances like last night acceptable. I have no idea what they are watching as it is horrible!

[1964white]

Yes.

Do you honestly think we won't get four wins out of Leicester, Villa, Norwich, Wolves, Southampton, Watford, Palace, Brighton and Brentford?

Have to say Sara, I'm unconvinced as we are on an awful winless run, Wolves, Southampton & Brighton are decent sides & know how to get something out of games.

We don't travel well & rarely win in London, so that makes games vs Palace, Watford & Brentford questionable.

We are so easy & vulnerable to play against, the opposition rely on our errors & then exploit them.

For the first time this season, I'm extremely concerned about our future!

[BobHirst]

Have to say Sara, I'm unconvinced as we are on an awful winless run, Wolves, Southampton & Brighton are decent sides & know how to get something out of games.

We don't travel well & rarely win in London, so that makes games vs Palace, Watford & Brentford questionable.

We are so easy & vulnerable to play against, the opposition rely on our errors & then exploit them.

For the first time this season, I'm extremely concerned about our future!

This reminds me so much of the last time we got relegated from the Premier League. I remember week after week saying well we've got West Ham, Everton etc at home (teams we used to be able to count on as a win for us) and then surely we can pick up points at Norwich, Birmingham ( or whoever it was).
But just like now we were not good enough to do it.
Please let me be wrong but I think we've had it this season.

[LeeBrook]

I suggested, before Christmas, that Bielsa should have been sacked. Our loyalties are to Leeds United not one crazy individual. We should be eternally grateful to him for getting us out of the Championship but he, and his gung-ho tactics, were clearly out of place in the Premiership. There can be no room for sentiment and yes an English coach would have been sacked long ago.

[CHAPELALLMAN]

I suggested, before Christmas, that Bielsa should have been sacked. Our loyalties are to Leeds United not one crazy individual. We should be eternally grateful to him for getting us out of the Championship but he, and his gung-ho tactics, were clearly out of place in the Premiership. There can be no room for sentiment and yes an English coach would have been sacked long ago.

The spell cast by Bielsa has to be broken now - it's turned into a bit of a personality cult whereby some fans believe that he is the club.

[1964white]

This reminds me so much of the last time we got relegated from the Premier League. I remember week after week saying well we've got West Ham, Everton etc at home (teams we used to be able to count on as a win for us) and then surely we can pick up points at Norwich, Birmingham ( or whoever it was).
But just like now we were not good enough to do it.
Please let me be wrong but I think we've had it this season.

I don't think you are wrong Bob.

[1964white]

Burnley & Newcastle have conceded two & four goals respectively in their last six PL games.

Leeds have conceded 19 goals in their last six games.

[SG90]

Burnley & Newcastle have conceded two & four goals respectively in their last six PL games.

Leeds have conceded 19 goals in their last six games.

Shocking.

[Cumbriarents]

Did they not show fight against villa and scum??

[1964white]

Burnley & Newcastle have conceded two & four goals respectively in their last six PL games.

Leeds have conceded 19 goals in their last six games.

But, according to some of our fans, this amount of goals conceded is not a concern.

I suspect lower league clubs would have made it harder for the top six teams, than we have

[Johnboy1965]

On recent performances I wouldn't be shocked if we don't win another game all season.
We are a shambles. No leaders on the pitch and the players simply aren't good enough any more to play the way Bielsa wants.
If he is too idealistic to realise that we must change our approach then I'm afraid we're done.

[1964white]

Did they not show fight against villa and scum??

Fight is not enough.

We scored five goals & still didn't win one of those games.

[lufc1304]

Can't add much to the OP. Makes me sad too that I've lost faith in the man and system that delivered us (me anyway) the best football I've seen in the 45 years I've been a Leeds fan. I will be forever grateful for what he did for the club and the city, something no-one else came close to doing in the dark years following our collapse. But he is too loyal to some players and too wedded to a system that will only work, with tweaks, at the top level with top level players. Something we don't have and can't afford. I don't see the point in sacking him now, he is the only one likely to get anything out of this squad, but the Bielsa era should be over at season end and a new approach taken. No matter what league we are in.

For clarity, I hold Radz, Kinnear, Orta etc equally to blame for the mess we are in. They have been incredibly naive around how competitive the Prem is, even when you take out the top 4/6. Standing still and resting on our laurels after last season has cost us dearly. You can argue about hindsight, but we all knew we needed to replace Pablo and have back up/competition for Bamford and KP. We hoped what we had would be sufficient cover, but that has patently not been the case.

As someone who has always looked for the positives in the club I love, my resignation to the fact the we will likely be back in the Championship next season is the saddest thing for me. During this era, I always had faith we would get something from a game, no matter the opposition. But no more, we looked like a team doomed to the drop. It sucks

[CarelessAir]

Bielsa is dead to me now after another that tactical masterstroke last night. There is no coming back from this.

This is also on the board for not being tough enough on Bielsa because it is far too late to sack him now.

[CHAPELALLMAN]

Can't add much to the OP. Makes me sad too that I've lost faith in the man and system that delivered us (me anyway) the best football I've seen in the 45 years I've been a Leeds fan. I will be forever grateful for what he did for the club and the city, something no-one else came close to doing in the dark years following our collapse. But he is too loyal to some players and too wedded to a system that will only work, with tweaks, at the top level with top level players. Something we don't have and can't afford. I don't see the point in sacking him now, he is the only one likely to get anything out of this squad, but the Bielsa era should be over at season end and a new approach taken. No matter what league we are in.

For clarity, I hold Radz, Kinnear, Orta etc equally to blame for the mess we are in. They have been incredibly naive around how competitive the Prem is, even when you take out the top 4/6. Standing still and resting on our laurels after last season has cost us dearly. You can argue about hindsight, but we all knew we needed to replace Pablo and have back up/competition for Bamford and KP. We hoped what we had would be sufficient cover, but that has patently not been the case.

As someone who has always looked for the positives in the club I love, my resignation to the fact the we will likely be back in the Championship next season is the saddest thing for me. During this era, I always had faith we would get something from a game, no matter the opposition. But no more, we looked like a team doomed to the drop. It sucks

Another major factor has been the recruitment - Rodrigo, Harrison, Llorente Costa and Firpo hardly look like clever signings now.

[Mountain]

Bielsa is dead to me now...

On such a gloomy morning, between football and world news, at least this raised a smile!