I saw his Leeds team in their promotion season at Oakwell. It was a joy to watch,their movement and shape,it was a real education and at times beautiful. It ended 2-0 if I remember correctly but for 70 minutes, Barnsley were in the game. I agree that football should be a thing of beauty to watch and entertaining, I understand totally why Leeds have removed him but the Premier league will be a lot duller to watch for everyone now.
I’m not going to pretend I’m an expert on his past clubs as other than his Bilbao side I’ve never watched any of them play. However I’ve heard enough pundits on tele & podcasts speak highly of him that he must have done a lot right. The whole winning trophies argument doesn’t really add up either. He’s not been at clubs where they were ever a favourite or anything close to one. It’s like arguing managers like Moyes, Allardyce & Dyche haven’t done outstanding jobs over the years just because they aren’t winning trophies. It’s nonsense. If he was at Man City, Barca, Bayern etc & couldn’t win a trophy then fair enough but he isn’t. For me he did a brilliant job at Leeds & if I was a Leeds fan I’d be annoyed. He’s got an easier run of fixtures coming up, he’s got his best players & the spine of his side coming back to fitness shortly & I believe they’d have a better chance of staying up with him in charge. There’s very little premier league quality in that side even when everyone’s fit. Phillips, Rafinha & Bamford would get in other premier league sides & maybe Harrison. How many would be wanting the rest of them? It’s not a side that’s massively underachieving. They’re just struggling because they’ve got one of the weakest squads in the league & are missing a few key players.
I watched us under Machin killed me off. That's exactly my view . Maybe he is not a genius . But the Premier will be a dull place with him not around.
You’d expect someone being labelled a genius to have had more success though right? What did he achieve in Italy or France? He took unfashionable Bilbao to a cup final and made them exciting to watch, and with Leeds he won the Championship at the second attempt but another season without achieving that objective and he’d have gone. I think the lines get blurred far too easily in discussions on the BBS. Nobody has said he isn’t a great person, or a great coach, or that Leeds didn’t play an exciting brand of football. The main point made by a couple of people is just discussing whether he’s as good as the plaudits he gets. I personally don’t think so. If he was why hasn’t he ever been given a top job? Other than the £3 million a year salary how did Leeds attract him in the first place? I think it’s a career of exciting football, brilliant man management, and building connections with supporters, but ultimately lacking in massive success. The attributes he’s heralded for in this thread or also his downfall. What most supporters would like is a blend of his style based with resilience when needed - as that would have kept him in the job longer and led Leeds to having a better season. We can’t blast our own managers for not having a Plan B and then praise another manager for sticking to Plan A - even when it ships in the most Premier League goals in a calendar month ever. The month being February. The shortest of the year.
I just think it’s very hard to win trophies unless you’re at a top club. In England in the last 20 years we’ve had Boro, Swansea & Birmingham in the league cup & Wigan in the FA Cup that were remarkable achievements. I don’t class Pompey as one as they’d got a huge budget at the time & should’ve been competing. That’s 4 out of 40 that’s gone to an underdog & we’ve not had an underdog win a cup since 2012. I think taking Leeds to 9th last year was genius. Just like I did when Dyche took Burnley into Europe & Wilder had Sheff Utd finish top half. They were special achievements. I think the jobs he did at Leeds & in charge of Chile could be described as genius but I’d be lying if I said the same about the other clubs he’s managed as I don’t know enough about the circumstances the clubs were in at the time.
Why hasn't he ever been with a top club though? And why doesn't he have a Leicester or Lille (or even Athletico Madrid) title win with an unfashionable side? I'm not suggesting it's easy at all, but others have managed it who I wouldn't put in the genius category either. A genius manager wouldn't have continued to let Leeds ship the goals that they have recently either. The 9th with Leeds, if sustained and not in the Covid era, was some achievement. In isolation though it wasn't much in the end. Also think you're being harsh on Pompey - if it's so difficult to break the grip of the 'top four' then any other win should be given praise. Especially when their investment wasn't in line with the top, top teams. Also had many other teams get to a Cup Final and not win it. Bielsa only got their with Bilbao.
Dyche getting Burnley into the PL and keeping them there and getting then into Europe easily tops Bielsa at Leeds.
He was the only thing i liked about leeds, he played decent football to watch i live closer to elland road than oakwell so they are my local side but his football made me watch them on the box. He coached phillips bamford and cooper into been international players. He never moaned about referring or other managers etc. He never slated his own players in interviews after games. And recently his last 3 defeats came against man u, liverpool and spurs 3 games no one gave them a chance in anyway. I also loved the sportsmanship in the villa game that time when he ordered his players to let villa score.
Its not always about where it gets you. Nice to have sone managers around who just get on with it. I would have backed him to keep them up this season, their hardest games are behind them
It was great football to watch, mainly because it was end to end stuff all the time, suicidal tactics in the end. It worked at Championship level because they had decent players at that level, it doesn’t translate well to the premier league, especially with a championship standard squad. Players like Ayling, Cooper, Bamford, Dallas, Forshaw, not premier league quality. Heavy investment was required this season, but they failed & now it’s catching up with them despite a decent start. If they go down the likes of Phillips, Raphiniha, and Lorente will all move on & it will be a tough job to go straight back up. Oh well!
Well no where but alot of respect from me been dealt a bad hand by the board not signing players in January to replace the injured phillips cooper and bamford. Leeds have paid over the odds for players they have brought in for him and some are gash. Has he slagged the board or the players in post match interviews like our ex head coaches have? No. Respect to him he will get another job did well at leeds.
The problem is with Bielsa is that he’s stubborn in his ideology of how he wants to play the game and won’t move away from it and it’s been his own downfall. He’s probably been offered many a top job but he doesn’t want to do it for the fame or money, he’s always liked a project where he can revolutionise the whole club from top to bottom There’s a reason why Guardiola and Poccettino regard him as one of the greatest ever coaches but that’s pretty much all he is. He commands respect but I think players end up losing faith in his methods not to mention burn out from his rigorous training sessions.
I respect him. Think Leeds now deserve to get relegated. He was one of the last people who had a bit of backbone.
Except last time they played us atElland Road we were rock bottom of the Championship and they still spent the last 25 minutes playing an 8-2-0 formation and punting the ball as far away from their goal as they could manage. People seem to have confused 'can't organise a defence' with 'maverick entertainer'
