Yes we are now in a very bad place and yet in reality we all knew December would be a killer month because of the fixtures. Last season we took a couple of batterings and already we have done the same. Lets not forget though that we had a bench consisting of Klich who we paid £3m for and 8 academy players, Man City had a bench of players worth £300m. However good our squad is we will never compete on level terms value wise unless we have an owner who can splash massive cash. The only thing we have in our favour is a coach who can teach his players how to compete against these billionaire clubs. It didnt work last night as it worked against Chelsea because Pep went to school on our Chelsea display and used it as a blueprint to nullify Leeds Utd. Cooper, Koch, Phillips, Bamford, Struijk, Rodrigo all missing. Besides Struijk who is on the fringes of playing for Holland we had 5 full Internationals missing. Any Premier League club outside the top 6 would struggle with so many players missing and especially if all of them are starters. We have a coach who can do things to paper over the cracks but there comes a time when the cracks are too wide and we are now at that point. Square pegging means players playing in secondary positions meaning not their best positions. When you have over half your team square pegging you would struggle against most Premier League teams as we have done so far this season. Yes we have put on some good displays and maybe should have had some better results, but lets face facts we are not at the races yet because our best players are missing and have been all season. Our injury list is horrendous and our small squad size is now a major failure. Bielsa isnt stupid and he will know he has made a big error here. Our only hope is that other results for teams near the bottom go our way, until we get players back. The biggy though is Phillips missing so many games at the start of the season due to England injury and now missing a couple of months when we need him. Forshaw has been brilliant but he isnt Phillips, we needa new midfielder to take the DM role and he needs to be a top player. The stupid thing is that we knew we needed this player 3 transfer windows ago when we knocked back Cuisance, otherwise why did we try and buy him. Ielsa is probably to blame for refusing to spend big money on a player, but this gap needs plugging in January. i am still glass half full because I see the quality of our play in most games, and last night was an abomination because one of the best coaches in world football with one of the best squads in world football knew how to smash he remnants of this Leeds team.
Can I just say, Koch, Cooper, Struijk, if all were fit only one could play alongside Llorente. If Bielsa had done the simple thing and started with Cresswell we’d have a settled back four. I know you can say Koch or Struijk would fill in for Phillips but that would still be a square peg in a round hole. Much easier having Dallas and Forshaw in the middle to cover. Rodrigo continuously fails to dislodge Roberts, Rodrigo nearly always starts from the bench. We are missing Phillips and Bamford but it was Bielsas choice not to start Joffy, it was his choice to play James out of position, it was his choice to spend £28m on another winger rather than fix our midfield problem. It was Bielsas choice not to start with Drameh if he really wants to play Ayling out of position or better still start with Cresswell. It was Bielsas choice to stick rigid with man to man marking watching the huge gaps appear as City pulled us all over the place. Yesterdays shambolic display was in a huge part all down to Bielsa, the injuries wouldn’t be half as painful if he didn’t keep playing people out of position. It was also Bielsas choice to have this smallish squad.
I would not be surprised to see Bielsa resign today. He spent an age out on the pitch by himself after the game, I worry he has been hurt badly by this and his presser last night had a very long answer to one question which maybe said more…… “The problems were all the levels or the solutions we implemented were insufficient. It's not that City played very well, it's a lot more noticeable how badly we played more than how well City played. City play like this all the time or similar to it, but we have never played so badly in these four years and I insist that the message the game leaves is that what I proposed was not good enough. You can deflect the attention when some things work and some things don't but when nothing works, the decision of the one in conduction define what happens. I say it like this, as clear as possible: this is not a problem of individuals or the collective - nothing worked, we didn't find any surprises in the game, the team that we faced was the team we expected to face and the idea of the solutions that I proposed, what I organised for the game, none of it worked, so I have to understand the responsibility corresponds to me in an absolute manner.”
Ex player on at full time saying he thought that a coach like bielsa would have given his players different instructions to try to stem the onslaught (lescott) another ex saying he thought it would be 7(crouch) then maybe it's time for a sit down with bielsa and the hierarchy to try to find a solution to what has changed from last season's slick passing and incisiveness, fight, determination etc...... injuries are part of the game are they not yeah we have suffered disproportionately to the squad size and had to "round peg" but think back to the revie days when the game was a lot more physical did we not have a team that virtually played week in week out with a couple of changes if needed, didn't most people reel off the team by heart most weeks....sprake,reaney,cooper blah blah blah. You can have all the talent in the world but you still have to have determination and fight, look at cr7 class in spadefulls but he still has the desire to be the best at 37, perhaps a big mural on the dressing room wall of Billy with a clenched fist should be required viewing before they walk down the tunnel.
When I looked at his face at the end of the game my first thought was, I bet if offers his resignation tomorrow, he had that kind of look, I think they'll turn him down and try to talk him out of it,if he does.
On a human level this isnt the best time of year for Marcelo as his wife, kids and family are in South America. He never went home in the Summer because he wanted things ready for the new season. He will be missing them and last night may have been the final nail in the coffin. Was it the Fulham match a couple of seasons ago when he was photographed on his haunches in the tunnel with his head in his hands? The lads came out for the next game and blitzed Forest. Its tougher in ghis league and especially with only half a team
I can’t tell you how happy I was in the Championship that we had a coach who set his stall out and played a style of football that was the same week after week, he allowed the opposition to fear us and for them to tinker with formations that would attempt to halt us. In the Premier League it’s just different, you can’t do this without a certain quality. Throw in moving them all out of position and it just becomes a mess.
I’d lose respect for him if he does, he needs to get us through to the new year, he needs to give the board time to source a replacement.
If he did resign and they asked him to stay until there was a replacement available, I think he would
Nothing is different to last season tactically. The players are ALL making individual errors every game. The unforced errors have gone through the roof this season. It's too easy to blame the coaches, owners etc but the players ultimately keep ****ing up. Alot of them have massively overachieved and now the dust has settled and the adrenaline worn off they are reverting to levels we last saw pre Bielsa. I'm sorry but the players have to man up a bit and take responsibility. They've been nowhere near the level of the past 3 seasons.
I agree but in their defence we have over half playing out of position, so much harder for them to do what they’re good at. If Cresswell had started as a CB with Llorente would they have defended better? If Ayling had started at RB and linked with Raphinha would we have been better in ball retention and attack. If Joffy had started up top and Dan James on the left would we have had more balance and threat. We may still have got beat but think we would have performed better
The reality for me is that we have made two big errors this season. We really needed at least 20 players in the first team squad, not 18 and that would have meant we wouldnt be as short of players through this injury crisis. We are playing too many players out of position, square pegging and on top of the injuries its hurting us badly. Both those errors are Bielsa’s and thats the only complaint I will ever make against him, but chickens home to roost this season. Not his fault we have so many injuries but his choice on squad size and tactics
I asked who the Bielsa doubters wanted last night and the answer I got was Pochetino. He won't come to Leeds. It's fine bitching and moaning about everything after a defeat like last night, I'm certain Bielsa was more pissed off than any of you, but if you want rid do you accept that we'll probably go down. It was a bad day at the office. The title of this thread is The Spiral. Yesterday started off badly and got worse. Llorente had a horror yesterday so would you bring Cresswell in for him? People talk about our small squad but we can't afford a £300m bench. We need to put out our best team to find out where we are. The haters hated Forshaw - without him we'd be even more ****ed. They hated Roberts - he's been one of our best players in the last few games They hate Firpo - he's improved a lot after a few games without injury. I like Joffy but we were no better with him 2nd half.
Blano without Bielsa we would still be fighting to stay midtable in the championship. I want Bielsa here for years and fans need to realise we dont have the sort of cash that guarantees competing in the top 6. This post is all about looking at whats gone wrong and can we stop the spiral before the end of the season. My view is yes, but lets be honest here nobody has the number of injuries as a % of their squad as we do. The squad size is Bielsa choice and my own view is that we could have used less square pegs last night
I highlighted our inadequacies as far back as the Blackburn game, our first pre-season game. If I could see it coming, how on earth couldn't Bielsa. It's outrageous to suggest it's a bad day at the office. We've won 3 times out of 16, and are yet to play Arsenal or Liverpool. If Bielsa cared as much as you think, perhaps he should do the job for free? I don't think he would either. He's a Manager, no different to the other 91 clubs. How many other teams have Citeh tonked this season - none! They won by two goals against Burnley and Watford, and were fortunate to beat Wolves last weekend. Why? Because Wolves made it difficult for them. Would I have played Cresswell - too right I would have. Far too many square pegs in round holes, and lack of balance in the side. We needed Ayling's experience on the right yesterday, both offensive and defensive.
If we’d have started with Joffy, if we’d played James on the left wing, if we’d played Ayling at RB then it would not have been as easy for City I have little doubt about that. I’m pissed off with Bielsa to an extent but I want him to remain. I’d like him to stay this season then there are two scenarios, we remain in the PL or we’re relegated. If we go down I hope we pull out all the stops in keeping Bielsa, if we stay in the PL I’m happy for him to call it a day. The top PL teams need a few players of the type that Bielsa doesn’t want in his squad. He’s taken a few players as far as they can go and they’re simply not good enough
Lescock....that eejit also said after the match that he couldn't understand why Bielsa gets so much praise from other coaches, he's a complete plank and only there for box ticking. He couldn't tactically tie his own shoe laces.
Lescott ticks 3 boxes so lots of diversity points given for that one. Black ugly as fk and a fat twat
So will we have anyone back off the treatment table for the weekend? It now looks like 7 first teamers out as Shacks joins the sick list and Firpo out suspended so potentially 8 players out of 18 out. Yes form comes into this but if you cant train properly as players you normally link with are not available then all sorts of things go amiss and then play out of position and its just tough and a tough ask
