The one thing that has really upset me was when all the leaks discrediting Bielsa started to come out after Christmas last year and have carried on ever since, getting louder and louder on social media. The above highlighted piece was an April Fool's joke on Bielsa that has somehow become a fact. OK I can't remember where I saw that it was a joke so I can't prove that sadly. Orta is the one who gets players not Bielsa or Marsch because Aaronson was on the list prior to Bielsa being sacked. I am still adamant that the size of squads and who we are buying was down to the club's stance and nothing to do with the coaches although they could say no. If someone being offered was worse which appears to have been the case with Bielsa, then why on earth would you buy them? I still think a lot of those linked were nothing more than PR which were never going to happen anyway but used as a stick against Bielsa. Yes I admit I didn't want him sacked because I looked at the bigger picture. I was absolutely certain at the time and I still maintain that stance, that once our players came back from injury then we would have been fine and had no chance of being relegated. The horrendous injury situation hit us so badly that it wasn't a surprise that we struggled against the top teams. We were building something that I have wanted back for a long time. We were united as a club and support, we played some fantastic football and were promoted back to the Premier League. Bielsa would never bad mouth his players, if you want to do anything then do it in private is my motto, but would also take ownership of everything. We would get up again very quickly when tackled and played the game how I wanted it to be done. I know there are many cheats out there and we see it week in, week out with players feigning injury and time wasting etc but I was glad we weren't like that. We were that team and fans that had others envious of that old school atmosphere and although it wasn't going to happen overnight, it was always going to take time. I honestly thought there was no way we were going down at that stage when he was sacked. Our fitness levels were the best they had ever been so we could play for the whole game rather than 45 or 70 minutes at a time as we had been doing prior to his arrival. To me, the players were aware before the Spurs game that he was going to be sacked regardless, as to me it was seeing how gutted some of the players reactions were at full time. I don't agree with your comment of getting rid of all Bielsa's rejects either. We were supposed to be building onwards under Marsch on the foundations of what we had started only to see that everything has been obliterated in a year. We have gone backwards as a club, we have had a split ownership which has contributed to that in my opinion and the fans are starting to turn. It is going to get toxic again on the terraces which I don't really want to see again but it is inevitable. I only make my judgements by what I see on the pitch at the time. I have no issues with Marsch as a person but I do not like the throwing of his team under the bus, his antics in the dug out, his interviews when never taking ownership and to be honest, I don't understand what he is trying to say half the time so I switch off. He would do better by less talking and concentrating on what is happening on the pitch. Under any manager for me, what we need is someone to be in the Director's Box with a link to the dug out like we used to have under Don Revie. It is a completely different game pitch side than further up the terraces and maybe they could see what we fans do every game and make changes sooner. The Cardiff game saw the subs making the change so it didn't feel as bad when we only really played for the last 16 minutes of the game. Suicidal tactics when we won a corner at Villa had us on the back foot after three minutes. I've seen Struijk get so much stick but he cannot mark two players at once which looks to have been the case from one photo I saw. People will always make their own judgements and have their own opinions which is fine by me and we can all agree to disagree. One thing I do know is that we all want the best for our club, but one thing is for sure. we have to start picking more points up otherwise Marsch will find his position untenable.
Following that great post above I would just add that today Marsch was bragging about Leeds breaking records for miles covered in a game. To me the over training thing took on a life of its own because the idiot known as Karen Carney repeated something the buffoon ex Villa striker said in a tweet to wind Leeds fans up. She took pelters for bringing it up but as soon as we started struggling the whole punditry and media started in on our overused, overworked poor players. Elland loves bringing up that shyt too. So bearing in mind that Marsch is now bragging about the records broke last week and the other 2 games this season beating any club in the prem and all previous Leeds records. That sounds to me that as usual Marsch talks too much and in effect after saying we over trained under Bielsa has just gone even further?
Thank you. There was a reason for the training as we did it under Bielsa, we weren't fit enough and hadn't been for years. We couldn't play for a full 90 minutes for years and it was obvious to us fans who went everywhere. I'd like to know if it is true that as soon as Bielsa left the players were back to eating Pizzas as before? I know at one point the players were seen on a coach after the game with them! We may be able to run a lot but I feel our fitness levels as a team has drastically reduced this year. Hopefully with the younger lads enthusiasm as in Gnonto, it might help our fitness levels collectively. Who knows what will happen next though, but I'll just turn up at games like I always do. It's started to be a case of going through the motions rather than the happiness we all felt the previous years despite goals scored against because believe it or not, I knew we would overcome that with players returning.
Pure conjecture on your part, but the comments were widely reported at the time Yorkshire post being one of the reporters Marsch didn’t save Leeds from relegation the players did and in my humble opinion the same would have happened under Marcelo
Apparently the senior players turned on Bielsa too. But yeah, it's not the players fault. Pity the fool who follows Marsch.
Let’s have it out in the open Who were the senior players who turned on Bielsa Who are the players who have turned on Marsch Asking for anyone who’s interested
Pundits and paper talk Just waiting for Marcelo’s biography covering his time at Leeds Trouble is he knows how to keep is mouth shut unlike Jesse
If its an article against Marsch it gets mentioned. It's verging on the ridiculous by a handful of posters. Some of it would be hilarious if they were only joking.
Superb piece Heidi, not just well written, but professional and respectful. Multiple sources including Phil Hay have continually written that Bielsa would have the final say on transfers, and he and Orta would have heated words about transfers. The only player Orta insisted on, was Llorente, which may be why he has just received a new contract. Hay said that Orta would give Bielsa a list of at least three players to pick from. I take your point about Arronson. We were strongly linked to him last January (under Bielsa) and bought him in the Summer under Marsch. I reckon Bielsa knew he was going to go on his own accord at the end of last season, and didn't want to bring his own players in, knowing Marsch was waiting in the wings. Marsch has very little decorum, and tends to blurt things out without thinking. He is a young Manager, and will learn.
In fairness, it’s no different to those saying senior players went to Bielsa asking him to change the way he played and repeated for the very same reason as you suggest about Marsch. Already said that I believe neither story.
I thought pizza was allowed for players - well, at least after the match. An energy replacement, allegedly. Don't you remember pizzagate? Aresenal players at Old Shiitheap decided that they'd embellish Old Rednose's suit with pizza that they chucked at him. They found the target more than they did during the match! If only someone had filmed it .....
