The players on the list were all gash second season in the prem with Bielsa... and we all (most) think he's a very good manager. Of course good management can improve players... mainly in my view it's providing an environment and a system for them to look better - and in bielsa's case also fitness. Last season was all about regular player errors (under all managers) and far less about management 'ruining them' than many think. In my opinion of course. Did Sam say lack of fight? I heard him say he couldn't fault the effort - but questioned their mental fortitude to not make mistakes. Maybe different interpretations.
I’m not saying they are good players, Bielsa turned them into premier league players and had a great first season back. Suffered injuries in his 2nd one and I can’t argue that his insistence on a small playing squad impacted negatively and his intensity in training was taking a toll, we needed to recycle the squad. Don’t know if it was him or the club that was too loyal to the promotion team but Bielsa did point out that the same players couldn’t reproduce the 9th place finish and our recruitment, in the main with the odd exception, hasn’t suited premier league football.
That's the proof. Reality is everyone is available. And it's not just who gets bought... it's who gets played. When we see how many of our players are playing regular premier league football next season, we'll see how many are considered premier league standard. As i've said countless times... we played well enough as a team for large chunks of the season to have stayed up comfortably. So it's not whether most of them CAN play. It's whether they can be consistent enough to cut the mustard.
