Lots of stories around Bielsa leaving and who replaces him, but think we have done that to death on here this week. However the latest way for the media to revive the story was in his pre match presser when asked about Woy Hodgson being 8 years senior to Bielsa. Bielsa is 65 and praised woy for having enthusiasm and is why Woy will carry on because he is enthusiastic. Bielsa says he also is enthusiastic and when you devote so much time to yor career other things are ignored. He said he spent as much time with his family as he could and spent hours via Skype etc with his wife and daughter. He said whilst ever he enjoys his job he carries on. So some media read that as Bielsa is staying, but think we all know he will go when he feels its right. We have to be thankful that we are going to be with him for at least 3 seasons because some clubs only got him for weeks and some 2 seasons, so I reckon Leeds Utd are up their now with Newells Old Boys, Argentina and Chile. The man is revered in World football, an enigma and a mentor to many of the best coaches in the game. He was a player for Newells Old Boys but at the age of 25 decided he would rather get into coaching? he was given the job of coaching the kids and read every book possible and watched every game he could. His thoughts were documented and refined and before long Newells had a successful Academy and were winning trophies. He took over the first team from his mentor Jorge Mendez and the fans of Newells named a stand after old Jorge'. Bielsa would win the title twice with Newells which lifted him even above old Jorge' and on top of that he took Newells to the final of the 'Copa Libertdoras' which in effect is the equivalent of the Champions league only harder. His team lost on penalties to Boca Juniors. The Newells stadium was named after Bielsa and recently Bielsa paid for them to have a new training complex complete with hotel. It was named after his old Mentor old Jorge He then fancied moving to mexico so agreed to manage'Atlas' and spent 2 seasons there doing good stuff and then took over 'Ame'rica' and got to the final of the cup.. He then went back to Argentina and took over Velez Sarsfield and he won the league again and also won the Copa Libertadoras and promptly left to join Espanyol. within months he was on his way to take over the Argentina job. After a bumpy start he got them to the World Cup by discovering many of the players who are now household names. He stayed for 4 years getting Runners up in Copa America which is like the European Championships, he also won the Olympic Gold medal which was a first for Argentina. He immediately resigned after building what many pundits said was probably the greatest football team Argentina had ever had. But his team were staying in premier Lodges, had no kit, no money, players were not being paid. In tournaments they trained at schools and the country was bust. Bielsa said no more goodbye and had a couple of years out before taking on the Chile national team. In summary Chile were lifted from nothing to being a top 10 World nation and beating all the top sides around the world including Brazil, Argentina, Peru, W. Germany.... Bielsa got them not only qualifying for the World Cup but took them to the last 16 which was an amazing achievement. 40 years in the job and respected worldwide. His former players and devotees Pochetino, Simeone, Gallardo and more use Bielsa techniques, coaching and tactics as part of their own successful careers. In the modern era of football it was known as the 3rd wave ideology which replaced greats like Menotti & Bilardo and Guardiola calls him the greatest manager in the world. Newells Old Boys Atlas 93 to 95 America' 95 to 96 Velez Sarsfield 97 to 98 Espanyol 98 Argentina 98 to 04 Chile 07 to 11 Bilboa 11 to 13 Marseilles 14 to 15 Lazio 16 Lille 17 Leeds Utd 18 to...... Woy Hodgson too has had a colorful career but will probably be forgotten in this country pretty quick after he goes, but probably not abroad.
Twice this week Radz has been in print after being asked about Bielsa leaving us. Both times it was almost like he already knew who was taking the job. We also know that Simeone and Pochetino are on Bielsas replacement list but no way can Radz be confident that either would just walk away from their jobs. Pochetino is rumoured to be taking over at Man Utd for instance? Is Bielsa secretly agreeing to another full season after this one? Will it be an internal promotion? Will it be Corberan? Cannot see that as he is not having a good time yet, nice football but not getting the results yet. Still think Eddie Howe would be an ideal replacement especially if he arrived in January to be schooled by Bielsa to enhance his own coaching skills. Howe plays attacking football and has walked the Championship to win promotion. He has done well with a small club keeping them up for a few years, so knows his own mind. But having him upgraded by Bielsa on the job would be good and the way forward for many clubs
Would love Simeone but think it's unlikely unless we are a CL club. You never know though...perhaps we could somehow persuade him as he seems like a guy who loves a challenge.
I think you could guess the next manager all you like, but not likely to come up with the right name. Pretty sure that Bielsa/Orta/Radz will have a succession plan list of candidates, & keep it up to date. Having watched Corberan closely at TA, I think he could do the job easily, but there is a big, big problem for him, & potentially most candidates. It's simply that if Bielsa leaves, his entourage leaves too. Corberan plus Bielsa's entourage could do the job & give us continuity & a really good chance of success as well as succession. However, Corberan on his own, trying to set up his own 'entourage' is doomed to failure, as every last man jack would need to be trained to promote Bielsaball, no matter how experienced they are. Bielsaball is a whole new ball game, if you'll pardon the pun.
Everybody now a Leeds critic in the media and pundits. Cant defend blah blah blah. Just gone 2 matches with players missing and players having to play out of position. Alioski did ok but in fairness isnt a prem left back. Dallas isnt an attacking midfielder, Shackleton out, Rodrigo out, Phillips out, Raphinah just coming back from injury and played out of position today. Pablo out again. Expecting to see a completely different team in the next match and having a full defence in place which will include Llorente on the bench if not starting. Phillips will be back, Rodrigo back, Pablo back so a full firing midfield and if Costa and Harrison play like today can be changed for Raphinah and Poveda. Chins up and helmets on for a couple of weeks now though. At least we aint Brighton, Burnley or WBA and Fulham
Only thing I'd say on that is they don't "have" to play out of position, that is a Bielsa decision. Our best game by far was against Villa and we had far too many players out of position that day and it worked. We're heavy with wide players and wingers at the moment, the International break will do us good.
Hope it’s a different Pablo than we’ve seen this season Doc. Been a non event so far. Btw I love the guy but think this pl lark May just be a bridge too far for him
I dont see Pablo as a starter these days and to be fair hes only played 90mins once since the original lockdown, which is not good. He has also spent a long time out with injuries last season and this season too so far. Rodrigo starts for me every game either as No10 or as No9. Raphinah should be starting left or right win before too long because frustration sets in with our end product all too often. Dallas is our best LB Poveda is a better option than Costa at times Llorente will be playing very soon maybe even as a starter Phillips should be back for the next game too
Spot on. It really pisses me off how we were the next Real Madrid a few weeks ago coached by a genius and now we are relegation fodder and Bielsa is a coach whose teams can't sustain success......... especially when its someone talking who knows no more than I do despite having been a top (ish) player. Do these pundits really go through 15 year careers and learn no real insights into the game? I just take the good news that we have players coming back and managed to get a decent haul of points on the board early on. This season staying out of the relegation zone is success.
I didn't comment yesterday. We should be able to compete with Palace but we weren't good enough unfortunately. They also had players missing but they had the bit of quality that we don't really have. Our delivery from set pieces is woeful so we don't score from enough of them. We have one of the lowest % of shots from outside the box of any team, we're always trying to walk it in but our shooting is usually crap too! We lack the composure when we get an opening. Wolves, Leicester and Palace were clinical, and it wasn't just the forwards, Teilemans, Maddison, Ayew, Eze.... It was all the forwards. You just give them a half chance and they make you work. Our shots either go straight to the keeper or seem like they're scuffed. Teams put two players on our wingers to snuff them out. They sit in two lines and let us pass it about in front of them until we lose it or give it away then they break on us incredibly fast. Our build up is too slow, when we up the tempo we create more. I'm nervous because the reason Norwich went down was because they shipped too many goals. We are doing exactly the same. Hopefully Philips and Llorente will make a difference because we need a few clean sheets.
Phillips had been getting a rough ride over his corner taking, I’ve always said it’s more the lack of quality in the box. Three games missed and our set pieces are just as poor when it comes to the end product
It also helped against villa that we didn’t concede any soft goals early on. Ayling had a vital goal line clearance that day.The soft goals are killing our chances of getting anything from games
Koch reminds me of when Cooper first joined solid one game and a mistake or two in him the next. I can see Llorente taking his position, Koch being better next season assuming we hold on to Bielsa Most of our signings seem to need an entire season to settle, we didn’t have a proper preseason either.
Bielsa must be the only Manager not to break in new signings straight away. At least Llorente would have got a taste of football at Leeds had he had a couple of first team appearances before getting injured?
Koch was being touted as the bargain of the century on here and elsewhere. If you take away that he looks comfortable on the ball he simply hadn’t been good enough defensively. Hasn’t had much luck either to be fair- but he’s getting turned and beaten by forwards on the ground and for a big lad he hasn’t been good enough in the air. I hope it’s a settling in period, but it’s a concern. Cooper also doesn’t look good enough at this level, which perhaps isn’t a major surprise. When lorrente is fit it would be a surprise if he doesn’t replace one of them... despite mb’s intrinsic loyalty.
We talk about ‘quality’ balls into the box and I often lament the consistency of our final ball but it’s inescapable that even a routine cross into the box has a much higher probability of becoming a chance for the opposition than one at the other end. It obviously doesn’t help that we don’t take our headed chances when we get them. On a positive note we’re still playing some good stuff and creating chances. But you can’t expect to consistently out score sides when you are leaking like we do.
