BIELSA: SOME DOUBT US BUT WE BELIEVE
EDDIE GRAY has seen and done it all at Leeds in the last 55 years – and he is confident they are not collapsing again.
Worried fans fear Marcelo Bielsa’s side are about to blow promotion for the second season running after letting slip their commanding position in the top two.
A damaging home defeat by Wigan means they have won just two of their last nine league games and their advantage over third place has been cut from 11 points to three.
The Wigan result spooked Leeds fans as defeat in the same fixture last season on Easter Saturday helped end their automatic promotion hopes having been odds-on to go up.
In the end, they lost in the play-off semi-finals to Derby to extend their exile from the Premier League to a 16th season.
They face a testing trip to promotion rivals Nottingham Forest this evening, but Leeds legend Gray (above) claims fans must keep the faith.
“The players are suffering from a little lack of confidence, especially at home,” said the Scot.
“The fans worry and that transmits itself to the players. You can understand why they are anxious because it was after the Wigan game last year at home that they capitulated. That was the catalyst.
“The fans have to be patient. They’ve got to keep the faith and not let their anxiety transmit to the players.
“We were 11 points clear of third place at one point and they have clawed it back. But I don’t see why we can’t go on a run of wins again. We have two important games coming up – Nottingham Forest and Brentford away.
“It’s just that little bit confidence and I still believe they can do it.”
No Whites fans could have imagined when they of
FROM FRONT PAGE but we believe. If the supporters have lost faith, it is up to us as a team to recover that confidence.
“If the supporters do not believe in us any more, it does not mean we don’t believe in ourselves.”
Bielsa rejected talk that it will be a relief to play at the City Ground because the fans are now so anxious after last Saturday’s home defeat by
Wigan. “We wish to always play at Elland Road because our supporters never damage our team,” he added.
“So for us, playing away is not a good thing. Because if you think playing away is better, then you think playing at home is uncomfortable for us and it’s not.”
Some fans question Bielsa’s decision not to pick Jean-Kevin Augustin (left) in his squad since his arrival two weeks ago from RB Leipzig. The on-loan French striker began at Paris SaintGermain and had a loan spell at Monaco, but Bielsa claims he is not match fit.
“Augustin is a player with a lot of impact,” he said. “He has a lot of skills, resources.
“But Kevin, in the last eight months, has played three full matches.
“So when one player in this period plays just three full matches, the conclusions about his fitness levels are clear.
“I am very confident in Augustin’s qualities and skills. I think he’s a player with great, great skills.
“But in football, and even more so in a league like the Championship that is maybe the fifth or sixth best league in the world, you’re not going to arrive and play without being at the ideal level.”