Brilliant Bielsa has Leeds on a high... managerless, rudderless Spurs are hitting new lows
VERDICT FROM ELLAND ROAD
ON this day just two years ago Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United were in very different positions.
Spurs had staged their remarkable comeback 24 hours earlier through Lucas Moura’s hat-trick to stun Ajax and reach their first Champions League Final.
Leeds, by contrast, had blown automatic promotion after stumbling during the runin, and days later would lose to Derby in the Championship play-off semi-finals.
The clubs have gone in opposite directions since – and now only six points separate them in the Premier League.
The Champions League Final proved to be the high watermark for Tottenham and they have been on the slide.
They missed out on the
Champions League last season and are set to finish outside the top four again after this defeat at a rain-soaked
Elland Road.
Leeds responded to their heartbreak of missing out on promotion by winning the Championship last season, and have successfully established themselves back in the top flight.
Spurs fans could be forgiven for looking at Leeds with envious eyes, and some of them would probably love Marcelo Bielsa (above) as their manager.
Bielsa has transformed Leeds during his three years in charge, to bring them success by playing some of the most attractive football in the Premier League.
Nasty Leeds are no more, and instead they have become many fans’ favourite second team – because they are so entertaining to watch.
Bielsa has wrung every last drop of talent out of his players and none more so than Stuart Dallas, who opened the scoring with his eighth Premier League goal.
There is no chance of Bielsa leaving Leeds this summer for Spurs or any other club.
Although he insists he does not want to discuss a new contract for next season until the end of the current campaign, he is 99.99 per cent certain to sign on again.
Bielsa knows there is more for this team to achieve – and next season they will be aiming for
Europe in some form.
That could well be the maximum that
Tottenham can aspire to, as they continue to tread water.
Whereas Bielsa has maximised the potential of his squad,
Spurs have simply under-performed.
Chairman Daniel
Levy clearly needs to get his next appointment as manager right after seeing his gamble on
Jose Mourinho fail. He needs to go down a different path – and in essence find the new Mauricio Pochettino.
Of course, that’s easier said than done when you have slipped down the pecking order of attractive destinations. Julian Nagelsmann did not give Spurs a second thought when Bayern Munich came calling.
Brendan Rodgers would be perfect, but he has ruled himself out, while Brighton’s Graham Potter would be a big risk.
Then there’s Harry Kane’s future. The England striker, who had a fine effort ruled out by VAR for a toe-nail offside, is 27 and desperate to lift some silverware.
Kane staying is critical for Spurs’ future – clearly their prospects would be even more bleak without him.
Spurs were beaten too easily by Leeds here but the one positive was their forward play.
The creativity of Dele Alli – who has a look of Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow these days – showed just why Mourinho was bonkers to shun him.
Dele made Heung-Min Son’s equaliser with an exquisite through-ball. He also set up Kane for his disallowed effort.
Son continues to be productive and his strike took his tally to 17 goals and 10 assists in the Premier League this season.
But that was the silver lining to a very grey cloud for Spurs, and their next manager needs to sort out their colander of a defence.
They were a shambles for the Leeds goals and made too many individual errors.
Tottenham clearly need a massive overhaul in the summer to sort out this mess.
Leeds do not need such surgery and instead can build on solid foundations.
They will continue to progress and could very well be looking down on Spurs next season.