Alarm Biels are ringing
IS NOW THE TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO BELEAGUERED BOSS AFTER YET ANOTHER DRUBBING?
DAVE ARMITAGE
MARCELO BIELSA’S body language did not look right from the start – but then again it never does.
Quite what he is thinking right now is anyone’s guess but surely the love affair Leeds fans have with him has been stretched too far.
Yes, they have had criminal luck with injuries, but rest assured, any other manager in the country would have had the bullet long ago.
But Bielsa is different. Everything about him is different, bordering on odd at times.
It’s hard to put up a defence and he seems to be suffering from exactly the same problem.
If you were on a murder charge looking for a lawyer you would be well advised not to call this guy.
While Spurs boss Antonio Conte stalked around his technical area, tack sharp, he struck up a stark contrast to the man in the opposite corner.
Conte’s sense of Italian style shines through. He’s probably paid more for a pair of shoes than Bielsa has for an entire wardrobe.
That doesn’t make the Argentinian coaching ‘genius’ or any worse a person for it but you couldn’t help wondering how lonely he felt out there as the goals flew in.
Leeds fans love him – and that’s applaudable. But there comes a point when you have to say your goodbyes and now might be the right time.
Bielsa’s sides aren’t just getting beaten, they are regularly getting hammered and yet he insists a defensive approach is not an option. He ought to think seriously about it because, make no mistake, Leeds are in almighty bother and relegation is becoming a distinct possibility.
A run of six Premier League games without a win has included the 6-0 drubbing by Liverpool, a 4-2 loss to Manchester United and even a 3-0 defeat to Everton.
Leeds fans like goals but they couldn’t have realised what was in store for them when they lost 5-1 to United on the first day of the season.
Bielsa’s men were whacked 7-0 by Manchester City just before Christmas and there’s been little to cheer Leeds fans since.
It’s now 60 goals conceded – by far the worst in the Premier League – and a goal difference of -31.
Yet still they shout his name and worship at the little blue bucket which seconds as an altar.
He sits on it, gazing intently ahead, and when he is not on it he can be observed pretending to sit on an imaginary one with that trademark strange crouch trademark.
In between he stalks up and down, looking rather clueless and wondering why the same thing keeps seeming to happen.
He appears the kind of man who would want to see things out until the end of the season and review things then, but will that be too late? Had the name not been Bielsa but McCarthy, Allardyce, Warnock or Bruce, he’d have been run out of town long ago.
Leeds can play – there’s no doubt about that. They had more than their fair share of assaults on the Tottenham goal.
But in the end it didn’t matter and going in three goals down at halftime had given them far too much to do.
Bielsa and his men are well and truly in the relegation mix, though you’d never have known it with the home fans making their usual racket with the ‘We all love Leeds’ anthem thumping around.
It’s worth remembering, this debacle was against a Spurs side beaten four times in their previous five league games, including the 1-0 loss to Burnley in midweek which had Conte questioning whether he was the right man for the job.
Perhaps Bielsa should be asking the same question – or maybe he has and it got lost in translation.