Without a doubt, Marcelo Bielsa is up there with the best ever Leeds United managers. We’ve played some great football in decades gone by, especially under the likes’ of Don Revie, Howard Wilkinson and David O’Leary, but for me Bielsa is the best we had for about two decades.
The manner in which we tore up the Championship and then caused multiple upsets in the Premier League to finish ninth in our first season was just unreal – definitely, this was all Bielsa, though I don’t think he was infallible. The question is, what went wrong?
For all intents and purposes, it looked – in his first three seasons at least, as though he could do nothing wrong. Okay, in his first season, we were probably unlucky falling out of the automatic promotion places and then getting undone by Derby in the play-off semi-final but all in all, there were very few negatives.
Our first season back in the ‘big time’ it is fair to say, we exceeded expectations – Bielsa really showcasing his managerial and coaching talents in demonstrable style – his tactics very much being based around trying to outscore the opposition.
However, we did get caught out and quite heavily at times, though we also served up some hidings of our own. After finishing ninth, the notion of ‘second season syndrome’ hitting us felt basically impossible. So, what went wrong?
Lacklustre Transfer Window
I have to admit, I was really positive going into the 2021 summer transfer window. It appeared that we recruited pretty well the summer before – Raphina appearing to be the pick of the bunch – I remember thinking to myself “what a player we have here…if we can find another gem like that this summer, we could do some serious damage”.
🙌 #LUFC are delighted to announce the signing of Brazilian winger Raphinha from @staderennais
— Leeds United (@LUFC) October 5, 2020
After being linked to what appeared to be every promising young talent in Europe, the only piece of business we conducted was, on balance, underwhelming. Daniel James (a couple of years after we tried to sign him from Swansea City) arrived from Manchester United, right at the end of the window and, for what I thought was an extortionate £25 million. Junior Firpo came in right at the beginning of the summer for £15 million, after Gianni Aliioski left, which for me, signalled a positive start and a sign of what was to come, but alas, no dice.
Now, for me, it really depends on what you believe. Some sources say Bielsa wanted players, but the board wouldn’t back him and others argue, basically the opposite. Dutch attacker Noa Lang, who I thought could be ‘another Raphina-esque signing’ was linked all summer, though there were arguments over the fee and apparently, depending on what you believe, we couldn’t quite convince him.
Whether it was Bielsa’s stubbornness to recruit – the fact he wanted a small squad or the board’s unwillingness to spend, remains to be seen, though not improving almost cost us the next season and certainly cost Bielsa.
No Plan B
What became increasingly clear as the 2021/22 season progressed, especially given the results, is that we did have a case of ‘second season syndrome’, with teams seemingly having figured us out and how to play against us.
Bielsa stubbornly kept to the same style of play that we had been using for the past three seasons, though, teams were more cautious and weren’t as susceptible to the counter-attack.
Also, I think having not massively upgraded our squad, we definitely lacked the quality to compete. There was a reason why that lot sold us James – he simply wasn’t good enough for the top-flight back then and with Bielsa using him as a false nine because of injuries, this simply didn’t work.
A ‘plan b’ would and probably should have been thought about in the transfer window – someone like a target man, perhaps an experienced Premier League player for the middle of the park who could put himself about and even an ‘old school’ winger, capable of hugging the touchline and putting crosses into the box for a target man. Bringing in an experienced leader at centre-back I think would have probably have helped, as well as a goalie with similar Premier League exposure.
Intense Training Sessions
It was also clear that after three seasons, with pretty much the same nucleus of players, who, let’s not forget had also aged, that the squad was too small to keep up with Bielsa’s intense training sessions.
This is @LUFC training, Marcelo Bielsa style 🏃♂️
Watch Leeds face Sheffield United, live and exclusive to Prime Video tomorrow 📺#PLonPrime #LEESHU pic.twitter.com/YxtyJxNPea
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) April 2, 2021
I know it had been effective for the last three years, but it became very evident after a couple of months that the players were jaded and Bielsa needed to tweak his approach. It was telling in matches as well, with a lot of the squad sustaining injuries – as well as in training sessions.
Though, here’s the other thing, I think this kind of ties into the transfer window and plan b factors – having a bigger squad, of better quality could have meant that Bielsa could keep up the intensity, knowing that he had more options available to cover injuries and even a ‘plan b’.
I think it’s a shame that Bielsa’s reign had to end the way it did, especially given the impact he made on the club and us as fans as well.
