Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
‘I respect it to a point’: Rio Ferdinand says Bielsa only has himself to blame for Leeds demise
Well, it was always going to come if results didn’t change and this weekend we saw the love affair between Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds finally come to an end.
Bielsa has left Elland Road in a much better place than what he found it. Responsible for seeing Leeds romp to promotion, the Argentinian is lauded in West Yorkshire and will go down in history as one of the greatest to ever do it in Leeds.
However, his sacking has seen a number of pundits and former players chip in with their thoughts. And speaking on his podcast today, former Leeds and Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand, believes Bielsa has to take some responsibility for his failure to change.
“I respect him for his beliefs and how he stands by what he believes in. I respect it to a point but it’s got to a fault where he will not accept any kind of flexibility in the way he sets his team up. It’s these tactics, do or die, you’re going to run 20 miles each in a game. It’s proven that it’s not sustainable all the time,” Ferdinand .
“Look, he’s had three big injuries (Cooper, Phillips, Bamford), three players taken out of that team. Spine of the team gone, so you have to put that as a balancer. But when that happens you have to think maybe I need to alter my tactics. He altered personnel but he didn’t alter the tactics and I think that’s what’s cost him. As much as I really really admire him, I think you’ve got to have the willingness to be able to adapt to set your team up.”
TBR’s View: Bielsa A Legend But Ferdinand Has A Point
For all Bielsa’s brilliance – and there was a lot of it – Ferdinand does make a valid point here. In the end, there seemed an almost stubbornness about things at Leeds and nothing was changing.
Sure enough, the injuries have played a huge part. But Bielsa, for all his experience, had to recognise the issues and surely put something in place to just arrest the decline. Him not doing that has seen hammering after hammering and that’s what’s lead the board to their decision.
Bielsa is a Leeds legend. But he perhaps could have done that little bit more to stop the rot.