Former Leeds midfielder Michael Brown has said that manager Marcelo Bielsa is doing an “absolutely incredible job” at Leeds but claimed the pressure was on the club as it “means so much to them to get back to the Premier League.”
Brown was talking about Leeds’ 4-0 win against West Brom on Sky Sports during the live coverage of the Sheffield derby game on Monday night (Sky Sports Main Event, Mon, 7pm).
“It was some performance. It was a brilliant start. They’re coming out the block,” Brown said.
“They’ve not done so well of late but the atmosphere at Elland Road was incredible, four goals. It’s great to see my old club doing so well.
“Bielsa is doing an absolutely incredible job, there’s been talk about his tactics, but he certainly got it right against West Brom. The pressure is on Leeds because it means so much to them to get back to the PL.”
OPINION
Bielsa is doing an incredible job and he’s doing it his way. He seemed a little annoyed at a question in his last press conference, which hinted that his side could be running out of energy towards the end of the season. Leeds gave the lie to that and then some when they played West Brom on Friday night, scoring after 16 seconds and going on to score another three without reply. They were tireless to a man, with Ezgjan Alioski putting everything on the line as he ran the full 90 minutes on the flanks. Brown makes an interesting point though, when he claims there’s more pressure on Leeds because of how long they’ve been out of the Premier League and how much it means to them to get back to the top-flight. You can feel the anxiety of the fans and you can see it on Twitter. The emphatic win takes a lot of pressure off after the loss to QPR but it won’t really be lifted until they’re mathematically safe in the top two – and that might not happen until the last game of the season.