Adrian Chiles raved about Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa after Phil Hay claimed that the 63-year-old was likely blaming himself for his side losing to Derby County.
Hay, who is the Yorkshire Evening Post’s chief football writer, provided an insight on the Leeds manager when talking with Chiles about the Whites not achieving promotion and shared Bielsa is the sort of guy who will feel like he let down the fans and the players.
“He’s the sort of guy who blames himself for everything, he would of taken that very personally on Wednesday as he will feel it was him who let down the crowd, let down the players and I think that will affect his decision,” said Hay on BBC Radio 5 Live (11:46am, Friday May 17th).
The journalist’s remarks led to Chiles praising Bielsa as he claimed it was so refreshing that a manager would blame themselves as normally in football, people try to direct the blame elsewhere.
“It’s so refreshing isn’t it? As this game is full of people who go around absolutely blaming absolutely everybody else,” replied Chiles.
OPINION
It’s no surprise Chiles sounded like he was about to join Bielsa’s fan club after Hay shared what the experienced boss was like, as it’s admirable that the manager regularly hold up his hands. Normally a boss after a significant defeat would be listing reasons why it’s not their fault and passing the buck, but that simply isn’t the case with Bielsa. While Wednesday’s disappointing loss to Derby wasn’t Bielsa’s fault, it’s hard not to be impressed that he is willing to fall on his sword for his squad. Bielsa couldn’t have envisioned Leeds goalkeeper Kiko Casilla turning into a liability at the worst possible moment, so it’s not like he could have planned accordingly. Hopefully Bielsa stays at Elland Road at least for next season for Leeds’ sake after missing out on promotion as you feel his exit would be an extremely early blow to any promotion hopes the club harbours for the 2019/20 campaign.