Leeds United

Leeds United: Marcelo Bielsa comes in for major criticism for his handling of Crawley Town defeat

|
Image for Leeds United: Marcelo Bielsa comes in for major criticism for his handling of Crawley Town defeat

Leeds United fans have been slaughtering head coach Marcelo Bielsa for his team selection and strategy for their FA Cup 3rd Round defeat at Crawley Town.

The Argentinian named a strong side for the cup clash, with many of them full internationals, but it still wasn’t enough as the home side ran out 3-0 winners and for the most part never really looked uncomfortable as they managed to have more shots and more shots on target than the Premier League side.

It was stated by Athletic journalist Phil Hay that the pre-match plan was for Cooper to have 45 mins yesterday, on his return from injury, but the spate of half-time subs was a rare occasion when Bielsa seemed to misread the room.

This led to a lot of Leeds fans question the South American boss:

“A chink in Bielsa’s armour dare I say? He will always be a legend for what he has done for us but he seemed tactically clueless and was unable to get the entire team to play for him.”

“Still would like to see some public acknowledgement that the club got it all wrong and apologise to the fan base for that utter shambles”
“Nothing will convince me otherwise that bielsa saw this as nothing more than a training match and reason to see how well players play in other positions.”
“Wouldn’t swap him for any other manager but he messed up yesterday , totally his fault , doesn’t make him a bad manager/coach just proves he is actually human ?”
“It’s a cup game not a practice game. Read it very very badly. Cost us that. Pity he not around to do any press. We may have got answers to that shambles.”
“Is it fair to say we have no other starters than the starting eleven? Might be a stretch but after yesterday, is it?”
“Bielsa list the plot end of”
“That picture sums it up so well (unfortunately)”

Should Bielsa take the blame for the result against Crawley?

Yes

Yes

No

No

Given the mutual love and affection that is shared amongst both him and the fans, it would probably be too harsh to suggest this is ‘the strains starting to show’, but it certainly is just a minor bump in the road in their relationship.

Share this article

Freelance sports journalist & broadcaster.