Victim of his own success

Do we miss roofe? Hell yeh, but are the roofe figures statistically valid... he missed games in the second half of the season... was his absence the cause of poor results... or are the stats just a reflection that he played more games in a fresher team.

The underlying point about lack of ability and the killer final ball/finish being the hardest things to do.. are certainly true. But the article is a contradiction... if it was simply the players aren’t good enough.. they wouldn’t be good before Christmas either.

Herrera has it in my view... and I’ve heard it from others.

Bielsa is a stubborn fcker... he looks at stats that say players still cover the yards. No sh*t. Of course they do... do they react as quickl?, do they make the same number of good decisions? The history books suggest not.

I would say if he’s a victim of his own anything it’s a victim of his own strategy. Small group of interchangeable players using set patterns they know inside out, gives a great competitive advantage.... while they’re all fit and sharp. Is it a compelling long term strategy in this division? Ask me in May.

Bielsa is homesick for South America he's studying
an offer from Fray Bentos Udders...a significant team
in Uruguay.
Substantial offer and meat pies every day while he's
the coach...don't shoot the messenger!

Interesting read, and I agree with a lot of what is said in the third hypothesis.
However, the stats with Roofe are somewhat misleading. It's suggested that we'd have got an extra 0.16 points per game had Roofe played those additional 13 games. That's barely more than 2 extra points, so in our case not the difference between promotion and not.
Bielsa's methods are particularly interesting for me as someone who coached youngsters for many years. All the FA guidance for coaching kids is to get them to make their own decisions, be comfortable about making mistakes, but learn from those mistakes.
Bielsa seems to instil a factory-process mentality where the players don't think for themselves - they must follow the process. It's highly repetitive, and highly effective at maximising the efficiency of the players you have.
The problem is that the process is predictable for opposing managers. Some, though not all, seem able to counter it. The players we have don't have sufficient quality to change things, add an element of surprise, and think on their feet when they encounter this.
The biggest problem for me, is that if we do go up, it's going to be very difficult to improve the team without wholesale changes. Many of the players we have are not good enough as individuals, and are maxed out in terms of what they can offer to the team. Add to that the fact that our best performers this season are loan players + an aged playmaker in the twilight of his years.
The last 18 months have been fascinating (and fantastic) to watch, but I'm not convinced the Bielsa tenure will end well.

Its been a thoroughly enjoyable ride so far, its been almost perfect minus the derby second leg. Just wish he'd learn from last seasons mistakes (lack of goals, thin squad, no plan b) If season's ended at Christmas, Bielsa would be the best manager in the world. I can't see him staying next season, especially if we stay down.