To me Bielsa is a coach good enough to win things
The problem is his system never alters, so even if he gets the best from his players, if they have limitations what can he do
How many times do we see a stray pass result in a goal for the opposition or a mistake lead to a goal. Numerous at Man U and Spurs
If he has good enough players, then I suspect the system won’t fall apart - as the way we set up does suggest a mistake will impact us more than others
This season has been great and who are we to complain with mid table so far?
We’ve done this with basically last years team and Raphinha/Rodrigo
We lost Ben White, which is looking more and more painful by the day and have 3 central defenders out injured and a 20 year old keeper learning as he goes
I think you sometimes look before the errors and look at the squad and a bigger picture. Keeper is learning but is quality and young and suits the system. He is a real find. Ayling is just a superb player. Koch looked good prior to injury. Phillips has been excellent but at times would benefit from a midfielder next to him with a more natural defensive set. Forshaw is always injured - Harry Winks would be a great fit
Raphinha is a great signing and I see glimpses of real quality in Rodrigo. I do think he is best served up top, but you can’t leave Bamford out in this form. Harrison is also developing well
We are maybe 4 players short of pushing on. A DF, LB, MF and 10
But we should enjoy this season. If we settle and don’t panic buy, get who we need in the summer and go again and hopefully push towards a to 8
Interesting post but with respect, I reckon you're being a bit alarmist.
I missed yesterday's game so can't comment on what happened. However, I did wonder whether our makeshift, inexperienced backline could contain the Kane-Son partnership, which has undone much better defences than ours in recent times.
And there is the problem with playing against the top sides in the PL. Either you spend many millions or you don't. It's debatable how much more sum the parts of the whole can generate. We've been completely undone by the likes of Salah, Vardy, Giroud, Kane and Son, etc - players at the very top of their game, genuinely in a different class. Thank God Bale wasn't playing yesterday or it might have been worse. Kane-Son v Ayling-Struijk was never going to be easy.
Our regeneration is ongoing, thankfully - we continue to play good football and win games. Priority 1 must be staying up, and anything else is a bonus. I was gutted to get hit for six by Man U but losing games to the other top clubs in the PL is not so painful - so long as we win enough points to stay up.
Simple maths
Way we play works, its great to watch and is effective. We just need better players over the next few seasons to get better and better. We're playing wingers at full back and right backs at centre back so recent form has been impacted.
Seems to be a lot of assumptions that we'll just get better players over the next 3 years and that Bielsa still with us.
I think at 3 years you always see an impact on attrition rate and whilst I hope Bielsa stays beyond this season, it will be uncharted territory for him.
If we stays, we must spend money to upgrade and I don't know if we have that money nor how long it will take.
If Bielsa leaves, do you really think another manager will be able to get the same out of them?
Hence the question where do we go from here?
On a personal level all I’m going to do is sit back and enjoy the fact we are playing good entertaining football in the Premier league. Utter amazing after the dross of 15 years.
In terms of the club? Not sure what they can do? Not going to sack bielsa because he won’t commit to 5 year deal. Bielsa is in charge of his own destiny right now.
The academy can’t compete with other top clubs academies yet. The top spenders also have scouts on every kids pitch in England. It’s no surprise that the top clubs are now bringing through the best players as well as buying the best players.
All we can do imo is
1/ stay up season on season
2/reinvest what we can
3/gradually improve the side
If we really want to challenge then the only option is to sell to someone prepared to throw 1billion at the club minimum
Jonty, I think they need to have a dynamic list of potential replacements so that when Bielsa does go we do not end up with a knee jerk manager like big Sam or Pulis. I think one of the advantages of having a foreign owner and director of football is that they think outside the box and should not just go for a usual suspect type manager.
I mean surely clubs like
Palace
Burnley
West Ham
Soton
Etc
Have asked the same questions ?
Dosnt matter who you are your not breaking into a consistent European chasing outfit without the 1billion.
Sad as it may be
comment by Elsbels - Just Some Guy (U21658)
posted 7 minutes ago
Jonty, I think they need to have a dynamic list of potential replacements so that when Bielsa does go we do not end up with a knee jerk manager like big Sam or Pulis. I think one of the advantages of having a foreign owner and director of football is that they think outside the box and should not just go for a usual suspect type manager.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I would be asking Bielsa who he thinks his replacement should be.
Then I would be getting them in to work jointly with him for a season, then he/she is ready to go.
I'm loving what we've been through but genuinely anxious about what comes after this most unique of coaches.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gian_Piero_Gasperini
He sounds perfect 🤣
Let's not get too hung up about the medium to long term future.
All I'm really concerned about at the moment is the short term and 3 points against B.H.A and the fact that Kalvin will be missing when he has been immense just lately.
Let's cross bridges as we meet them - as I've said before the MB situation and replacement will be being mulled over and analysed like nothing else within the offices at Elland Road, Radz has proven to be anything but stupid.
comment by The Very Rev Wilko (U21072)
posted 42 minutes ago
Let's not get too hung up about the medium to long term future.
All I'm really concerned about at the moment is the short term and 3 points against B.H.A and the fact that Kalvin will be missing when he has been immense just lately.
Let's cross bridges as we meet them - as I've said before the MB situation and replacement will be being mulled over and analysed like nothing else within the offices at Elland Road, Radz has proven to be anything but stupid.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Have to disagree re AR, his comments last time around re Bielsa weren't the smartest.
comment by A14... ( ليدز_يونايتد )You gotta love it!! (U2805)
posted 23 hours, 8 minutes ago
We don’t really need to be going anywhere, just stay as we are. We are (largely) beating the teams that we should be completing against to be an established mid table team and losing against top teams who have either invested heavily or have a different class of quality with established players.
I would be happy with a mid table finish for the next 3 season and improve the squad slowly. Not sure what people are expecting. We been waiting for 16 for this and now we are here and people are quickly jumping to the next panic-button strategy - why???
I expect us to get 1-2 hammerings (Man U game) this season and a few lessons (today’s game)..... controlling my expectations here
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Spot on. This is our first season back and we are more than holding our own. Every promoted side goes through this rite of passage. Against Spurs, our limitations were exposed. We could have had 5 more defenders in the box and Son would still have scored. It was just a shame our strikers had lead in their boots. But that is the difference between them and us. I would not criticize the players. They are magnificent this season. Inexperience at this level is not a crime. We will have better days, but what a joy it is to be back where we belong.
comment by A14... ( ليدز_يونايتد )You gotta l... (U2805)
posted 11 hours, 47 minutes ago
comment by Stoopo (U4707)
posted 20 minutes ago
comment by Jonty (U4614)
posted 1 hour, 4 minutes ago
Not sure anything is obvious with only a few months left of Bielsa contract, complete uncertainty about fans return and finances.
In an ideal world we know we have Bielsa fir 3 more years, normal times with more sustainable finances but these are obviously not normal times.
With Bielsa’s lack of desire to rotate we don’t really see the U23s come through and with never seeing him at a club for long enough we don’t know if that is his aim or just has U23 on bench and poveda coming on because he just has no other senior players.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We should know now that Bielsa and contracts are not that important as far as he’s concerned. In pretty sure the club will be working on one and offer it at the right time for everyone.
The rest is unavoidable and we are all in the same boat really. Those clubs with huge income streams are probably suffering just as much as those with less income. They have massive overheads to service.
The club appears to be in good hands and hopefully things will improve Covid wise once the vaccine kicks in.
I can’t see the club talking contracts with MB until we are safe. That would be the time to look at where we are going and what he wants to achieve at the club. If we do go down then I can’t see him staying.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
If we go down?? Is it me or are you guys looking at the wrong league table. Sheff u are 100% down.... WBA are 80% gone.... leaves 1 place. We are comfortably beating teams (largely) half of the league - I’ll put my mortgage on it we’ve done enough already to know we’ll cross 40 point mark
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nothing is certain until it’s certain. I think we will stay up easy but who’s to say we won’t go on a bad run and lose the next ten games? Three points for a win can change things very quickly.
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Where do we go from here
Page 2 of 2
posted on 3/1/21
To me Bielsa is a coach good enough to win things
The problem is his system never alters, so even if he gets the best from his players, if they have limitations what can he do
How many times do we see a stray pass result in a goal for the opposition or a mistake lead to a goal. Numerous at Man U and Spurs
If he has good enough players, then I suspect the system won’t fall apart - as the way we set up does suggest a mistake will impact us more than others
This season has been great and who are we to complain with mid table so far?
We’ve done this with basically last years team and Raphinha/Rodrigo
We lost Ben White, which is looking more and more painful by the day and have 3 central defenders out injured and a 20 year old keeper learning as he goes
I think you sometimes look before the errors and look at the squad and a bigger picture. Keeper is learning but is quality and young and suits the system. He is a real find. Ayling is just a superb player. Koch looked good prior to injury. Phillips has been excellent but at times would benefit from a midfielder next to him with a more natural defensive set. Forshaw is always injured - Harry Winks would be a great fit
Raphinha is a great signing and I see glimpses of real quality in Rodrigo. I do think he is best served up top, but you can’t leave Bamford out in this form. Harrison is also developing well
We are maybe 4 players short of pushing on. A DF, LB, MF and 10
But we should enjoy this season. If we settle and don’t panic buy, get who we need in the summer and go again and hopefully push towards a to 8
posted on 3/1/21
Interesting post but with respect, I reckon you're being a bit alarmist.
I missed yesterday's game so can't comment on what happened. However, I did wonder whether our makeshift, inexperienced backline could contain the Kane-Son partnership, which has undone much better defences than ours in recent times.
And there is the problem with playing against the top sides in the PL. Either you spend many millions or you don't. It's debatable how much more sum the parts of the whole can generate. We've been completely undone by the likes of Salah, Vardy, Giroud, Kane and Son, etc - players at the very top of their game, genuinely in a different class. Thank God Bale wasn't playing yesterday or it might have been worse. Kane-Son v Ayling-Struijk was never going to be easy.
Our regeneration is ongoing, thankfully - we continue to play good football and win games. Priority 1 must be staying up, and anything else is a bonus. I was gutted to get hit for six by Man U but losing games to the other top clubs in the PL is not so painful - so long as we win enough points to stay up.
posted on 3/1/21
Simple maths
Way we play works, its great to watch and is effective. We just need better players over the next few seasons to get better and better. We're playing wingers at full back and right backs at centre back so recent form has been impacted.
posted on 3/1/21
Seems to be a lot of assumptions that we'll just get better players over the next 3 years and that Bielsa still with us.
I think at 3 years you always see an impact on attrition rate and whilst I hope Bielsa stays beyond this season, it will be uncharted territory for him.
If we stays, we must spend money to upgrade and I don't know if we have that money nor how long it will take.
If Bielsa leaves, do you really think another manager will be able to get the same out of them?
Hence the question where do we go from here?
posted on 3/1/21
On a personal level all I’m going to do is sit back and enjoy the fact we are playing good entertaining football in the Premier league. Utter amazing after the dross of 15 years.
In terms of the club? Not sure what they can do? Not going to sack bielsa because he won’t commit to 5 year deal. Bielsa is in charge of his own destiny right now.
The academy can’t compete with other top clubs academies yet. The top spenders also have scouts on every kids pitch in England. It’s no surprise that the top clubs are now bringing through the best players as well as buying the best players.
All we can do imo is
1/ stay up season on season
2/reinvest what we can
3/gradually improve the side
If we really want to challenge then the only option is to sell to someone prepared to throw 1billion at the club minimum
posted on 3/1/21
Jonty, I think they need to have a dynamic list of potential replacements so that when Bielsa does go we do not end up with a knee jerk manager like big Sam or Pulis. I think one of the advantages of having a foreign owner and director of football is that they think outside the box and should not just go for a usual suspect type manager.
posted on 3/1/21
I mean surely clubs like
Palace
Burnley
West Ham
Soton
Etc
Have asked the same questions ?
Dosnt matter who you are your not breaking into a consistent European chasing outfit without the 1billion.
Sad as it may be
posted on 3/1/21
comment by Elsbels - Just Some Guy (U21658)
posted 7 minutes ago
Jonty, I think they need to have a dynamic list of potential replacements so that when Bielsa does go we do not end up with a knee jerk manager like big Sam or Pulis. I think one of the advantages of having a foreign owner and director of football is that they think outside the box and should not just go for a usual suspect type manager.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I would be asking Bielsa who he thinks his replacement should be.
Then I would be getting them in to work jointly with him for a season, then he/she is ready to go.
I'm loving what we've been through but genuinely anxious about what comes after this most unique of coaches.
posted on 3/1/21
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gian_Piero_Gasperini
He sounds perfect 🤣
posted on 3/1/21
Let's not get too hung up about the medium to long term future.
All I'm really concerned about at the moment is the short term and 3 points against B.H.A and the fact that Kalvin will be missing when he has been immense just lately.
Let's cross bridges as we meet them - as I've said before the MB situation and replacement will be being mulled over and analysed like nothing else within the offices at Elland Road, Radz has proven to be anything but stupid.
posted on 3/1/21
comment by The Very Rev Wilko (U21072)
posted 42 minutes ago
Let's not get too hung up about the medium to long term future.
All I'm really concerned about at the moment is the short term and 3 points against B.H.A and the fact that Kalvin will be missing when he has been immense just lately.
Let's cross bridges as we meet them - as I've said before the MB situation and replacement will be being mulled over and analysed like nothing else within the offices at Elland Road, Radz has proven to be anything but stupid.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Have to disagree re AR, his comments last time around re Bielsa weren't the smartest.
posted on 3/1/21
comment by A14... ( ليدز_يونايتد )You gotta love it!! (U2805)
posted 23 hours, 8 minutes ago
We don’t really need to be going anywhere, just stay as we are. We are (largely) beating the teams that we should be completing against to be an established mid table team and losing against top teams who have either invested heavily or have a different class of quality with established players.
I would be happy with a mid table finish for the next 3 season and improve the squad slowly. Not sure what people are expecting. We been waiting for 16 for this and now we are here and people are quickly jumping to the next panic-button strategy - why???
I expect us to get 1-2 hammerings (Man U game) this season and a few lessons (today’s game)..... controlling my expectations here
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Spot on. This is our first season back and we are more than holding our own. Every promoted side goes through this rite of passage. Against Spurs, our limitations were exposed. We could have had 5 more defenders in the box and Son would still have scored. It was just a shame our strikers had lead in their boots. But that is the difference between them and us. I would not criticize the players. They are magnificent this season. Inexperience at this level is not a crime. We will have better days, but what a joy it is to be back where we belong.
posted on 3/1/21
comment by A14... ( ليدز_يونايتد )You gotta l... (U2805)
posted 11 hours, 47 minutes ago
comment by Stoopo (U4707)
posted 20 minutes ago
comment by Jonty (U4614)
posted 1 hour, 4 minutes ago
Not sure anything is obvious with only a few months left of Bielsa contract, complete uncertainty about fans return and finances.
In an ideal world we know we have Bielsa fir 3 more years, normal times with more sustainable finances but these are obviously not normal times.
With Bielsa’s lack of desire to rotate we don’t really see the U23s come through and with never seeing him at a club for long enough we don’t know if that is his aim or just has U23 on bench and poveda coming on because he just has no other senior players.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We should know now that Bielsa and contracts are not that important as far as he’s concerned. In pretty sure the club will be working on one and offer it at the right time for everyone.
The rest is unavoidable and we are all in the same boat really. Those clubs with huge income streams are probably suffering just as much as those with less income. They have massive overheads to service.
The club appears to be in good hands and hopefully things will improve Covid wise once the vaccine kicks in.
I can’t see the club talking contracts with MB until we are safe. That would be the time to look at where we are going and what he wants to achieve at the club. If we do go down then I can’t see him staying.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
If we go down?? Is it me or are you guys looking at the wrong league table. Sheff u are 100% down.... WBA are 80% gone.... leaves 1 place. We are comfortably beating teams (largely) half of the league - I’ll put my mortgage on it we’ve done enough already to know we’ll cross 40 point mark
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nothing is certain until it’s certain. I think we will stay up easy but who’s to say we won’t go on a bad run and lose the next ten games? Three points for a win can change things very quickly.
Page 2 of 2