Marcelo Bielsa facing uncertain Whites future but still believes in turnaround - YEP 26/2/22

Under-pressure Marcelo Bielsa is still confident he can turn Leeds United's season around despite another heavy defeat, this time at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur.

By Graham Smyth

The Whites head coach saw his side concede their 20th goal in five games and stretch their winless run to six, deepening relegation fears at Elland Road.

For the first time in his tenure Bielsa's men were booed by sections of the home crowd, having capitulated in the first half to go in at the break 3-0 down. Both Robin Koch and Raphinha hit the woodwork for the hosts but a Son Heung-Min goal capped a torrid week for the Argentine and the Whites.

The manner of the defeats to Liverpool and Spurs in particular have raised questions over Bielsa's future at Elland Road and he admitted himself in midweek that the club's owners would be having doubts over his position, but when asked if he remained confident in his ability to turn things around, he responded: "Of course."

His mood after the game was unsurprisingly bleak, however.

"Obviously it's not just this game, it's a succession of results and against these types of results there's no way of not feeling badly," he said.

"In this moment it's very difficult for us to impose our way of playing. I need to know how to understand. The same way a style of play is developed and effective, that means the coach interpreted the reality well, when the opposite happens I have to admit it's not working."

Bielsa says Leeds aren't able to press well from the front, making it easy for opposition sides to supply their forwards with good service. The problem, he insists, does not lie with his players and their efforts. He believes they're still making the necessary physical effort and in turn takes that as a sign that they still believe in his methods. But their efforts to carry out his plan are not working, for which he takes responsibility.

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"I sincerely don't see it that way," he said.

"Our way of playing has two great needs, that there's a press in the opponents' half that prevents the ball getting to their forwards cleanly. So when the opponents' forwards receive the ball they find themselves uncomfortable because the ball was made difficult. In the last three games that hasn't happened. We didn't manage to press well their build up. We made enormous efforts, it didn't work, the passes that came from back to front they could always pick them. In that case it's not easy for the line that has to recover the ball to be efficient. To be just with the response, the press needs to be good so the defence has options to anticipate and recover the ball. That's not happening. Our players are making enormous efforts to disrupt the build up and despite that opponents are managing to circulate the ball well. After with that ease to find their forwards it becomes difficult for us to sustain. This explanation makes the players exempt because when you propose something that the players are not able to take forward they lose culpability.

"Sincerely I say with total honesty, it's not the lack of decision, decidedness or implication. When a process doesn't give the expected results it's natural the one taking it forward starts to lose confidence. It's a consequence that's expected due to it not being as effective as it used to be, positive things are contagious but also the negative things. If something comes off well there's a lot more confidence to do it and when something's not going well there's less confidence."