I imagine most Leeds United fans were sat on the internet yesterday evening with a mix of emotions given manager Marcelo Bielsa’s unexpected press conference.
Fears of resignation were quickly allayed and were replaced with shock and surprise as our gaffer proceeded to take the assembled media through an astonishing Powerpoint presentation – with a full explanation – of just how much work goes into assessing and gleaning information about the opposition to leave us, and the gaffer, as best prepared as possible for our next match.
Leeds fans were left in awe and were left proud in the main. Others were worried about the fallout from him being so honest.
Even opposition fans were completely mixed as they caught up on the nights’ activities, but Bielsa did win some new fans.
The media reaction was also very interesting given the faux indignation and child-like responses we’ve seen in recent days.
Tim Sherwood told Sky Sports that he felt Bielsa’s actions were ‘fair game’. He said the way our gaffer had fronted up and justified his actions, well, ‘I admire that’.
“He feels like he’s done nothing wrong. He assembled the press and disarmed them straight away. He answered all the questions before they had a chance to ask any. In his mind, he’s not broken any rules although the FA may disagree. Then if he has then they will punish him. But the audacity to come out and do this is top draw.”
Poor Frank Lampard seemed thoroughly confused as he spoke to Sky himself.
“I was surprised definitely, it was incredible. I haven’t seen Pep Guardiola give that impression, Jurgen Klopp give that, Mauricio Pochettino give that. They do it behind closed doors definitely, but they don’t do it to the public. Yeah it’s really simple. It’s probably a nice eye-opener for the fan to see it because most of this stuff happens behind closed doors. But they are done everywhere, there’s no amazement from anyone who works in football. It is what it is now, we all know what’s been happening across the board. It’s certainly a league issue now because it is our league it’s every team. So it’s up to them to decide what goes from now.”
Hmmmm.
I sort of love Bielsa. “I observed all the rivals we played against and watched the training sessions of all our opponents before we played against them” ????
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) January 16, 2019
???????????????? love him even more now! https://t.co/tlfP8rQMGQ
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) January 16, 2019
There was a mix as you’d expect, some have made their minds up and won’t change. Others felt for those ‘in the game’ Bielsa’s efforts were nothing new even if he was slightly more extreme.
There are others that are that pathetic I’m not even going to waste my time on them.
All eyes to the EFL, because I still can’t see what they can do.