Leeds United have parted company with Marcelo Bielsa after a run of four straight defeats.
Bielsa ’s tenure at Elland Road has come to an end after 170 matches and more than 1,300 days at the helm.
The 66-year-old helped transform the fortunes of the club both on and off the pitch as he ended Leeds ’ 16-year wait for Premier League football in 2020.
He then guided the club to a ninth-place finish in their first season back in the top-flight but with Leeds sat two points above the bottom three, yesterday’s 4-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur proved to be the final straw.
Here are some of Bielsa’s last words as manager of the club:
On the players taking more responsibility and if they remain with him: “I don't see it the way you're suggesting. I also haven't done for them what you say. Either way I propose the style of play they take forward and that allowed for a positive cycle.
“In this moment, it's very difficult for us to impose our way of playing and I need to know how to understand that the same style of play developed and was effective and that means that the coach interpreted the reality well. So when the opposite happens I have to admit what I'm proposing is not working.”
“If I measure the effort I have to say yes but if I look at what we get and what we don't get I can't deny that we're not getting what we used to get. When players give their all physically with so much effort.
“Clearly I have to think about what I'm proposing, it's not that they don't want to do it, they're just not managing to do it. And sincerely I say it with total honesty, it's not the lack of decision, decisiveness or implication, when the process doesn't give the expected results it's natural that the one who's taking it forward starts to lose confidence, so it's a consequence that's expected.
“Due to it not being as effective as it used to be, it becomes more difficult to. The positive things are contagious but also the negative things. When something comes out well there's a lot more confidence and desire to do it and when something's not going well there's less confidence and it's less easy to do it.”
On sticking to his style of play: “I sincerely don't see it that way. Our way of playing has two great needs: that there's a press in the opponent's half that prevents the ball getting to their forwards cleanly, and so when the opponent's forwards receive the ball that they find themselves uncomfortable because the pass that found them was made difficult.
“And in the last three games that hasn't happened, we didn't manage to press well their build-up, we made enormous efforts but it didn't work. Passes that came from back to front they could always pick them. And in that case it's not easy for the line that has to recover the ball to be efficient in the recovery of the ball.
“To be just with the response, when you press and defend going forwards, the press needs to be good so the defence has options to anticipate and to recover the ball and that's not happening. Players are making enormous efforts to obstruct build-up. Despite that the opponents are managing to circulate the ball well. And after with that ease to find their forwards it becomes difficult for us to sustain. This explanation makes the players exempt.
Asked if he has the confidence to turn it around: “Of course.”
