‘Been his downfall’: Lawrenson shares why he thinks Bielsa became ‘a bit of a dinosaur’ at Leeds

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Speaking to OTB, Mark Lawrenson has given his view on Marcelo Bielsa after his departure from Leeds United.

At first, it looked as though Bielsa and Leeds were a match made in heaven, but in recent weeks, things have turned sour on the pitch.

United have shipped goal after goal and their offensive spark has absolutely vanished, and inevitably, that led to Bielsa getting the sack.

Lawrenson believes that the Argentine actually became a bit of a dinosaur towards the end of his time at Elland Road as he failed to adapt to the challenges he faced.

What’s been said?

Lawrenson gave his view on Bielsa’s departure.

“Do you know what? I think they’ve obviously sacked him because of the results, but also because he can’t change, he’s actually, in the last number of games, he’s actually become a bit of a dinosaur, and if you can’t defend, especially in the Premier League, you’re going to struggle, and it’s not just because they can’t defend, it’ the number of goals and also because of the way the goals have come in,” Lawrenson said.

“A lot of them have been team goals, playing from the back and cutting right through them. They’ve been excellent goals, but there’s also been some very simple goals. Plan A hadn’t worked, but he’d just reverted to Plan A, that’s basically what he’s done. He just couldn’t change it, and that’s been his downfall to be honest with you.”

Need to be adaptable

Marcelo Bielsa being called a dinosaur by Mark Lawrenson isn’t quite how any of us expected his tenure at Leeds to end.

However, sadly, Lawrenson has a point.

The Argentine failed to adapt, and in the Premier League, it’s very often ‘adapt or die’.

Just look at how the two best managers in the league have changed their styles since arriving in England.

Pep Guardiola went from a Bayern Munich side that was built around a clear number nine in the shape of either Robert Lewandowski or Mario Mandzukic to not using a striker at all at Manchester City, while Jurgen Klopp swapped a 4-4-1-1 at Dortmund for a 4-3-3 where the full-backs are his key creators at Liverpool.

Bielsa played in the Premier League in the same way he always has, and while it worked for a year, once teams had figured his tactics out, his side was only going to head in one direction.