Any Leeds United supporter feeling brave enough to criticise Marcelo Bielsa in public must sometimes feel like he’s committed an act of blasphemy punishable by crucifixion on the grounds of Elland Road.
Like the Pope walking up to God and telling him that long white beard makes him look like he’s part of a ZZ-Top tribute act.
But put the emotion to one side for a moment, and cold-hard logic will tell you that the sacking of Leeds’ most iconic manager since Don Revie is, from owner Andrea Radrizzani’s perspective, at least some way understandable.
Losing four games in a row. Conceding a Premier League record 20 goals in February alone. This was a team not so much sleepwalking towards relegation but one slipping into the deepest of slumbers while navigating an 18-wheeler around the Bolivian mountains.
The appointment of Jesse Marsch as Bielsa’s successor is an attempt to shake things up. A desperate roll of the dice for a side who, while admittedly suffering the sort of injury crisis that even the Premier League’s most well-stocked squads would struggle to deal with, have fallen so far from their brilliant 2021/22 best.
What went wrong for Marcelo Bielsa?
Bielsa cannot shoulder the blame on his own, of course. Even if this most humble of men would probably claim that Leeds’ decline is his fault and his fault alone.
The fact remains that Leeds have signed six first-team players since promotion in 2020 and only one of those – Raphinha – can be considered an unquestionable success.
Last summer, Leeds bought only Dan James and Junior Firpo. Meaning the spine of the team remains broadly the same as the one Bielsa inherited from Paul Heckingbottom four years ago.
Perhaps, given the lack of changes to the first-team picture, it was inevitable that things would grow stale eventually.
Sir Alex Ferguson famously kept Manchester United fresh and hungry by striving to strengthen from a position of power. Leeds, rather than enhancing their roster while on the up, are now under pressure to find upgrades for declining players on the back of a confidence-sapping season.
One player Bielsa wanted, while preparing for Leeds’ second season back in the big time, was Lewis O’Brien. Huddersfield rejected no less than four offers however – the highest being £13 million – and Leeds’ summer-long pursuit came to nothing.
Back in for O’Brien?
“Lewis was aware of the interest from Leeds, as were we,” says former chairman Phil Hodgskinson.
“Lewis said: ‘Of course I want to play in the Premier League and playing for someone like Bielsa with his reputation can only make me better, but I understand the offer’s got to be right for the football club.’”
All credit goes to O’Brien for refusing to kick up a fuss. But Planet Sport believe that there is a £12 million release clause in the new contract signed in September. Huddersfield, then, will be powerless to prevent the midfielder’s departure if Leeds come calling again.
O’Brien is hardly the most high-profile signing Leeds could make. But if Marsch is to succeed, he needs to take Leeds back to basics. Back to what they did so well under his enigmatic predecessor. A return to the industrious, energetic, high-pressing days of old.
And if Bielsa felt that O’Brien was tailor-made for this Leeds side, so should Marsch. Orta has already admitted that Marsch was handed the reigns because his ‘philosophy’ is similar to Bielsa’s.
What O’Brien lacks in glamour, he more than makes up for in suitability.
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