Tim Sherwood heaped praise on Marcelo Bielsa for sticking to his approach despite Leeds United losing 7-0 to Manchester City on Tuesday night, as he told Premier League Productions (14/12/21 at 10:15 pm).
The former Blackburn captain stated that he likes that forward-thinking approach from Bielsa and how it’s ‘definitely fantastic to watch’.
Ever since Leeds returned to the Premier League, they have been known for their gung-ho style, all-action ways and man-to-man marking system.
Added with several key injuries they have had to deal with, it was all well and truly blown out of the water at the Etihad.
Even during the break, when Leeds were 3-0 down, they still didn’t change their approach, which can be seen in many ways.
Some will feel you need to protect yourself at that point, whilst someone like Bielsa is still forward-thinking.
Even though Leeds suffered a record-breaking defeat last night, Sherwood still made it clear that he appreciates how Bielsa just won’t change for anybody.
“I don’t think he ever goes out of that way of playing,” said Sherwood. “I don’t think he does (think about damage limitations).
“He made some changes, brought some young ones on. He is looking towards the next one.
“He will be saying to them ‘that wasn’t good enough, we made mistakes, but they are very good. We aren’t going to play Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool every week’.
“So, he keeps them with the same formation. The same way of playing. The same identity, so when they do come up against the team that are mid to lower end of the table, then they will win enough points to stay in the league.
“I like that approach. It’s definitely fantastic to watch. It’s entertaining because a lot of teams go there, put bodies behind the ball and they just try to play anti-football. They get beat anyway. At least we got entertained.”
The problem facing Leeds is that whilst they were picking up points from the so-called lesser teams last season.
It’s not quite clicking this time around, so, added with their heavy defeats, the obvious question of will they get relegated is being asked.
This isn’t going to be an easy festive period for the Whites because their next clash is a home tie with Arsenal, before travelling to Anfield and then taking on in-form Aston Villa, who have been riding a wave ever since Steven Gerrard arrived.
The road Leeds are going down, at this moment, will take them into the bottom three.
But with the quality of players they have in their squad, it’s about staying in the picture, and when those players return from injury, then they will have more than enough to get out of their current mess.
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