Speaking on his podcast, Phil Hay has been talking about Raphinha and some of his frustrations with Marcelo Bielsa towards the end of his tenure at the club.
The Brazilian has undoubtedly been one of Leeds’ best players this season, but in recent weeks, his form has fallen off of a cliff.
He’s not played brilliantly over the past month or two, and Hay says that the winger was actually frustrated with the manager towards the end of his time at Elland Road, stating that he wasn’t pleased with being substituted against Everton last month.
What’s been said?
Hay shared what he knows about Raphinha.
“There was frustration there definitely. Raphinha wasn’t delighted to be substituted like that against Everton. He and Bielsa did speak the week after, but Bielsa stuck to his guns really and dropped him against Man United. He is exactly the sort of player who needs to come back into form to help out over these last 12 games now,” Hay said.
Poor man management
We can understand why Bielsa wanted to stamp his authority when his star player had been underperforming, but at this point of a season, you can’t risk alienating your best player.
Bielsa’s man-management here wasn’t great. Yes, Raphinha probably should have gotten on with his job, but you need to do all you can to appease a talent like that at such a crucial point of the campaign.
Let’s hope that Jesse Marsch can get Raphinha back on side and playing his best football again.
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