Gary Neville has claimed that Leeds United were showing ‘no respect’ to the opposition following the sacking of Marcelo Bielsa, as he told Super Sunday on Sky Sports.
Leeds were demolished 4-0 by Tottenham yesterday and it proved to be the end of the road for Bielsa at Elland Road.
When Spurs were 3-0 up inside the first half an hour, the writing was on the wall and there was a sombre mood around the place because many felt the inevitable was going to happen.
And not many were left surprised when the club announced that both parties had gone their separate ways less than 24 hours after that defeat to Antonio Conte’s side.
It is a sad ending for Bielsa because he will go down as a Leeds legend for what he has done for this club.
But this is Neville’s take on Bielsa’s sacking and how he enjoyed watching them play, but that soon changed when things started to become ‘really bad’.
“I think a little bit of sadness because when you went to watch Leeds play, in our job, you have enjoyed great games,” said Neville.
“The fact of the matter is, in the last few weeks and months, it has become really desperate.
“You are going from admiration to despair watching Leeds. Thinking ‘they aren’t really exciting anymore. They are really bad’. And they have been really bad defensively in the past few weeks and months.
“Conceding so many goals and chances. No respect for the opposition. We know that Marcelo Bielsa had his values and principles, which we know he’s not going to change, and that has ultimately cost him.
“But there didn’t seem to be a lot of respect on the pitch for the opposition players and just chance after chance, goal after goal against your goalkeeper. But it is a bit of sadness because Leeds were exciting to watch.”
One thing that can’t be denied, whether you are a Leeds fan, opposition player, commentator, supporter, presenter, the cameraman or a neutral…Bielsa’s teams entertained.
And it’s that gung-ho, all-action and 100 miles-per-hour approach that has cost Bielsa his job.
At the end of the day, not only were his side conceding goals for fun, but they were shipping three goals inside the first half of games.
There are mountains to climb in games, but Leeds were having to climb seriously stupid heights time and time again.
And that without their key personnel, such as Kalvin Phillips, Patrick Bamford and Liam Cooper – and now when they return from their long and frustrating injury woes, there will be a new man in the dugout.
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