Tottenham fans were full of praise for Leeds United boss, Marcelo Bielsa, for playing his youngsters during the club’s injury crisis.
On Saturday, there was controversy when Tottenham’s north London derby against Arsenal was postponed because their neighbours didn’t have enough players available to fulfil the fixture.
Spurs expressed their ‘surprise’ on Twitter at the Premier League’s decision to allow the match to be postponed because many of the absentees were down to injuries, players on AFCON duty or suspended players – and not all COVID related.
Whilst that happened in north London, on the east side of the capital, Bielsa, with over 11 senior players out injured, got on with the job and helped Leeds record a deserved 3-2 win over West Ham.
No manager has played more teenagers in the Premier League this season than the Leeds boss and Tottenham fans praised the world-renowned coach for getting on with it and not moaning.
If Leeds’ injury list is bad enough, it became even worse at the London Stadium because Junior Firpo and Adan Forshaw were forced off within minutes of each other in the first half.
Bielsa’s reaction? To throw on two teenagers, not forgetting that he also named 15-year-old, Archie Gray, the great-nephew of club legend Eddie, on the bench.
Not just to Arsenal, but Bielsa is an example to the rest of the Premier League that you can deal with a crisis by using your youngsters, rather than asking for games to be called off.
Otherwise, what is the point of academies? And what’s the point in investing money into these players?
The problem stems from the fact that there are teams that don’t have a COVID outbreak, yet they are using COVID to halt their matches because of injuries or other reasons.
All of this should land on the doorstep of those in the Premier League boardroom because they are the issue here and the ones at fault.
They are the ones allowing this mess and if it isn’t dealt with in a draconian-like manner sooner, rather than later, then it will just continue to happen all season long.
Nonetheless, the Spurs faithful were full of praise for Bielsa and his Leeds side amid their crisis:
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