Leeds United suffered yet another setback in their race to earn promotion this season.
Leeds United fans on Twitter are fuming at Marcelo Bielsa’s comments about new signing Jean-Kevin Augustin after their side suffered a 1-0 defeat to Wigan at Elland Road.
Speaking to Leeds Live, Bielsa stated that Augustin is still ‘adapting’ to the club’s ‘style and play’, hence why he wasn’t even on the bench.
“He just arrived,” Bielsa told Leeds Live. “I try to evaluate always how he is integrating with the group, his adapting with our play and style. After I make a decision, always thinking of the best for the player and for the team. Today I put a substitute on the pitch like a second striker. I thought Tyler Roberts’s contribution was good enough.
“What I think is the manager has to help the player to make his performance good on the pitch, so I am always watching, seeing if the player is in good condition to resolve the needs of the team.
“Because when one player cannot resolve the needs of the team, after on the pitch, it is the player who gets the responsibility in front of the supporters. So I always try to give minutes to one player to ease him in good condition to give a good response in the match.”
Bielsa’s comments haven’t sat well with the Leeds faithful because they simply cannot understand why their new January signing wasn’t even on the bench given the problems they suffer in the attacking third.
It was another typical home game for Leeds, who dominated possession, created a lot of chances, but found themselves leaving the game with zero points to their name.
Patrick Bamford, in particular, struggled once again and received a lot of stick from the fans, who felt that Augustin’s presence on the bench would have pushed him to produce more on the pitch.
Added with that, given how the game was going, it would have been a great option for Bielsa to bring on the Frenchman, in front of a packed out Elland Road crowd and with the chance to make himself the hero on debut.
In the end, it was the same old story for the Whites, who are hoping that Bielsa’s stubbornness won’t result in them falling out of the top-two place because the likes of Fulham, Brentford and Nottingham Forest are chasing them.
Here is a selection of Leeds fans blasting Bielsa for his Augustin comments:
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