As a forum do we think BIELSA is the right man ?

[vyvanse]

He will surely improve us, he’s miles ahead of any manager we’ve appointed in the last decade. If we, the fans, will be patient and the Board will back him, I think he will turn us around.

[Deleted User 3289]

Difficult to say, really. I know the man has a fantastic reputation, but it feels like the sort of appointment that's being done for publicity more than anything else. They say good coaches will be able to improve any player, but the standard of players he's used to working with far exceed any talent we have at the club - and that's not even because our players are terrible, it's just that he's used to working with European and international standard players, which he isn't getting here. Can he navigate one of the most competitive leagues in the world without huge backing or top-level players? I'm not sure.

They say that Bielsa's tactics need his players to be fit, that shouldn't be an issue, any professional footballer at Championship level should be able to attain a good level of fitness under the right coaching set up. They also need to be disciplined and learn the passing and movement patterns of his formations. Again any professional footballer at our level should have enough football intelligence to get a handle on this. Lastly and most worringly they need to be technically good enough to implement his vision. If we don't recruit some good technical players this is where it will fall down.

I would add to that he also needs to know how to defend set-peices coming at you from all over the pitch. "Especially if Pontus does talk himself into a transfer"
He sounds like he wants what TC wanted from the team in the first 7 games, high energy pressing, with lots of movement. I remember saying it after the Forest away game last season when we were flying, that the only thing i can see going wrong was that this squad is not big enough to keep this energy up for the season. Imo to play that level you need 22 players of similar ability. When you here of all the good things being said about the man, most of them are all good international players. That being said, at our level it would still be quite a Coup d'etat i think.

[Mr Russell]

Although he has not yet joined (will he?) i'm torn to be honest, he is a big name and has managed Argentina and Chile as well as Lazio, Marseille and Athletic Bilbao. He is well credentialed and his style of play is good to watch but this is the championship and England, can his tactics and style work??

For him I don't think the saying of he has not experience of English football or the division really counts here he has experience of football around the world and learned from each job.

The big questions for me is "dees he want to come? and why?"

[PhoenixUnited]

Whoever we get in as Head Coach, there are the obvious questions around ability, knowledge, experience etc., but in our case there is I think another very requirement which is that of stability. I wonder if that is a consideration in making this appointment.

There has been such a lot of chopping and changing in the last decade allied with negative progress on the pitch. Shockingly, so far there have been three Head Coaches in Andrea Radrizzani’s tenure of what – 18 months? No one can predict what is going to happen in the future but personally, I struggle to see this as something that is going to be a long term arrangement IF it happens.

[ChilwellWhite]

Who voted I don't want him at the club ? Would love to know why ?

[Deleted User 5081]

Who voted I don't want him at the club ? Would love to know why ?

Shhhh its our resident Man Utd fan

[Deleted User 728]

Who voted I don't want him at the club ? Would love to know why ?

Shhhh its our resident Man Utd fan

[Deleted User 2988]

Who voted I don't want him at the club ? Would love to know why ?

Guilty. Mostly just playing devil’s advocate, but I can see the whole thing ending in disaster. I know I’m being excessively negative here, but I can’t see him playing second fiddle to Orta with regards to transfers, and I feel he’ll demand signings that will stretch both the transfer and the wage budget to unsustainable levels. We need investment, but I want it to be sustainable, and from where I’m sitting this has Redknapp at Birmingham written all over it.

We know first hand that foreign signings take a while to bed in, or simply don’t suit English football full stop. Can’t see a manager who has never managed in this country being acutely aware of British based players to get is up, so I’d imagine we’ll just be signing more foreign players. Nothing wrong with that, but if we have a bad start, with the impatience from the fans etc coupled with the fact Bielsa is, by all accounts, a bit temperamental, I could see him leaving very swiftly and lumbering us with expensive signings on long term contracts that suit a very specific style of football we’d be unlikely to replicate under other managers.

A lot of ifs and buts here, I grant you, but I just don’t have a great feeling about it. Would love to be proven wrong though.

[Deleted User 728]

One thing we can be grateful for regarding his short fuse is that if he storms out we won't have to pay a penny in compensation.

That could be important given the rumoured three year contract and what I would imagine to be a substantially higher salary than any other coach in the last ten years.

[Leonickroberts]

I'm currently wondering whether the question is more "as a forum do we think Bielsa is even joining the club?" given the radio silence this week.

Fingers crossed for a massive Friday announcement of new manager, top new striker, and maybe a couple of lovely loan signings from Citeh and/or Spurs...