Bielsa - now you know what it's like first hand ..

[Deleted User 728]

I'm having serious doubts about Bielsa and the effect he's had on our club.

I'd liken it to finally hooking up with someone you've always wanted to be with, someone you may have flirted with in the past, who you almost got together with, that you heard great things about, that you absolutely admire from afar as one of the most beautiful and desirable individuals on the planet : like a dream date, if you could ever get them to go out with you in the first place.
Suddenly, you hear they're on the market and are considering you and before you know it, they've moved in and you're living together.
At first, it's all fireworks and excitement and you can't believe your luck. All your mates - and your enemies - are envious and wondering how you managed it. You look so good together and you couldn't be happier.

Then, after a few months the magic starts to wear off and you find yourself ever so slightly .. well, not exactly bored but you have a sense of deja vu that you've been doing the same things for weeks and going to the same places with the same old faces getting the same old outcomes and you're not quite as happy or fulfilled as you were before.
After a month or two like that, in the new year you start to get a bit depressed about it all : is it me ? Should I just be grateful and put up with their quirky little ways ?

You talk about the situation with a few close friends who are worried for you and you tell them that secretly you don't think it'll work.
They all laugh and shrug it off, saying how they'd love to be in your situation, but deep down you just know something isn't right.

A year in and after a good summer break, you're feeling more upbeat and there's a spring in your step. There's a few new faces on the scene and you get to go to two or three new venues together that you've not been to before - things are on the up. You're sitting pretty again, on top of the world and you seriously believe that you might just make it and that this could be it : "the one" ... until once again, around Christmas time, you get the blues and the wheels start wobbling. You feel it won't be long before they fall off completely and you're not sure you can go through it all again : the heartache, the disappointment, the massive plunge into despair from such giddy, heady heights of love.
The thought of everyone around you laughing again - why do they always judge you so harshly when their lives aren't exactly roses and sunshine - it all feels too much. Should I get out now, just end it to save myself from going through the hell of a break-up.

Should I just walk away, for my own sanity ?

A part of you knows that they're reaching their limit and that they too could walk out at any moment.
Would you be sad ? Of course.
Would you also be relieved it was finally over ? You bet.

[NottinghamWhite]

My biggest problem with Bielsa is the team never changes other than for suspensions or injuries. There’s no competition to get in the team you can predict the team that faces Brentford will be yesterday’s side with Phillips replacing Alioski. I’m no tactician but surely it can’t be difficult to second guess our tactics. Where is the competition ? Poveda left out yesterday for Stevens why are we signing these players ? The players are starting to get frustrated Pablo didn’t seem happy after he was subbed. I don’t honestly know what the answer is but sadly neither does Bielsa.

[EastYorkie]

Sounds more like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle than Bielsa tbh

I can only guess as to what Bielsa thinks.

He has a philosophy about how the game should be played, I assumed it is based on statistics and analysis of how games are won and what great teams do. He has a process that he puts players through to get them to play this way and he believes passionately that if you stick to the process then the stats say that you will win out in the end.

Currently, I am assuming he is totally bemused that things are not working out - we have the possession, create chances, we have the better system of play and yet we just keep on losing. It shouldn't work out like this according to his statistics. I reckon he is just sat there shaking his head in disbelief at all this.

.... but there is a saying that applies to financial markets and in particular gambling - the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent (or words to that effect).

I think this is where Bielsa is at - he thinks if he keeps on going, it will work out. Unfortunately, that combination of things that can go wrong, will go wrong and it will keep on coming until he chills out a bit on his 'process' or it will break him.

Everything is stacked against him, goalkeeping errors, misfiring centre forwards, dodgy referee decisions, injuries, red cards, know it all fans, annoying journalists and most of all lucky and obstinate opposition.

Again, I don't really know how he goes about his business, day in day out but I have the impression that the players do as they are told and follow the process, nothing changes. I reckon he needs to have a collective heart to heart with the players and listen to them and take on board some of the things they may have to tell him about the things that need to change in order to get back to winning ways.

The players will know why they are losing it, irrespective of what they may say on camera. Cooper, as club captain, should be the one who helps to articulate this but then again he doesn't sound like this is a role that would sit naturally with him.

I reckon everyone from Radz downwards to the players is going to be getting tetchy now and that won't help either.

[TezzaWazzaBazza]

His inflexibility is infuriating, even when there is so much evidence to suggest he needs to change things. I have to say, I dont rate his use of analysis etc. Other managers are doing better with less. Having said that, the club hasn't had the striker it needs since Wood left.

[NottinghamWhite]

Having said that, the club hasn't had the striker it needs since Wood left.

Thought Roofe did a decent job.

[Deleted User 3289]

That sounds like a statement put out by Phillip schofield's wife. She should have followed her gut instinct and all that. Brave my arse.

[TezzaWazzaBazza]

Having said that, the club hasn't had the striker it needs since Wood left.

Thought Roofe did a decent job.

I agree he is a good striker, but, like Bamford, he never felt like 'the one'.

[Mr Russell]

Having said that, the club hasn't had the striker it needs since Wood left.

Thought Roofe did a decent job.

I agree he is a good striker, but, like Bamford, he never felt like 'the one'.

Woody was a good striker but would never have fitted into Biesla's style of play. Viduka would have been interesting to see if he was a fit?

[Deleted User 3289]

Having said that, the club hasn't had the striker it needs since Wood left.

Thought Roofe did a decent job.

I agree he is a good striker, but, like Bamford, he never felt like 'the one'.

Roofe was more dynamic imo than Bamford but i still couldn't tell you were Roofe's best position was? I wasn't unhappy with the decision to sell him for a profit. BUT, only having Bamford upfront as made me question my sanity and that Roofe was a Messi in the making?

[Deleted User 3289]

Having said that, the club hasn't had the striker it needs since Wood left.

Thought Roofe did a decent job.

I agree he is a good striker, but, like Bamford, he never felt like 'the one'.

Woody was a good striker but would never have fitted into Biesla's style of play. Viduka would have been interesting to see if he was a fit?

Viduka would have been excellent, although Bielsa would have had to come up with some sort of electric shock treatment in training to get him up to his fitness levels. Jimmy Floyd would have been another good option. Drop of, get the ball run towards goal and let that thunderbolt shot go from anywhere.