‘Hopefully he tells them to do something stupid’: Ollie Watkins on Bielsa ahead of clash v Leeds
Brentford striker Ollie Watkins has heaped praise on Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa but said “hopefully he tells them to do something stupid” ahead of the clash between the two promotion rivals on Tuesday.
Brentford are back in fifth in the Championship and looking to shock the league by winning automatic promotion.
They’re part of the chasing pack who have hauled Leeds and West Brom back, and they are the league’s second-highest scorers behind West Brom.
Watkins has scored 19 goals for Thomas Frank’s side this season and is currently joint-top scorer in the league with Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Talking on the Jim White Show on Wednesday (talkSPORT, 12.30pm) Watkins was bullish about Brentford’s chances of making the top two but admitted that Bielsa is doing a “great job” at Elland Road.
“The lead was 12 points and now it’s just six,” Watkins said of top side West Brom. Leeds are one point back in second. “It’s game on,” he added. “It’s in our hands.”
Asked if he paid much attention to what was going on at Leeds Watkins said, “A little bit. I watched the Leeds documentary and you see when players like Ander Herrera said ‘[Bielsa] is the best manager I ever had. You’ve got to believe him really.
“The job he’s done at Leeds, the intensity, they’re always running, always moving. It’s a different Leeds to the ones you saw for the previous three or four years before Bielsa.
“He’s done a great job but hopefully he tells them to do something stupid and they slip up.”
Leeds have a huge week in front of them, with games against Nottingham Forest and then Brentford across the space of four days.
Both games are away and come Wednesday morning Leeds will either have cemented their position in the top two or they might have dropped into the play-offs.
Watkins is the chief threat from Brentford and they’ll know all about Leeds with former captain Pontus Jansson playing in the heart of their defence.
Jansson should get a good reaction from the Leeds fans but they’ll hope he has an off night on Tuesday.
In other Leeds United news, Bielsa to make key change for crunch game, JKA involved – Predicted Leeds XI v Forest