MOT View: Leeds fans will be bouncing after what Bielsa has just said
Many fans, including ourselves, were fully expecting Marcelo Bielsa to field the kids for Leeds United against Crawley Town in the FA Cup.
MOT Leeds News columnist Paul Robinson was expecting huge changes to the line-up, with the Premier League the obvious priority.
However, in his pre-match press conference, Bielsa said that the squad wouldn’t contain anyone who hasn’t played before.
So, no Joe Gelhadrt, no Sam Greenwood and no Cody Drameh.
That might be a bit disappointing but what Bielsa has said will have left Leeds United fans bouncing – as far as the FA Cup is concerned, he means business.
He wants to win it.
Leeds have six days off after the FA Cup game but then face four games in just over two weeks.
If Bielsa was going to rest his first-team players, this was the time to do it.
Bielsa said that the FA Cup is the “essence of football in this country” and it means that Crawley are going to have to face a very strong Leeds line-up.
Leeds are as long as 33/1 to win the FA Cup with some bookies and given this news they might want to shrink things down a bit.
Leeds have proved that they’re a match for anyone on their day and with other Premier League sides liable to field weakened teams themselves, Bielsa’s side has a very good outside chance of staging a shock.
Perhaps things might have been different if Leeds were in trouble near the bottom, but with 23 points after 17 games, Bielsa obviously feels confident about swinging for the fences in the FA Cup.
And that is very exciting for Leeds fans.
In other Leeds United news, Significant Rodrigo De Paul to Leeds development reported