MOT View: Bielsa not happy and that is the last thing that Leeds can afford
If you watched the Leeds United pre-match press conference on Thursday you’ll have seen a very different Bielsa to the normal softly-spoken amicable man.
As expected, one of the first questions he faced was about Jean-Kevin Augustin, with fans desperate to see him play for the first team.
Bielsa launched into a 20-minute answer that could basically be summed up as follows: I’m the manager, I will decide when Augustin plays.
He was defiant and you could tell he wasn’t happy at his methods being questioned.
That’s come from fans on social media after the 1-0 defeat to Wigan and while we don’t imagine Bielsa is glued to social media, the message is obviously getting through.
However, it’s also come from high-profile pundits like Ian Wright and Bielsa is far more likely to have heard from sources like this.
Bielsa said that if Augustin was only 50% then he couldn’t play for the first team.
However, he also said he wasn’t looking for perfection. He said if he got to 70% of his skills then that would be enough for him to play.
Who knows better than Bielsa when Augustin is ready to play?
Not Ian Wright, who was a great striker and made a good point about not needing to be fully fit to come off the bench.
However, he doesn’t know the condition of Augustin. The fact is, nobody knows better than the manager. And there aren’t many managers that know more than Bielsa.
If he’s only at 50% then Bielsa is right to keep him on hold. It’s not just about making an impact, it’s about keeping him fit, keeping his confidence up and ensuring he doesn’t get injured.
However, even more important than this is that Bielsa doesn’t get frustrated and feel under fire as Leeds manager.
He’s done more than anyone since Leeds were relegated to haul the club back into the big time.
We might not agree with every decision he makes but we have to know he’s forgotten more about the game than we’ll ever know.
Now is the time to get behind Bielsa. To get behind Patrick Bamford. And to roar the team back to the Premier League.
In other Leeds United news, Exclusive: Paul Robinson claims injury blow to Leeds attacker is a ‘real body blow’