MOT View: Danny Mills rant about Bielsa suggests he’s completely misunderstood Leeds boss
Danny Mills has gone on a rant about how Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa failed to name Jean-Kevin Augustin in his matchday squad on Saturday.
Leeds lost 1-0 to Wigan at Elland Road and dropped down to second in the Championship standings in doing so while January signing Augustin, 22, had to wait until Monday to make his debut when he played for the Under-23s.
Augustin only played in the first half of the 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday’s second-string side at Hillsborough before a pre-planned substitution at half-time.
In his time on the pitch, the on-loan RB Leipzig forward looked well short of match fitness as he made barely impact against the Owls’ Under-23s.
Ex-Leeds and England defender Mills, in an interview with Football Insider, has now hit out at Bielsa for not naming Augustin on his bench at the weekend.
“He brings in Big Kev (Augustin), he’s not in the squad because apparently he’s not match fit. He’s got Poveda, who’s in there,” Mills said.
“You don’t always need people who are match fit for 10 minutes, that’s all you need sometimes, just that plan B to change it and I think that’s the frustration – two forward players have been brought in but are they going to be utilised?
“Fans are looking on and going what’s the plan? If you’re saying one you’ve bought is not match fit, well when is he going to be match fit? Surely he’s fit enough to do 15 minutes off the bench.
“It’s frustrating, Leeds fans go away disappointed, yes, but frustrated when the opposition are making three changes to slow the game down and Bielsa’s not really changing it from the bench. There’s no point bringing them in if they’re not going to play.”
It has been two matches where Bielsa hasn’t selected Augustin and he’s saying that there’s “no point” in signing him unless he’s playing him.
What?
It’s as if Mills still does not understand how Bielsa manages his side.
After the match Phil Hay shared what Bielsa said about his decision to not include Augustin and it seems that decision was made because the striker is not yet clued up on the tactics that Bielsa enforces.
Bielsa is all about his tactics. He needs players to know exactly what they are doing before being selected to play – otherwise, his Bielsaball system simply does not work.
Poveda is in the Leeds United squad not only because he seems to be closer to full match fitness than Augustin – based on Monday’s Under-23s game – but also because Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said that the winger is already well-suited to Bielsa’s system.
Bielsa’s methods are not mainstream, we get that. But it is about time that pundits start to educate themselves a bit more on how the Argentine manages his side.
It’s not the first time that Bielsa has taken his time to ease new signings into his system and it won’t be the last, provided he stays on at Elland Road after this season.
Mills needs to realise that there’s more to Bielsa’s decision-making than just match fitness and if Mills had seen Augustin play on Monday, then the match fitness excuse would have been a good enough reason on it’s own anyway.
In other Leeds United news, this striker has been ruled out for eight weeks with a knee injury.