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Marcelo Bielsa made Leeds fans ‘dream again’ and ‘will always be loved’ by supporters, insists Jermaine Beckford, as Jamie O’Hara says he would take Argentine at Tottenham
Marcelo Bielsa 'will always be loved' by Leeds fans, insists club legend Jermaine Beckford - and Jamie O'Hara says he would take him as Tottenham's next boss.
The Argentine left the Yorkshire club over the weekend after three heavy defeats in seven days.
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They currently sit two points above the relegation zone, having played two games more than a number of teams below them in the table.
But Beckford insists that people need to remember where the club were when Bielsa first took over in 2018 - and says the Argentine will 'always be loved' by supporters.
He told talkSPORT: “Everything that Marcelo Bielsa has done for Leeds, for the city as well, he's brought everyone together.
“He's made people able to dream again. This is the first time in a long time we've seen excellent football being played at Leeds and it's something to be proud of.
“Don't get me wrong, it's frustrating to see because sometimes it's clear we shouldn't be man marking in the Premier League, especially against the top eight teams.
“But that's part of the reason we all fell in love with Bielsa. When he first joined up, Leeds were a mediocre, mid-table Championship side.
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“Kalvin Phillips, Patrick Bamford, Luke Ayling, Liam Cooper - he has brought those players out of their shell and brought them to a level nobody thought they'd be able to reach.
“Everything else outside of football, in terms of the stuff he does for the community, you can see the outpouring of emotion he's getting on social media, that's not by fluke.
“He's bridged the gap that was fractured between the club, the fans and the community.
“For reasons like that, he will always be loved at Leeds.”
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Former Tottenham midfielder O'Hara told talkSPORT that he would take Bielsa as Spurs' next boss.
O'Hara, who played 56 times for the north Londonders, heavily criticised Leeds' defending in recent weeks, but would still take the Argentine as manager, if Antonio Conte were to leave.
“I would have Bielsa, yeah,” O’Hara said, when asked if he would take the ex-Leeds man at Tottenham.
“I would take him because I think he's got unbelievable intensity, in terms of how he wants a team to play, attack, and the way they push forward and play.
“It's just defensively, the way he defends is just nowhere near good enough. It's absolutely shocking and it is gung-ho football.
“As much as that's great to watch, and it is, it just gets a little bit tiring in the end, when you're turning up and getting beat 4-0, 6-0, 4-0, 3-0.
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“And then you might win a game and you go, ‘Oh, they look great’, but you can't turn up every Premier League game and expect to get results when you're defending like that.
“You blame him because he's the man in charge, he wants them to play like that, it’s Plan A and that's it.
“But you have to have a Plan B as well, you have to be adaptable when your players get injured, when your best players are out, you need to shut up shop and try and dig in and nick a result.
"They’re fighting at the bottom of the table so he can't just expect to keep going out and playing the same way.
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“The defending is absolutely criminal and they’ve put in some of the worst defensive performance I've seen over the last few weeks.
“It’s not great, he had to go in the end, but I would have him at Spurs!”
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