Even to, what could be, the last, Marcelo Bielsa’s confidence in himself, his ideas and his philosophy was undiminished at Leeds United.
Even after equalling the longest winless run of his tenure and breaking the record for goals conceded in a single month by a Premier League team, Bielsa felt he was the man to turn things around.
In a move which seemed unthinkable less than three weeks ago, Leeds are reportedly set to announce the end of Bielsa’s tenure at Elland Road.
As the goals effortlessly flew in for Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, each hit, on top of the six Liverpool chucked in on Wednesday, felt like nails in the Bielsa coffin.
Naturally, the questions in the post-match press conference focused very little on the normal topics: in-match incidents, injuries, team selection, substitutions, the crowd.
Everything centred on the impact upon him, the players taking more responsibility, individual errors, overall defensive performance and ultimately whether he was the right man for the job.
In what could be the last question of his last press conference as United head coach, Bielsa was asked: “Do you still have confidence you have the ideas and ability to turn Leeds around this season?”
“Of course.”
His faith, his vision for how football should be played is unshakeable. When all the statistics and momentum are against him, when it would be easier to down tools, Bielsa would not veer from his path.
Even as boos rang around Elland Road for the first time in his 170-game tenure, the Argentine was ready to stick to his task and watch his side play their way out of trouble.
Bielsa has never been one for shirking responsibility. In fact, he seeks it out and tries to take on as much of it as possible.
Whenever performances disappointed or results deteriorated, it was never on the players, it was always on him and his inability to achieve what he was striving for on the pitch.
In overseeing United’s slide to 16th and into a position where their fate was no longer in their own hands, Bielsa would have taken responsibility for that and felt it was on him to turn things around, not for someone else to come in and clear up.
Bielsa had seen his system work before at this level and he still had the belief it would work again. If this is to be his parting message to Leeds fans, it seems a fitting epitaph for the confidence he had in never straying from what he saw as the beautiful game.
