Leeds United should have kept faith with Javi Gracia as they entered the final month of the Premier League campaign. That’s the belief of BBC 5 Live pundit Chris Sutton, who insists the Whites were wrong to roll the dice following their heavy defeat to Bournemouth, which left them staring down the barrel of relegation with four games remaining.
Gracia spent just over two months at the Elland Road helm after replacing Jesse Marsch in February and he did get off to a strong start. The Spaniard picked up 10 points from his first six Premier League games in charge, with wins over Southampton, Wolves and Nottingham Forest being enough to pull Leeds away from the bottom three.
Form nosedived after the win over the latter, though, with a run of five winless games, including a 5-1 defeat to Crystal Palace and a 6-1 loss to Liverpool, seeing Leeds take a swift turn towards the Championship. Eventually a limp 4-1 loss to Bournemouth on the south coast pushed the Leeds board into action, firing Gracia and putting Allardyce in place for the final month.
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Since that decision, Leeds have picked up just one point and their loss to West Ham United on Sunday in east London has left them needing a miracle on the final day in order to beat the drop.
“We all know the issues that have gone on at Leeds this season but the gamble on Allardyce was so late,” Sutton told 5 Live’s The Monday Night Club. “It was a ridiculous gamble, four games left, to bring a manager in and they’re now launching long throws into the box and I know they scored off a long throw, it’s decidedly odd.
“When you actually look at Gracia’s record, yes, the wheels came off a little bit at the end, but 11 points from 11 games wasn’t an absolute disaster, they just panicked. They should have brought Allardyce in earlier, they didn’t, they’ve gambled massively and it looks like it’s the wrong gamble.
“I actually think they’ve got a chance of beating Tottenham at the weekend. Tottenham have been pretty hopeless under Ryan Mason and I don’t think that’s dead in the water.”
He added: “Under Bielsa Leeds had an identity and he was someone the fans adored. I actually think Jesse Marsch got a bit of a rough ride.
“I think they should have stuck it through with Gracia, I really do. I know they had the wallopings against Crystal Palace and Liverpool and Bournemouth in the end, but it’s one of those where you have to have faith. You bring him in for what you perceive is the right reasons and then they lost their bottle.
“It’s interesting in the bottom half of the table. Both managers have had pressure on them throughout the course of the season but Steve Cooper, David Moyes, what’s happened? Both teams have had a rough ride at times but they’ve both ended up staying up.”
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