Looks like in a typical Bielsa fashion the team fell apart mid-season. He may be a great theoretician but there is a reason he never landed in a top club in 30 years of working in football.
But the strange thing is that it is not so much this Bielsa falling apart... There must be some mental issues or guys need a bit of rest. Opponents score against us from idiotic mistakes. Kiko has transformed in the second half of the season to Karius. Stupid mistakes that give away goals. But i still think we are leading the league with most CS.
We played against Brentford, the most attacking team in League and they were afraid to attack most of the time, at their home. The only goal came from Kiko bad touch and blumbering it. We attacked very good, but our front 3 did not put it away...
We dominated most of the teams with possessions, shots on target etc. Yes, many fans blame Bamford for not putting them away. But others are not doing it either. One or two wingers have like 4-5 goals in 32 games, others are way behind it. That is unacceptable.
Only blame I could put on Bielsa, is not having a bit of plan B. He does subs very strangely and maybe sometimes does not want to take the risk needed. I really want to see Bamford and JKA together. JKA already shows that he can hustle opponents so much and him coming in from the wing would be a big thing.
Also seeing that Pablo is getting too old. He is 34 already and can't run like he use to. Last season 12 goals 12 assists. This season only 4-4. Also, one of the main midfielder in Forshaw is out for the season with an injury. But Phillips is back from 3 game suspensions and we already look a better team with him back. If we don't go up we definitely will lose him...
I still belive in us and we will get automatic promotion. Fixtures seem good, had a very good game against a strong team in London. So there is hope that slump is over and we can push it hard until the end of the season.