Injury expert: Bielsa thinking ‘you’ve blown it’ as he ‘shuts down’ amid cryptic Firpo update at Leeds
Marcelo Bielsa is within his rights to take a cryptic approach when disclosing details of injuries at Leeds United.
That is according to injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis.
As quoted by Leeds Live on 17 October, Bielsa revealed that summer signing Junior Firpo is struggling with a “muscular problem”.
However, the Argentine boss did not provide any additional information or a timeframe for the left-back’s return to action.
But Dinnery sympathises with Bielsa’s lack of transparency over Firpo, who missed the 1-0 defeat to Southampton on 16 October.
He told Football Insider correspondent Adam Williams: “In North America, NFL teams are required to confirm player status. That is to do with gambling.
“But in this country, there is no stipulation to say that you have to disclose anything. Personally, I can see both sides of the coin.
“As a supporter and someone who works in the industry, you can understand why people want as much info as possible.
“However, if you’re working in a club, you don’t want to tell the opposition manager about your players’ fitness.
“For Bielsa, you’re damnded if you do, damned if you don’t. Last season, he gave the starting XI 24 hours before kick-off on one occasion.
“But he was lambasted in the press for that. Now, maybe he thinks ‘you’ve had your chance and you’ve blown it’.
“So it doesn’t surprise me that Bielsa has shut down the amount of information that he does disclose. I can’t begrudge him for that.”
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