da poker： Four defeats from their last five clashes under Daniel Farke mean Leeds United sit just above the dreaded bottom three positions with just one point now separating the West Yorkshire giants from 18th spot.
da betsul： With games still to come against the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, and Liverpool in recent outings, things look bleak for the manager.
The message remains clear, though. For the time being at least, Leeds will stick by the under-fire German, with journalist Graham Smyth – when speaking on a recent edition of the Square Ball Podcast – stating that he would be “stunned” if a change was afoot, even as Leeds’ form continues to fall off a cliff.
However, football is an ever-changing game. Discussion regarding Farke’s replacements is rife.
The candidates to replace Farke at Leeds
Regardless of Farke seemingly being given the dreaded vote of confidence at Elland Road, he will know he needs to buck up his ideas, especially with the names now being tipped to replace him.
Indeed, Brendan Rodgers’ name continues to float about after he resigned from the Celtic hot-seat, with the FA Cup-winning manager able to boast 139 wins in the Premier League when taking charge of the likes of Leicester City, Liverpool, and Swansea City in the past. He also masterminded an audacious 62-game unbeaten run in charge of the Glasgow giants.
Moreover, Ange Postecoglou – despite his recent Nottingham Forest difficulties – has also been mentioned as a potential replacement for the ex-Norwich City boss.
Postecoglou is no doubt in the running due to his similarities with Elland Road royalty in Marcelo Bielsa, with his swashbuckling approach at the helm of Tottenham Hotspur even resulting in an Europa League triumph occurring.
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Yet, he isn’t the only Bielsa-like figure in the frame to oust Farke, with a former EFL manager perhaps the perfect fit for Leeds right now as they try to beat the drop.
Leeds could hire "elite" manager with shades of Bielsa
Ultimately, Leeds have never quite been able to move on from Bielsa, even if Farke has been able to deliver a Championship title, much like the revered South American.
Against all the odds, though, after clinching the Championship title, Bielsa would take Leeds all the way up to a dizzy ninth position in the Premier League in his first season in the top-flight.
Ex-Arsenal great Thierry Henry even labelled the current Uruguay boss as “extraordinary” during his full-throttle stay in England.
It would, of course, be unrealistic to expect Leeds to climb to such heights in the here and now, but the Whites could look to replicate the success of Bielsa’s reign in charge by going after his former Elland Road deputy in Carlos Corberan.
Corberan was a first-team coach at Leeds alongside Bielsa, with the enigmatic 70-year-old even hailing the Spaniard as “very talented” during their spell together.
He has since lived up to those kind words in charge of both Huddersfield Town and West Bromwich Albion as a first-team manager, with one Baggies youngster in Fenton Heard, even describing Corberan as being “football mad”, much like Bielsa.
Games managed
209
Wins
86
Draws
56
Losses
67
Goals scored
276
Goals conceded
241
The similarities don’t just come to a halt at their shared high-energy, 24/7 approaches to being a manager, with Corberan also transforming the fortunes of both the Terriers and the Baggies when at their respective helms.
In both dug-outs, Corberan turned Huddersfield and West Brom into genuine promotion contenders after inheriting a messy situation, with the West Midlands outfit actually bottom of the Championship when he took over, only to lead them to within a point of the playoffs two months into his tenure.
No doubt working so closely alongside Bielsa during his formative stages as a coach helped shape Corberan, with scout Petar Petrov even hailing the now Valencia boss as “elite” during his time at the Hawthorns for being able to push his team unexpectedly to that “next level.”
This sounds strikingly similar to Bielsa’s time at Leeds, too, as he transformed Patrick Bamford and Kalvin Phillips into unexpected Premier League regulars, alongside finally clinching promotion.
Often favouring a 4-2-3-1 formation, too, which is what Farke was known for during his promotion heroics, this could be a radical appointment that just clicks, as Leeds pray they can move up the division, sooner rather than later.
He's got a "bit of Bielsa": Leeds could sack Farke for "mental" 4-3-3 coach
A Bielsa-style change of manager could keep Leeds in the Premier League
ByJoe Nuttall