Leeds haven’t been in the Premier League since 2004, but Marcelo Bielsa’s unique style may work in the Championship.
Since their promotion to the Championship in 2010, Leeds have gone through 11 different managers. Their 12th has the potential to be the most interesting, most volatile, best and worst yet. Such is the enigma that is Marcelo Bielsa.
Bielsa is nothing if not a left-field choice, not least because he hasn’t won a club level trophy since capturing the 1998 Clausura with Velez Sarsfield in his native Argentina. His last major honor of any kind was the Olympic Gold Medal in 2004 with Argentina, and he led Athletic Bilbao to second-place finishes in the Europa League and Copa del Rey in 2011-12.
Then again, to dwell on Bielsa’s success or failure is mostly beside the point. The fact his admirers include the likes of Lionel Messi, Pep Guardiola, who was quoted in February of 2017 as saying Bielsa was the best coach in the world for his innovations, and Mauricio Pochettino says a lot more about his ideas than his results.
What about the man they call El Loco makes Messi, Guardiola and Pochettino so excited? That would be his unique 3-3-1-3 and dedication to, obsession with, attractive, attacking soccer. The formation utilizes a holding midfielder and an advanced playmaker, who try to get the ball forward quickly to overlapping wing-backs and free-flowing front three.
There’s a price to Bielsa’s methods, however (he didn’t earn his nickname for nothing), with players complaining of extreme physical fatigue at the end of campaigns. Ander Herrera, who played for El Loco at Bilbao, described the team’s physical state with a word that won’t be printed here.
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There’s also a mental toll to working under Bielsa, whose intensity can produce thrilling matches but also upset the dressing room, as it did most recently at Lille, who were left battling relegation after his departure. Lille weren’t the first club where he caused a major ruckus either. He lasted only two days as manager of Lazio in the summer of 2016, before turning in his resignation, a move that so angered the Serie A outfit their president sued him.
Even if Bielsa behaves himself, it’s worth wondering whether Leeds will be able to supply him with the players he needs, or whether he’ll repeat what he did at Lille and force a mass exodus. The risks are, at this point, well documented. Which is of course why this would be such a fascinating hire. It’s hard to get too excited about new managers at a club who go through so many, but appointing Bielsa would be nothing if not exciting.