The Athletic mener å vite at Bielsa allerede hadde instruert spillerne hvordan opptre mot ti mann.
Dessuten fikk man umiddelbart pausen til å gjenta de viktigste elementene:
ATHLETIC REPORT RUBBISHES MARCELO BIELSA CLAIM AS LEEDS UNITED PERFORMANCE DISSECTED
KRIS SMITH @KrisSmith98Leeds United pulled off one of the shocks of the season by overcoming Manchester City 2-1 at the Etihad at the weekend.
Leeds came into this weekend with the shackles off after back-to-back wins over Fulham and Sheffield United, effectively sealing their safety ahead of a daunting triple-header.
There was still the chance that Leeds could mathematically secure their place in next season’s Premier League table with a win over the league leaders.
Stuart Dallas’ incredible brace clinched three points as his breakaway goals stunned the Champions-elect while the Whites played with 10 men for nearly half of the game.
Shortly after taking the lead, Liam Cooper’s strong challenge on Gabriel Jesus was adjudged to be worthy of a red card by referee Andre Marriner following a VAR review.
It left Leeds with a huge task of defending against arguably the best side in Europe with a man less.
However, the hosts only mustered three shots on target inside the box for all of their dominance and probing, showing how well Leeds maintained shape and concentration for so long.
Marcelo Bielsa was keen to deflect praise in his press conference, but The Athletic are now reporting that the squad have been put through their paces recently to prepare for the eventuality of playing with a man less.
David Ornstein wrote:
Indeed, The Athletic understands that Bielsa has conducted several sessions and tutorials on how his team should play if they are at a numerical disadvantage. This is because his preferred style of play centres fundamentally on a man-to-man approach all over the field. As such, Leeds players were sufficiently well-briefed and prepared to cope and understand how they should play after Cooper was sent off.
In the dressing room at half-time, the coaching staff told their players how, rather than pressing the City centre-backs when they moved forward with the ball, Leeds players should mark the players who could receive possession from them. This had been discussed and coached at their Thorp Arch training ground during the week.
John Stones had a lot of joy in possession for the hosts as that centre-back who the players wouldn’t press, but when he was faced with finding a pass in the final third, options were limited.
You could see just from how quickly we responded to the red card that we had a plan in place to deal with such a setback.
Most managers would swiftly bring on another centre-back but how Leeds were able to switch to a low block and shuffle across when City moved the ball quick is something you can’t do with improvisation.
That tactical change can only be implemented effectively if all of the players know what their role is outside of man-marking.
Bielsa will always avoid taking praise for such a game but it was a tactical masterclass to combat Man City, knowing that possession was going to be conceded even with 11 men.
https://www.leedsallover.com/athletic-report-rubbishes-marcelo-bielsa-claim-as-leeds-united-performance-dissected/