Ex-Manager / Head coach: Marcelo Bielsa

[Promotion 2010]

Jonathan Gawthorpe

The throne! @LUFC v @dcfcofficial #lufc #Leeds #ALAW #mot @LeedsUnitedYEP @YEPSportsdesk @YPSport @PhilHayYEP @LeeSobotYEP  @JoeUrquhartYEP

[rd1]

Helt kongestart!

Både Stoke og Derby prøvde å spille fotball mot oss. Det blir spennende å se om vi klarer å bryte opp lag som legger seg i forsvar. For etterhvert vil ingen prøve å spille fotball mot oss

[HåvardK]

Tror Pontus  snart tar over for Berardi.

Tolker Bielsa slik.

Kan du utdype? Har ikke sett intervju med ham.

[Promotion 2010]

Med Berra får vi hurtighet og knalltaklinger! Virker som om han var bedre mot Derby enn Stoke. Skal bli spennende å følge Berardi i Bielsas lag!

[Promotion 2010]

Why El Loco is the football hipsters’ choice

The New European
PUBLISHED: 16:40 10 August 2018

LOSC Lille coach Marcelo Bielsa shouts to his players during the pre-season friendly match between Atalanta BC and LOSC Lille (Photo by Emilio Andreoli/Getty Images)

As the new season kicks-off JAMES BROWN looks at an unexpectedly exotic managerial appointment which offers a ray of hope for his club.

Not since Kevin Keegan went to lower league Fulham or European Cup-winner Rafa Benitez dropped into the Championship to get Newcastle United promoted has the world of non-Premier League football been lit up by such an extraordinary appointment as the arrival of Marcelo Bielsa, the former Argentina and Chile coach, at fallen giants Leeds United. But even such an audacious appointment needs to be backed with signings.

There was a photo doing the rounds on Twitter recently that pretty much sums up the lot of the transfer-starved football fan desperate for new arrivals at their club. The picture was of Andrea Radrizzani, the Leeds chairman, asking a young fan with an autograph book, “what should I sign?” To which the kid replies “at this stage just about anyone will do”. Radrizzani took the hint and swiftly acquired last season’s leading left back in the division, Barry Douglas, from Wolves, and then striker Patrick Bamford from Middlesbrough and a young winger on loan from Manchester City, Jack Harrison.

All managers and fans who know anything about the game will tell you it’s easier to be promoted by having better players than the other team. It’s simple stuff. Hence the frustration when you don’t improve on the playing squad that under-achieved the year before. There is occasionally another route, though: the coach that inspires average players to success. Much-travelled Neil Warnock achieved this feat at Cardiff City last season.

His former club Leeds have given themselves a similar possibility of success and promotion out of the second tier into the promised land with the appointment of Bielsa, a man two of the leading managers in world football, Pep Guardiola of Premier League champions Manchester City and Mauricio Pochettino of pretenders to the throne Tottenham Hotspur, consider to be the one of the most influential coaches in the game. The Argentine Bielsa has built a reputation for advanced intellectual player analysis through, among other things, enormous player-video consumption. He takes the time to know everything about the players to hand, and then works out how he can improve them.

Not having cast my eyes much further than the away grounds of Brentford, Derby County and Bristol City in recent years, when Bielsa was appointed I held my hand up and said: “I’ve never heard of him.” When talkSPORT breakfast host Alan Brazil did pretty much the same, he was hung, drawn and quartered on Twitter, where Bielsa’s appointment received a positively volcanic reaction among the world of Mundial magazine-reading football hipsters. In terms of response, it was a little like when the original Star Wars stars reappeared as older versions of themselves in The Force Awakens.

The reaction ranged from utter disbelief and mockery at such an idea to simple awe. This is, after all, a club who the FT recently listed as one of the great fallen giants of European football; who have quietly slipped out of the chaotic reign of the previous owner Massimo Cellino who appointed a footballing nobody in David Hockaday â€" a likeable but virtually anonymous youth man, as his first coach. He later refused to allow any player to wear the number 17, and asked the father of a potential new recruit to remove his shirt during a meeting because it was purple, both for superstitious reasons.

The club is now on better footing but for the new owner, Radrizanni, this is still his third manager in a year. To me the appointment felt a little like Jock Stein’s little-known 44-day stay in the manager’s office at Elland Road in 1978. A managerial great who was possibly past his best. Despite being an eye-catching appointment, it’s a while since Bielsa has enjoyed sustained success and he left his most recent jobs at Lille and Lazio after 13 games and two days respectively.

His acclaim is not without foundation though. The highly-regarded Leeds United correspondent of the Yorkshire Evening Post, Phil Hay, has described Bielsa as “the godfather of modern, intellectual football” and no-one has gone into bat against this opinion, yet.

Bielsa established his reputation in South America, where his passionate desire for football at its finest, and the lengths he went to show that love, won him the nickname El Loco. Anyone who has ever seen a spaghetti western won’t need a translation here.

You don’t have to do too much to be considered an outsider in football, as Eric Cantona proved, but Bielsa has both genuine success and eccentricity to his name. He made his name with Newell’s Old Boys in Rosario, the city he grew up in among a family of academics, winning the Argentine league ahead of more fancied opponents. Rosario is also the birthplace of both Lionel Messi and Che Guevara, men whose status combined could almost reach the esteem Bielsa is held in locally for delivering them the league.

He managed the Argentine national side for six years between 1998 and 2004, coaching a generation of stars, including Diego Simeone, the manager of serial Europa Cup winners Atletico Madrid, former Real Madrid left back Gabriel Heinze and legendary centre forward Gabriel Batistuta, all of whom have been keen to praise his influence when asked. He went on to manage Chile, getting them to the World Cup, after two tournament absences. Bielsa established his credentials even further in Europe with a successful two-year period at Athletic Bilbao, playing remarkable football to knock Manchester United out of the Europa League in 2012. Bilbao were clapped from the pitch by United fans, who are unlikely to extend the same courtesy should Leeds ever reappear at Old Trafford.

If his tactics and vision have been put to more productive effect by his former pupils, his reputation for doing things differently lives on. He is an enigma who refuses one-on-one interviews, but is happy to host two hour-long press conferences after games. He is said to have responded to irate fans who came to his house by approaching them with a live hand grenade and has been known to discuss the fortunes of his teams in tears.

Since his arrival he had been taking a crash course in both English and Yorkshire. He’s been seen with a DVD of Ken Loach peak-Yorkshire epic Kes at an away friendly in Oxford, has sung the praises of the Yorkshire Dales and in an attempt to keep the county tidy and show his pampered players what real hard work is like he’s had them spending hours picking up litter at their training ground. His first game â€" a 3-1 victory over Championship favourites Stoke City â€" was so impressive one rival fan questioned whether it was actually Barcelona playing in white.

Passionate, professional, unpredictable and provocative, if Bielsa sticks around long enough to make a lasting impact he could just be what Leeds and the Championship needs.

James Brown is the author of Above Head Height: A Five-a-Side Life.

[Jon R]

Med Berra får vi hurtighet og knalltaklinger! Virker som om han var bedre mot Derby enn Stoke. Skal bli spennende å følge Berardi i Bielsas lag!

Han var helt konge i går. Beste i forsvarsrekka etter mitt syn. Trodde ikke han hadde det nivået i seg.

[Sydhagen]

Med Berra får vi hurtighet og knalltaklinger! Virker som om han var bedre mot Derby enn Stoke. Skal bli spennende å følge Berardi i Bielsas lag!

Han var helt konge i går. Beste i forsvarsrekka etter mitt syn. Trodde ikke han hadde det nivået i seg.

Enig. Den innsstsen og galskapen som han haddd igår var svært viktig for at vi var så gode bakover som vi var. Bunnsolide med tanke på at vi omtrent angriper med hele laget.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Promotion 2010]

f**king Great Goal

When Ian Harte moaned about our U’23’s speaking Spanish, little did he know we were planning ahead, all the youngsters can understand Bielsa without an interpreter...

[leedslife]

Med Berra får vi hurtighet og knalltaklinger! Virker som om han var bedre mot Derby enn Stoke. Skal bli spennende å følge Berardi i Bielsas lag!

Han var helt konge i går. Beste i forsvarsrekka etter mitt syn. Trodde ikke han hadde det nivået i seg.

Han swiper opp bak der på et nivå som ingen andre gjør. Skjønner godt at Bielsa liker han. Blir jo morsomt å følge om han klarer å holde konsentrasjonen oppe når det begynner å dra seg til.
På den andre side. Er jo helt hinsides at han ikke får frispark mot seg i noen av hode duellene med Waghorn.
Er det de driver med noen av de dommerene? Løper de for langt unna situasjonene eller skorter det bare på spilleforståelse?

[RoarG]

Bielsa sammenlignes med Mourinho. Det faller mange scum-fans tungt for brystet. Snakk om hårsåre drama queens.
https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/08/blogs/man-united-fans-react-as-bielsa-compared-to-mourinho/

[Woody]

Bielsa sammenlignes med Mourinho. Det faller mange scum-fans tungt for brystet. Snakk om hårsåre drama queens.
https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/08/blogs/man-united-fans-react-as-bielsa-compared-to-mourinho/

Leeds har vel vist mer angrepsfotball på to kamper enn manu har vist på to år,så en viss forskjell er det vel

[RoarG]

Bielsa sammenlignes med Mourinho. Det faller mange scum-fans tungt for brystet. Snakk om hårsåre drama queens.
https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/08/blogs/man-united-fans-react-as-bielsa-compared-to-mourinho/

Leeds har vel vist mer angrepsfotball på to kamper enn manu har vist på to år,så en viss forskjell er det vel

Dagens Leeds-lag haddet banket scum så lett som bare det.

[Asbjørn]

På dagens pressekonferanse: #musikkivåreører

LUFCDATA
@LUFCDATA

Marcelo Bielsa: "I like Leeds, the region, the geography, the way the people are. I like the club, I like my players. They are very serious and professional players. They still have human qualities that are very important to me." #LUFC

[Asbjørn]

Moscowhite får mye plaudits for sin Leeds-skriving. Amitai Winehouse var også en slik, før han fikk en profesjonell jobb - nå skriver han for Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6054799/How-Leeds-Marcelo-Bielsa-mark-Championship.html

[RoarG]

Bielsa toner ned de positive omtalene. "Positive comments don't make us better persons. Also, they don't make us a better team." Vil ikke høre snakk om at Leeds er favoritter til å vinne Championship etter kun to spilte kamper. Godt å se en person som ikke oppfører seg som en forelsket skolejente.

[AndyMathie]

Bielsa sammenlignes med Mourinho. Det faller mange scum-fans tungt for brystet. Snakk om hårsåre drama queens.
https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/08/blogs/man-united-fans-react-as-bielsa-compared-to-mourinho/

Artikkelen er vel for å presisere at slag til Mourinho over hvor dårlig fotball han spiller og hvor bra Bielsas lag spiller til sammenligning.

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Are Leeds United going up? 20 Questions about Marcelo Bielsa answered

Leeds United's 4-1 defeat of Derby has got the world of football Loco for El Loco.

Nestor WatachAug 13, 2018
Action Images/Alan Walter

After defeating Stoke 3-1 in the opening weekend of the Championship, there were murmurings that Marcelo Bielsa would be delivering something special at Leeds United.

The hype subsequently went into overdrive when they followed that up with an even better performance, going to Pride Park and thrashing Frank Lampard’s Derby 4-1.

Be it his idiosyncratic interviews, the emphatic performances matched by the scorelines or the clips of intricate passing football clipped and shared by tactics nerds, people are sitting up and taking notice of a sleeping giant, the second tier of English football, and one of the most fascinating figures in the game.

Here’s everything you need to know about Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United so far:

Bielsa’s barely won anything. Why does everyone rave about him?

Because his emphasis on Positional Play has paved the way for so much of what we see in top-level football. Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur. Jorge Sampaoli’s Chile team from a few years back.

In fact, Bielsa himself laid the foundations for the Chile team that captured hearts and minds at the 2014 World Cup and won two consecutive Copa America.

Elsewhere, his Athletic Club demolished Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in the Europa League and his Newell’s Old Boys are in the pantheon of great South American teams.

The end result might not be silverware but people fall in love with his football. 

Some pundits, including former Leeds manager Steve Evans, suggested Leeds would have been better getting a manager who “knows the league”, such as Mick McCarthy. Were they wrong?

Unequivocally, yes. Regardless of Bielsa, the likes of Rafael Benitez, David Wagner and Nuno Espirito Di Santo have disproven this idea in recent years. A quality coach with tactical nous is more important than experience of the league.

Leeds tried that with Neil Warnock, the most proven coach at this level and he parted company with a team miles from the play-offs, playing some of the most turgid football in living memory. He also left a rotten squad behind that took years to fumigate.

It's only been two games. Isn't it too early to make that judgement?

Fans have a right to get excited because a coach of international repute has produced arguably the best performances from Leeds since they were relegated from the Premier League in 2004.

It's a certainty Mick McCarthy or Steve Bruce or any other "steady hand" could not have produced this kind of football, because they haven't done so in their entire careers.

But Leeds started last season well too and then they finished 13th?

Yes, but with hindsight that was clearly a false dawn. Top after seven games, they only beat poor bottom-half teams; Bolton, Sunderland, Forest, Burton and Birmingham.

Action Images/John Clifton

The performances, while functional then, were light-years away from this. So far, Bielsa has made easy work of Stoke (the bookies favourites for first place) and Derby (in the play-offs last season). It's a big difference.

The club has done plenty of business in the summer, could that not be the difference?

No. Bielsa has largely started the same players from last season, those that only won three games out of fifteen under Paul Heckingbottom.

Only Barry Douglas from Wolves, and Mateusz Klich, back from a loan at FC Utrecht, are any different.

But there are lots of new signings. When can we expect to see them?

Tomorrow, most likely. The League Cup fixture against Bolton presents Bielsa with an opportunity to rotate.

Expect to see him use Jamal Blackman and Lewis Baker, both on loan from Chelsea, Jack Harrison on loan from Manchester City, and Patrick Bamford, Leeds most expensive signing since Robbie Fowler in 2003.

Is Pontus Jansson still a standout at the back?

No, he's not played yet. After coming back late following Sweden's World Cup, Gaetano Berardi took his spot in the back four and played so well against Stoke that he retained his place against Derby.

Who have been the most outstanding players?

Almost everyone has done well.

Kemar Roofe has led the line brilliantly. His movement and work-rate were so good against Stoke that he was awarded Man of the Match. He followed that up with two well-taken goals against Derby. It will take a lot for Bamford to take his place.



To a man, the four behind him â€" Samuel Saiz, Ezgjan Alioski, Pablo Hernandez and Mateusz Klich â€" have been excellent, too. Barry Douglas and Luke Ayling are underlining their case as the best pair of full-backs in the league.

Have they really been that amazing?

Yes. It really is difficult to overstate quite how good Leeds have been. It wouldn't be exaggerating to say they've played with a level of sophistication seldom seen in the second tier.

The controlled aggression and intensity of the pressing is a Bielsa hallmark but there's so much to admire in possession too: playing it from front-to-back, attacking with versatility, and the precision of the passing.

Is he still using his famous patented 3-3-1-3 system?

Not yet. He's experimented with variants of it in pre-season and, when he named the line-up for the first game of the season, there was speculation it could work that way, especially as Kalvin Phillips had played as a ball-player in the middle of a back three in the final pre-season friendly against Las Palmas.

So far, though, it's been a 4-1-4-1 system with Phillips bridging the gap between the back four and midfield.

We may see it appear later in the season, especially once Adam Forshaw returns or another defensive midfielder arrives on loan.

Are there any doubts?

Not doubts per se but, after just two games, there will be other hurdles to jump.

With players like Mason Mount and Joe Allen, teams like Derby and Stoke have attempted to play football which has played into Leeds hands and allowed them space work in. There are plenty of agricultural teams in the Championship and last season Leeds fell apart when Neil Harris's robust Millwall bullied them.

Action Images/Alan Walter

They will need to show that such methods won't phase them anymore. With hype and expectation comes a new challenge: will Leeds become frustrated if teams are defensive and look to play two deep banks of four in order to counteract Leeds technical quality?

When the Championship really gets going come the winter and there are regularly two games a week, that's another question to answer â€" can Leeds continue playing to this standard?

Any doubts with the players?

Bailey Peacock-Farrell in goal was poor to allow Derby to score. Tom Lawrence's free-kick was whipped in with pace but he allowed it to go straight through him. There were also a couple of unconvincing moments against Stoke.

Chelsea's Jamal Blackman was impressive on loan at Sheffield United last season and is waiting in the wings. It appears a matter of time before he takes over.

Don't Bielsa's teams always burn-out at the end of the season? Is that a worry?

There's no denying that. But that's something to face if and when it comes.

We're now in August and that's a long way away. If Leeds can keep this up, they should be promoted before a potential collapse.

There's also genuine depth to the squad and the two-week international breaks (without that many international players) should allow for rest and recuperation.

How has he managed to get them playing like this so quickly?

That's the big question. Outside of witchcraft, it could be changing the culture at the club.

For example, putting an emphasis on dedication and training, often with the players at the Thorp Arch training ground from 9am until 8pm, has clearly paid off. With an obsession with eliminating body fat and general fitness, the players will be equipped to carry out his gameplan.

Beyond this, insider Dave Hynter of the Guardian detailed how the players had to pick up litter for three hours to empathise with the work fans do in order to buy a match ticket.

I'd like to see Paul Heckingbottom try getting the Leeds players to litter pick.

There's a point in that. Marcelo Bielsa comes with a reputation and natural authority.

This isn't just another hopeful punt on a leftfield manager and expendable presence on the touchline. He comes backed by the board and the players don't have a choice but to buy into his methods. When they see the results they yield, it will only become easier.

Action Images/John Clifton

Bielsa has earned that reputation: just as Zinedine Zidane earned his, in a different way, before becoming coach at Real Madrid. Players just listen to such figures.

If Bielsa’s so amazing, why hasn’t a Premier League club come in for him?

Because he’s very demanding of owners and potentially volatile.

If backed, there’s no telling what he could achieve at a club with the potential of a Newcastle, Everton or West Ham.

But owners don’t look at the ceiling, they look at the floor and, with Bielsa walking out of Lazio after two days or embroiling Lille in a relegation battle, they understandably fear the worst.

Those who run Premier League clubs want to avoid relegation above all else and the idea of Mike Ashley or David Gold giving him free reign to mould the clubs in his image is laughable.

Could it not blow up at Leeds?

With Bielsa, there's always a danger of things blowing up but the board and manager appear to be on the same wavelength at present.

He has been backed in the transfer market and, after extensive meetings, it's clear that chairman Andrea Radrizzani and director of football Victor Orta believe in his methods. It's only positive signs so far.

How did Leeds manage to get such a respected coach?

By showing they were serious. When Bielsa became aware of the club's interest, he tested their dedication by demanding the club's hierarchy fly out to meet with him in Argentina. After doing so and after hours of discussions on strategy and philosophy, he was convinced .

Bielsa has since spoken of his respect for Leeds as an institution with a certain amount of self-deprecation, saying “I think I’m at a club that’s bigger than I deserve.”

What's with the bucket?

Just a quirk of how he likes to view games from the sidelines and nothing new.

Many will remember the time he sat on a cup of coffee, placed on a cooler box, in his time at Marseille.

So, are Leeds finally going up then?

It's too early to say. Leeds fans are just enjoying the positivity. But it's hard not to notice the bookies making them favourites for promotion.

If you want to read more football content, make sure you follow us on Twitter @realsportgoals

[Promotion 2010]

[Asbjørn]

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/fabio-capello-leeds-united-bielsa-15035142

[stian]

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/fabio-capello-leeds-united-bielsa-15035142

Etter å ha gått gjennom mange av de gråeste managerne i skyggenes dal er det litt artig at en mann som Capello bruker spalteplassen sin til å skrive om det positive som en manager får til i Leeds 

[Promotion 2010]

Jeg stoler på Bielsa! Jeg tror virkelig at han er her og sikrer opprykk innen et par år! 


Denne er lenket inn her et sted, men jeg synes vi bør lese artikkelen!


Even Fabio Capello is 'passionate' about the Marcelo Bielsa project at Leeds United - Leeds Live


Marcelo Bielsa’s start to life in English football would not have come as too much of a surprise to two of the Premier League coaches who studied his methods.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, a Premier League winner, and Tottenham Hostpur manager Mauricio Pochettino both dubbed the Argentine as ‘one of the best coaches in the world’ upon his appointment at Leeds this summer.


Therefore, it is no surprise to see another of the world’s most respected coaches singing his praises.


After seeing the emphatic way he’s made his mark on the Championship, former England boss Fabio Capello could not contain his excitement for how far he believes Bielsa could take the Whites this season, describing him as ‘a volcano of ideas.’

He took to his column for Gazzetta dello Sport, reported by Sportwitness, with his comments on Bielsa and the Whites.


Fabio Capello during his days as England manager(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)

United have comfortably dispatched title and promotion favourites Stoke City and Derby County in the first two league games of Bielsa’s tenure and he extended it to three wins in three last night.


Capello admitted he was intrigued to see how the 63-year-old progresses with the club this season and was full of praise for his methods after an encounter with Bielsa in Brazil.


“I am passionate to see what Bielsa will do at Leeds, in the English Championship,” said Capello.

“I met him in Brazil and he’s really a special character. He has a beautiful brain and is a volcano of ideas. A real Loco, he intrigues me.”

[Promotion 2010]

Capello

“I am passionate to see what Bielsa will do at Leeds, in the English Championship,” said Capello.

“I met him in Brazil and he’s really a special character. He has a beautiful brain and is a volcano of ideas. A real Loco, he intrigues me.”

[Promotion 2010]

Sesongens bilde hittil?

[Promotion 2010]

White Answers

Can we have a proper conversation about Bielsa’s bucket? I mean, what is it *really*? Some sort of cone or marker used in training? Or a purpose-built stool? And is it hard plastic or cushioned fabric? It’s great to be talking about football matters again. #LUFC


Phil J

They’re stools from Billy’s Bar #LUFC

[Xern]

Når kan vi kjøpe slike i supportershoppen? Trengs i gutterommet 

[Asbjørn]

Når kan vi kjøpe slike i supportershoppen? Trengs i gutterommet 

Den er visst hentet fra Billy's Bar - var en tweet i dag om at det er flere slike 'stools' der

[AndyMathie]

Dette er den sykeste ansettelsen på nivå to i hvilket som helst land i hele verden, ever! 

Nå venter jeg bare på klassesigneringene som skal følge opp denne ansettelsen.
Er rimelig sikker på at Bielsa ikke hadde signert uten sånne forsikringer.

Eller så liker han å jobbe med potensialet i spillere.. Nå har jeg ikke lest meg opp på hva han har gjort før på den fronten, men tenker at filosofien hans også kan fungere på eksisterende spillere. Om han er så god som det sies, så bør han klare å få ut mer av dagens stall, med litt justeringer såklart.

Sånn i etterpåklokskapens navn Bjørn, må jeg si at du traff bullseye med dette innlegget ;-) MOT

[Carl Fisker]

Imponerende start av Bielsa, ja. Men vær forsiktig, fallhøyden er stor...

[h.b]

Imponerende start av Bielsa, ja. Men vær forsiktig, fallhøyden er stor...

Men gevinsten dertil større

[Bjorn]

Dette er den sykeste ansettelsen på nivå to i hvilket som helst land i hele verden, ever! 

Nå venter jeg bare på klassesigneringene som skal følge opp denne ansettelsen.
Er rimelig sikker på at Bielsa ikke hadde signert uten sånne forsikringer.

Eller så liker han å jobbe med potensialet i spillere.. Nå har jeg ikke lest meg opp på hva han har gjort før på den fronten, men tenker at filosofien hans også kan fungere på eksisterende spillere. Om han er så god som det sies, så bør han klare å få ut mer av dagens stall, med litt justeringer såklart.

Sånn i etterpåklokskapens navn Bjørn, må jeg si at du traff bullseye med dette innlegget ;-) MOT

Takk. Det kan jo virke sånn.