IT is impossible to assess Leeds United’s chances of flourishing in the Premier League this season without focusing almost entirely on ‘The Bielsa Way’.
The 65-year-old’s thrilling doctrine of football played on fast forward, encased within a bold 3-3-1-3 formation has come to define the Yorkshire giant, holistically embodying the players and transforming them into internationals way above their perceived station. It has reignited the passion embedded in the club’s DNA and given it a purpose.
It has routinely pulverised opponents big and small, leaving them gasping for cohesion and wondering how the hell you stop this charged collective who hunt in packs and attack in numbers. For what it’s worth, it has also made Leeds one of the most watchable sides in English football these past couple of years.
It naturally follows then that how Marcelo Bielsa’s devotion to a ferocious high press and quick circulation impacts on a weekly basis against the elite, unforgiving technicians of the top-flight will largely determine how his promoted team fares this term.
Some encouragement can be found in Leeds’ trip to Arsenal last January. Granted the Gunners won out and granted too this was the FA Cup where different metrics apply but all the same the away side were magnificent and brave that evening, running Mikel Arteta’s new-look team ragged and creating overloads seemingly at will. It is reasonable to expect this adventurous approach will be repeated throughout this season, with Leeds playing to their strengths and foregoing compromise whether it is against lambs to the slaughter at Elland Road or taking on the champions at Anfield this Saturday.
It is also fair to assume that Bielsa’s side will be spared a relegation battle in the months ahead and this is an assertion based not on the Argentine’s innovative system but on the man himself. The coach nicknamed ‘El Loco’ who lives above a sweet shop and who wears a club tracksuit to black tie events is unconditionally adored in the city with a fanbase whose patience will not be tested. Similarly, the club itself are pertinently aware they possess an individual at the helm destined for a statue while most importantly of all the players believe in their gaffer and his ways with every fibre of their being.
As evidenced by Sheffield United’s unanticipated success last season it cannot be under-estimated how valuable it is to have an identity implanted within a squad from an exceedingly popular manager. Furthermore, it is a currency sorely lacking in other sides – with at least six coming to mind quite easily – and it is they who will likely struggle regardless of their assets on paper. Without a shared cause and absolute faith in their boss a team is simply eleven disparate players each capable of turning it on when the mood strikes.
There will be no such mood swings from Leeds; not with captain, leader and lifelong club supporter Liam Cooper at the back while ahead of the no-nonsense Scottish international – who was cruelly dubbed ‘League One Liam’ prior to Bielsa’s arrival – Kalvin Phillips has emerged as a formidable midfield presence. It is chiefly from this duo that Leeds forge their resolve and fight while in the attacking third so much of their creativity depends on Pablo Hernandez and his energetic magic.
Now advancing in years precisely how much alchemy is left in the Spaniard’s boots remains to be seen and is a critical factor in the success or relative failure of Leeds’ return to the promised land.
Working on Leeds United "Promoted" documentary and found this magnificent Marcelo Bielsa quote:
“Football is about bringing joy to those who find joy hard to find.”
Words of wisdom that have never been truer than in the darkness of our Present pic.twitter.com/m2xsnES9SC
— roger bennett (@rogbennett) September 2, 2020
Up front meanwhile the record purchase of Rodrigo from Valencia intrigues and excites and he will surely relieve the goal-scoring burden on Patrick Bamford who can frustrate for all his excellent movement.
It is movement formed and informed by the ‘Bielsa Way’, an exacting blueprint that will see Leeds reet this season even if it comes with a cliché attached that is supposedly its undoing. You know the one. The one that states that the high intensity required for the model to work ultimately comes at a cost with a drop-off in performances affecting Bielsa’s sides late in campaigns.
Is there any truth to this? Possibly, yes, with Marseilles in 2015 clearly enduring burnout from April on with the same applying to Leeds in 2019 as they slipped to a play-off spot and eventual heartache.
Yet perhaps we are looking at this all wrong? Maybe with no promotion to strive for and ‘only’ a respectable placing – in a league with eight fewer fixtures than the Championship – to denote genuine progress it is the typically blistering starts of Bielsa’s creations that we should concentrate on here?
If so, that spells bad news for Liverpool, their opening day opponents, and should prompt real fear too from teams unfortunate to encounter this riot of endeavour and invention anytime soon.
Leeds are 12/25 to finish highest from the promoted sides. By comparison West Brom are 7/2 but where is the fun in backing conformity?
