What the pundits/press/other fans are saying about Leeds?

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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

Post by mothbanquet »

Villa_fan01 wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:00 am Here goes..

Thought I'd come on here, tail firmly between legs, and say congrats on the win the other night. 100% deserved and was about the most impressive away performance I've seen at Villa Park since Chelsea turned up last season. Bielsa is working wonders with the squad you have but I also think you have some very underrated players. I thought Harrison and Rodrigo were superb and Alioski great down that side too.

It might have been a different game had Grealish chances gone in but to be honest, you should have been 2/3 up at half time.

I honestly think you can challenge top 4 this season. Everybody is beating everybody. Chelsea look like they've never played with each other before. Liverpool will struggle a little without Van Dijk, Guardiola looks as though he's done at Man City and United are just a complete joke. There is no reason Leeds can't stake a claim for a CL spot and perhaps Villa too, albeit our squad is quite light.

Good luck with the rest of the season!
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I'd predicted us to lose 2-1, we're just lucky that we've got a manager who doesn't hesitate to fix something that isn't working straight away, and that Klich can do just about anything on the pitch. Thought we'd miss Phillips a lot more than we did. And I think we can thank Mings for pissing on Bamford's chips since that incident seemed to light a fire under him.

I reckon your lot will continue to push on just fine, it's only 1 loss after all. You played better than Wolves did and if you can play most of your games like you have been doing, top half will be easy. I hope both our clubs continue to show up those arrogant rich ones like Manure and Chelsea.
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

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Who said talksport are full of sh*t?
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

Post by The Subhuman »

mothbanquet wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:50 pm Who said talksport are full of sh*t?
Actually when they get serious they're very good, but they need to stir up feelings for good debate, every now and again
"Never debate an idiot, they'll only drag you down to their level and they have the advantage of experience"
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

Post by mothbanquet »

faaip wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2020 1:07 pm Actually when they get serious they're very good, but they need to stir up feelings for good debate, every now and again
Aye fair enough, just playing for laughs really. :)

Ally's spot on though, we're the big story in the league. Doubt that'll change as long as Bielsa's in charge.
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

Post by 1964white »

Great article on Bielsa in Tuesdays' Daily Telegraph but I'm struggling to find a link to C&P it on here

Jason Burt the DT reporter did tweet this though


Screenshot 2020-10-29 at 13.53.27.png
Screenshot 2020-10-29 at 13.53.27.png (85.97 KiB) Viewed 2412 times
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

Post by Irish Ian »

1964white wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2020 1:44 pm Great article on Bielsa in Tuesdays' Daily Telegraph but I'm struggling to find a link to C&P it on here

Jason Burt the DT reporter did tweet this though



Screenshot 2020-10-29 at 13.53.27.png


When a Premier League club interviewed Marcelo Bielsa about becoming their manager a few years ago one senior executive later confided that he left the three-hour meeting thinking the Argentinian was either a genius or a madman – and therefore it was too great a risk to employ him. “I was worn out by the end,” the executive admitted.

Even Bielsa’s ‘interview’ with Leeds United apparently lasted an intense 13 hours as he spoke passionately about what he would do with the club having already prepped himself by watching every game from the previous season in full: 70 hours of football.

So now – if there was any doubt – we know. Bielsa is a genius. “El Loco” is obsessive rather than deranged. Leeds have returned to the Premier League after an absence of 16 years and have been the best addition to the division since Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United in the mid-90s. Maybe there was a clue when Leeds lost their first game 4-3 to Liverpool. It is hard to think of a promoted side since ‘The Entertainers’ went up to the newly-formed Premier League in 1993 having made such a thrilling, fun impact.

Advertisement

It is early days - they have only played six games and lost two of them – and so maybe this column is premature but each match has been an absolute joy to watch epitomised by their devastating second-half display away to Aston Villa who had won all four of their league fixtures up until that point but were so comprehensively beaten that manager Dean Smith was honest enough to admit they were fortunate to only lose 3-0.

In those six games, no opponent has had more of the ball than Leeds – including Liverpool and Manchester City - as they have averaged 57.4 per cent possession. Against Villa Bielsa dealt with injuries by playing his left-back at right-back, his right-back at centre-back, his centre-back in midfield - with his record-signing, who is Spain’s starting number nine, also continuing in midfield.

Although there has been significant investment of around £100million in transfers six of the Leeds’ team that started the Villa game were in Bielsa’s match-day squad when he took charge of his first fixture 26 months ago – a 3-1 win over Stoke City in the Championship. It may well, incredibly, have been eight of the 11 if Kalvin Phillips and captain Liam Cooper were not out.

Leeds were convincing winners at Villa Park
Leeds were convincing winners at Villa Park CREDIT: Tom Jenkins
The squad Bielsa inherited and who he analysed through those 70 hours of footage had finished 13th in the Championship, behind Ipswich Town who are now in League One, and Cooper, Phillips, Luke Ayling and Ezgjan Alioski all started the final game of that season, a win over Queens Park Rangers which was only their fourth in 16 games under Paul Heckingbottom who was then duly sacked. For many weeks in Bielsa’s first campaign the only new player in his team was left-back Barry Douglas.

What is so remarkable, therefore, is that Bielsa has not only been hugely successful in bringing Leeds back to the Premier League but has done so playing a particular brand of attacking football that is not easy to learn, that is time-consuming and demanding – and he has done so depending largely on the same core of players.

What that immediately does is blow the myth that managers cannot coach players into an attractive style of football – that, in fact, they have to adapt to what is available to them. For years some managers have trotted out the same line as an excuse for a functional, conservative approach: it is because they can only work with what they have got, or with the budget they have, and therefore the players are not good enough to play differently. If they had more money and could sign better players, the argument goes, they could play better.

Bielsa has exposed that through what he does best: working ferociously on the training pitch to improve the players. It cannot be that the squad he has is, by fortuitous coincidence, simply packed with technically-gifted footballers who for years have just been overlooked.

English Premier League
'
"Football is about the people and the players,” he said. “Then there are those who will mingle in the middle: the coaches, executives and journalists. That last group represents the worst part about football" Marcelo Bielsa
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

Post by Irish Ian »

I wonder which Prem club interviewed him?
'
"Football is about the people and the players,” he said. “Then there are those who will mingle in the middle: the coaches, executives and journalists. That last group represents the worst part about football" Marcelo Bielsa
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

Post by Dynamic array »

Irish Ian wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:29 pm I wonder which Prem club interviewed him?
It was West Ham.

https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles ... #popup-sso
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

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Irish Ian wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:25 pm When a Premier League club interviewed Marcelo Bielsa about becoming their manager a few years ago one senior executive later confided that he left the three-hour meeting thinking the Argentinian was either a genius or a madman – and therefore it was too great a risk to employ him. “I was worn out by the end,” the executive admitted.

Even Bielsa’s ‘interview’ with Leeds United apparently lasted an intense 13 hours as he spoke passionately about what he would do with the club having already prepped himself by watching every game from the previous season in full: 70 hours of football.

So now – if there was any doubt – we know. Bielsa is a genius. “El Loco” is obsessive rather than deranged. Leeds have returned to the Premier League after an absence of 16 years and have been the best addition to the division since Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United in the mid-90s. Maybe there was a clue when Leeds lost their first game 4-3 to Liverpool. It is hard to think of a promoted side since ‘The Entertainers’ went up to the newly-formed Premier League in 1993 having made such a thrilling, fun impact.

Advertisement

It is early days - they have only played six games and lost two of them – and so maybe this column is premature but each match has been an absolute joy to watch epitomised by their devastating second-half display away to Aston Villa who had won all four of their league fixtures up until that point but were so comprehensively beaten that manager Dean Smith was honest enough to admit they were fortunate to only lose 3-0.

In those six games, no opponent has had more of the ball than Leeds – including Liverpool and Manchester City - as they have averaged 57.4 per cent possession. Against Villa Bielsa dealt with injuries by playing his left-back at right-back, his right-back at centre-back, his centre-back in midfield - with his record-signing, who is Spain’s starting number nine, also continuing in midfield.

Although there has been significant investment of around £100million in transfers six of the Leeds’ team that started the Villa game were in Bielsa’s match-day squad when he took charge of his first fixture 26 months ago – a 3-1 win over Stoke City in the Championship. It may well, incredibly, have been eight of the 11 if Kalvin Phillips and captain Liam Cooper were not out.

Leeds were convincing winners at Villa Park
Leeds were convincing winners at Villa Park CREDIT: Tom Jenkins
The squad Bielsa inherited and who he analysed through those 70 hours of footage had finished 13th in the Championship, behind Ipswich Town who are now in League One, and Cooper, Phillips, Luke Ayling and Ezgjan Alioski all started the final game of that season, a win over Queens Park Rangers which was only their fourth in 16 games under Paul Heckingbottom who was then duly sacked. For many weeks in Bielsa’s first campaign the only new player in his team was left-back Barry Douglas.

What is so remarkable, therefore, is that Bielsa has not only been hugely successful in bringing Leeds back to the Premier League but has done so playing a particular brand of attacking football that is not easy to learn, that is time-consuming and demanding – and he has done so depending largely on the same core of players.

What that immediately does is blow the myth that managers cannot coach players into an attractive style of football – that, in fact, they have to adapt to what is available to them. For years some managers have trotted out the same line as an excuse for a functional, conservative approach: it is because they can only work with what they have got, or with the budget they have, and therefore the players are not good enough to play differently. If they had more money and could sign better players, the argument goes, they could play better.

Bielsa has exposed that through what he does best: working ferociously on the training pitch to improve the players. It cannot be that the squad he has is, by fortuitous coincidence, simply packed with technically-gifted footballers who for years have just been overlooked.

English Premier League
Thank you for finding & posting that article up Ian :tup:
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

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Dynamic array wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2020 5:10 pm It was West Ham.

https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles ... #popup-sso
Thank god he fluffed it :-D
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

Post by Irish Ian »

1964white wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2020 5:43 pm Thank god he fluffed it :-D
I think it was while he was at Lazio that the owner complained that Bielsa wouldnt be happy until he was handed the keys to the gates, or suchlike. Owners who treat their clubs like toys or to massage their egos would never buy into the way Bielsa does things.

There arent many around who would allow Bielsa the latitude he has to change things around the club.
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"Football is about the people and the players,” he said. “Then there are those who will mingle in the middle: the coaches, executives and journalists. That last group represents the worst part about football" Marcelo Bielsa
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

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Didn't know this was a thing but congratulations MB :)

Clearly it was MB's turn to babysit Ali :lol:
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

Post by Smudge3920 »

Its good the support team get recognition also ...well done all... :scarfe2:
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

Post by Irish Ian »

From the Telegraph.

Jason Burt, Chief Football Correspondent
2 NOVEMBER 2020 • 8:08 AM
Jack Harrison smiles as he explains how Marcelo Bielsa makes sure he retains a player’s attention while conducting his detailed one-on-one tactical sessions before a match.

“You sit down with him and you have a laser and there is this big projector and you have to follow yourself with the laser so he knows you are focused,” Harrison says of the Leeds United manager. “Before each game you have this individual meeting with him and he goes through your clips. I just love doing stuff like this. He shows you what you do well, what you can improve on, things you should avoid or look out for. You can imagine the amount of work it takes.”


That is not all. “He shows all the movements you should make on an iPad,” Harrison says. “You can see the exact situations that he has drawn out. He says, ‘These ideas and details I have got from the game are through 30 years of management’. The way he sees the game is incredible and to coach it back into us without us even knowing is something special. That’s why he has the reputation he has with top managers in the world all saying great things about him.”

Great things are also being said about Leeds on their return to the Premier League after a 16-year absence. They have taken 10 points from their first six games, holding Manchester City, demolishing Aston Villa’s 100 per cent record and giving Liverpool an almighty fright on the opening day. Beating Leicester on Monday evening would move them back into the top six.

Harrison is thriving, too, in his third season on loan from City.

Marcelo Bielsa has proved to be a revelation as Leeds United coach, bringing his intense approach, bordering on obsession, to training sessions resulting in impressive results
Marcelo Bielsa has proved to be a revelation as Leeds United coach, bringing his intense approach, bordering on obsession, to training sessions resulting in impressive results CREDIT: REUTERS
“It’s a huge club and it’s really special to be a part of it; to be a part of history,” he says. “We will take some teams by surprise with our pressing, our aggression and the intensity we like to play at and I think we have done exactly that at the start of the season.”

That much was evident in the dying seconds at Villa Park when, with the match already well won, Harrison found himself forward in the final minute only to shoot into the side-netting, with four unmarked team-mates inside.

“I had a lot of stick after that one,” he says, laughing again.

It was also a ‘real-time’ example of “Murderball” – Bielsa’s famous training drill where he pitches 11 versus 11 and anything goes, as long as it is done at the highest intensity.

“It’s about attacking when they are not expecting it and taking them by surprise and even in the last few minutes us, as a team, we are always willing to do those extra runs,” Harrison says. “It’s fantastic we have that mentality and people are starting to pick up on that now.”

In fact, Harrison is fresh to this interview from a session of Murderball. So, how does it work? “It’s three days before the game and it’s the most intense training session we will do,” he says. “If you are defending, you have to do it to your maximum ability. If you are attacking, it’s the same. It doesn’t stop. If the ball goes out, it comes straight back in, there are basically no fouls, virtually no offsides.

Leeds have been in fine form this season and were brilliant during their 3-0 demolition job on Aston Villa
Leeds have been in fine form this season and were brilliant during their 3-0 demolition job on Aston Villa CREDIT: AP
“You play and continue playing and it’s on a full-sized pitch back and forth. Today, we did six minutes’ segments and you really feel it. The stats are amazing as well, as we get close to the same number of high- intensity sprints we do in a game – and that’s within 20 or 30 minutes of football.

“It changes every week. We do three minutes or five minutes or six minutes for 20 to 30 minutes. After each segment we have a two-minute break and he [Bielsa] will talk to us about things we have to improve on in the next segment. It’s called ‘Murderball’ because everything is of the high intensity.”

So many of Leeds’ achievements under Bielsa come down to this level of hard graft. Indeed eight of the match-day squad – including Harrison – from Bielsa’s first game in charge, against Stoke City in the Championship in August 2018, are in the team now.

“It’s incredible to see what he has done,” Harrison says. “There are a lot of teams in the league who have special players and they kind of rely on these players to make something happen in the games but, for us, it’s more about the collective and how we can work together. That’s our main strength.”

Harrison, 23, admits it can be “challenging mentally and physically” working with Bielsa. “But once you break through the barriers and limitations you set yourself, then you start to buy into his methodology and philosophy and start to develop.”

Harrison is no stranger to challenging himself, having taken the brave decision to quit Manchester United’s academy when he was just 14 to accept a scholarship in the United States at the Berkshire School in Massachusetts before studying at Wake Forest University.


Harrison played 55 times for New York City before being bought by the side's parent club Manchester City
Harrison played 55 times for New York City before being bought by the side's parent club Manchester City CREDIT: AP
It was the idea of his mother, Debbie, who was worried that if he did not make it at United he would be left rudderless and without an education as happens to many boys at academies. She even walked the corridors, showing him the photographs of previous youth teams to see how few players succeeded.

“There were all these pictures of the age groups throughout the academies and I hardly recognised anyone,” Harrison explains. “Even for my age group at Manchester United there is only a couple who have continued. Scott McTominay has done really well but some of the others have dropped down to lower leagues or are not even playing any more and have had nothing to fall back on. That was the main reason why I went out there [to the US] – not only to pursue my professional dreams but to have something to fall back on as well with the education.”

Harrison even went through the unusual process of being a draft pick – first chosen by Chicago Fire and then “traded” to the newly formed New York City.

“I went on camera and said, ‘Yeah, I am really looking forward to going to Chicago’, and then 30 minutes later I was on the same camera saying, ‘Yeah, I am really looking forward to going to New York’,” Harrison recalls.

In New York his team-mates included Andrea Pirlo, David Villa and Frank Lampard with Harrison impressing so much that he was signed by parent club, City. It was, he says, always his intention to return and fulfil his dream of eventually playing in the Premier League. “After two good years [in the MLS] I started to realise I needed to come back to England,” he says. At Leeds the ambition is clear. “We have to set our bar high and as a team always trying to reach our goals and we would absolutely love to qualify for Europe,” Harrison says. “It’s a high standard, but if we continue on our path I don’t see why it’s not possible.
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"Football is about the people and the players,” he said. “Then there are those who will mingle in the middle: the coaches, executives and journalists. That last group represents the worst part about football" Marcelo Bielsa
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

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Good post Ian...
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

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Ian Wright has confidently predicted that Leeds United are going to demolish someone in the Premier League this season

I like Leeds a lot. I like their philosophy, they don’t change the way they play,”

“They make a lot of chances and someone, at some stage a team is going to get a real hiding off of Leeds once they start taking those chances.”
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

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Graeme Souness has hailed Luke Ayling as the Duracell of Leeds United players, claiming the right-back has “ridiculous energy”


Screenshot 2020-11-30 at 14.05.24.png


“Unless you put a shift in you’re not getting in that starting XI, even the so-called flair players.

“[Luke] Ayling has ridiculous energy. I like Phillips, too he’s got a good range of passing, never seems to get flustered.”

Souness had high praise for the workrate of match-winner Raphinha too – one of the “flair” players he was talking about.

“He’s a flair player but he works his socks off,” Souness said. “There’s lots to like about him because apart from having ability he works really hard when Leeds don’t have the ball.”
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

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1964white wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:09 pm Graeme Souness has hailed Luke Ayling as the Duracell of Leeds United players, claiming the right-back has “ridiculous energy”



Screenshot 2020-11-30 at 14.05.24.png



“Unless you put a shift in you’re not getting in that starting XI, even the so-called flair players.

“[Luke] Ayling has ridiculous energy. I like Phillips, too he’s got a good range of passing, never seems to get flustered.”

Souness had high praise for the workrate of match-winner Raphinha too – one of the “flair” players he was talking about.

“He’s a flair player but he works his socks off,” Souness said. “There’s lots to like about him because apart from having ability he works really hard when Leeds don’t have the ball.”
The bit about putting a shift in is exactly the reason I can't take rumours of Deli Alli being a target , when Mourinho questions his work rate , certainly he wouldn't fit in a Bielsa system , IMO . Seen the Deli Ali rumour a few times but don't know if it's just lazy journalism .
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Re: What the pundits/press/coaches are saying about Bielsa's Leeds

Post by 1964white »

Sunday Telegraph (Match Report v Everton) the best bits of course :)

When Elland Road is finally allowed to admit supporters, a few thousand neutrals will be joining the ballot to catch a closer glimpse of the Premier League's entertainment specialists.

The only travesty in Leeds's victory at Goodison Park is we were treated to only one goal in a pulsating game. Here was another statement performancefrom Marcelo's Bielsa's side, delivered in an esteemed venue to underline his ambitions are loftier than survival.

It is attempting to say there will be no finer match in the PL this season, given Leeds make every fixture such a fun fixture, that may be premature

The open, free-flowing nature was dictated by their wonderful idiosyncratic approach, their incessant forward surges producing a game which never paused for breath.

You have to admire the audacity of Bielsa in believing his side can outplay every team in the Premier League. He turns every game into a joyride although you are left wondering if he would be advised using the brakes occasionally. As a neutral, it is best not to be too churlish. Pray the quirky Bielsa keeps his foot on the pedal, the Argentine evidently feels his players are capable of asserting their superiority over any opponent. So emboldened is his approach, there are occasions he does not particularly rate anyone he is up against. How else to explain how much space he is prepared to concede in his pursuit of goals?

In possession, Leeds are relenting, their players of no fixed abode as they interchange & overlap. Such enterprise could have brought five goals within the first half at Goodison Park.

Raphinha, Ayling, Alioski, Dallas & Harrison made the pitch seem 30 yards wider than usual

Not for the first time Leeds showed their return to the top flight will not be brief
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