Seasons............mins......Apps...Starts...Sub/in....Sub/out
....4................667........27........4........23..........2
As we can see from 27 starts he only played 2 full games and was brought on as a sub in 23 games, given he only played a total of 667 minutes in 4 seasons, obviously he was a late game replacement more often than not.
Some will say it is because he could not cut it but given the last 2 seasons it tells me so much more.
Bielsa as we know is a statistical genius, however he does not rely on them totally he saw something in Paddy, worked with him and adapted him to his style of play... the results speak for themselves.
The bigger question for me is, what would Paddy's career have looked like if he had played for Bielsa from the age of 20/21? I am positive it would be a lot different and he would have a fair few England caps to his name.
Further to that, how many players have been short changed in their careers because the managers/coaches they played for did not have the vision or ability to see what they had?... relying soley on stats.
We have been truly blessed that Bielsa chose Leeds United, but more than that ...Paddy, Luke, Kalvin, Coops et al have all had massive career boosts because of him... It was just a case of having the vision too release the Rottwielers...
