Why Marcelo Bielsa could turn Leeds into one of the Championship’s best teams - providing they bend to his will
A coup doesn’t quite cover it.
Marcelo Bielsa is one of the world’s most revered coaches, a purist of football who has influenced some of the most successful coaches of a generation even if his own career has not been laden with trophies.
Now he has taken over at Leeds United, a famous club, certainly, but a second-tier one that has been somewhat lost in recent years. Now they believe they’re about to ensnare a world-renown tactician, a dogmatic leader who might represent the most interesting appointment in the history of the English second division.
Indeed, Bielsa is the ultimate ideologue not only in his tactics, where he plays a 3-3-1-3 system that has an incredible way of seemingly covering every blade of grass and moving in unison, but also the way he conducts himself. The Argentine is nicknamed ‘el loco’ for his somewhat peculiar approach - obsessive far beyond the normal spectrum - and his unbending need for buy-in that often manifests itself in fits of rage when not satisfied.
The former Argentina coach walked out on Lazio days after being hired in part through a feeling that he had been misled over certain promises. Leeds will need to play it straight with Bielsa and they will likely need to bend to his will at times, but if they do then the rewards could be spectacular.
At his best, Bielsa could turn Leeds into the best team in the division and blow away their rivals. When he has a team really singing they can beat anyone on their day but there are obvious questions over whether a coach so obsessed by detail and the minutiae of pattern play can get his ideas across when he speaks so little English. More than a translator, Bielsa will need someone on the staff who understands what he wants from his players down to the most precise detail and will need to be able to relay that.
Of course, not speaking English makes his press duties a little more difficult but that is not a concern for Bielsa who has a somewhat two-sided approach to the media. On one hand he will never give one-on-one interviews, but on the other he has given press conferences that extend to hours. Bielsa is one of the few coaches who will honestly answer detailed footballing questions and he will stay in the press seat until everyone has asked what they want - just don’t expect eye contact or a warm smile. His speech is much like his work; steady, thoughtful and methodical, but the football that accompanies his arrival will be swift and devastating if executed correctly.
The natural question is whether Leeds’ squad, or indeed any Championship roster, can interpret the ideas that Bielsa has and turn it into a promotion push.
From the Elland Road club’s angle you can see all the sense in the world in this hire; the Championship is an incredibly competitive league and if you don’t have parachute payments to help you then you need to think outside the box and find a high-variance option. Bringing in a coach who can get the most out of your players is a must, securing one with a world-class reputation would be way beyond the realms of expectation.
The whole thing could prove to be a disaster, of course, with Bielsa a difficult character whose ideas may fall on deaf ears - or, at least, those not willing or ready to hear what the Argentine preaches. It would surprise nobody if he quit within a week, or pulled out of even taking the job at the last moment.
He will he cast as a madman at times, occasionally with reason, but deep inside the man who looks unimpressive in his sagging tracksuit and glasses is a footballing genius who could take Leeds back to the promised land. There are, however, a lot of difficult steps needed to get those ideas from one of football’s great brains and implement them at the likes of Rotherham, Millwall and Brentford next season.
