Leeds United v Tottenham Hotspur: Marcelo Bielsa wants to improve the implementation of his methods - not change them

Today’s first Premier League game features two managers in Antonio Conte and Marcelo Bielsa questioning themselves loudly at the moment but Leeds United’s coach has unshakeable faith in his idiosyncratic methods.

It should be clear by now that at Elland Road it is Bielsa’s way or the highway, but people keep asking if he will change path, so he has to keep telling them he will not. When a manager as successful as former Chelsea double-winner and current Serie A champion Conte so publicly doubts himself, it is little wonder many are questioning Bielsa.

Two matches ago, Conte masterminded victory over Manchester City, but Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat at Burnley returned Tottenham Hotspur to the pattern of the previous three league matches. Spurs have lost six of their last 10 in all competitions. Before others could question his future the emotional Conte, only appointed in November, offered to jump.

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Although Bielsa sometimes appears to love nothing more than blaming himself for his club’s collective failings, there are no such suggestions from him and whilst it feels we are reaching the end of a love affair, it is not there yet

STANDING FIRM: Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.STANDING FIRM: Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.
STANDING FIRM: Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.

Bielsa is eating into huge credit earnt by ending 15 years exiled from the Promised Land with football which gave real – and justified – pride to Leeds supporters.

His imprint is all over the training ground and players he has transformed over four seasons.
But few infuriate you as much as those you love the most. Leeds finished ninth in last season’s Premier League with a style so risky at times as to border on suicidal, with a dangerously anorexic squad, a scepticism about mid-season signings and a stubborn coach ultra-picky about recruits.

The strengths that brought victory at Manchester City and a 3-1 win in this fixture last season were also the weaknesses behind three straight defeats with 13 goals conceded.

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Asked how hard it was to not change course in the face of results which dragged Leeds into the territory of the Premier League’s worst defensive record and keep relegation on the table, Bielsa was at his most defiant.

ABSENT: Kalvin Phillips is one of several key Leeds players who has been sidelined by injury this season. Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images.ABSENT: Kalvin Phillips is one of several key Leeds players who has been sidelined by injury this season. Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images.
ABSENT: Kalvin Phillips is one of several key Leeds players who has been sidelined by injury this season. Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images.

“It’s not an option,” he insisted.

“These players have already demonstrated the levels to play in the Premier League. The style, the model, has already shown it can work in the Premier League.

“The effort and willingness of the team can’t be doubted because they’ve been the most intense in their performance within the Premier League so it’s very clear that with all those virtues, capacities, weapons, what I’m achieving is worse.

“There’s two approaches – abandon everything and change the profile of the team or try and correct what is done badly and obtain what they’re capable of. Evidently I’m not managing that.”

POOR RUN: Spurs boss Antonio Conte has watched his side lose four of their last five league games. Picture: Ian Hodgson/PA Wire.POOR RUN: Spurs boss Antonio Conte has watched his side lose four of their last five league games. Picture: Ian Hodgson/PA Wire.
POOR RUN: Spurs boss Antonio Conte has watched his side lose four of their last five league games. Picture: Ian Hodgson/PA Wire.
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Bielsa is not just worried – another constantly-asked question – but increasingly agitated. Some fans doubted it as he performed miracles with a squad heavy on players who were Championship-standard when he inherited them, but he is only human.

“The situation I’m going through is similar to that of a normal person when they are not able to achieve, or not achieving, what they should,” says the 66-year-old.

“The repercussions of my task is the big difference but I’m used to living with or coming through these situations. The more adverse the situation, the more I fortify myself to face it.”

Bielsa knows “anything I say right now is going to be read as an excuse or criticised with a ferociousness the moment deserves” and that, “when you’re the conductor in a bad situation, no one trusts what you’re saying.”

When you cannot win, you really cannot win.

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Leeds have been terribly hit by injuries this season in the quantity and quality of players affected, although a less stubborn coach would not have insisted on keeping his squad 18-strong or batted away January recruits offered to hold out for his perfect solution – Salzburg’s Brenden Aaronson – perhaps in the summer.

“In the positions of right centre-back, left centre-back, and defensive midfielder we have five (senior) players – Diego Llorente, Pascal (Struijk), (Robin) Koch, (Kalvin) Phillips and (Liam) Cooper,” he points out.

“We added (Leo Fuhr) Hjelde, a young player. Leeds can’t have two players of a high level for every position. Of those six, five were missing (in the 6-0 defeat at Liverpool Struijk played in).

“I resolved it by putting (Luke) Ayling as a centre-back and (Adam) Forshaw as a defensive midfielder. The (Leeds) players that shone the most were those two. In the game against Manchester United, the same.

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“But of course, you guys (in the media) will have other arguments over whether the marking is man-for-man, or if we should play in our own half, or try to manage the ball less so we lose it less. All of the things, when they came out well, were praised – when they come out wrong, they are criticised. That is normal.

“So what you’re asking is, are we going to play in our own half, if we’re going to mark zonally, if we’re going to stop having management of the ball? Can you defend set-pieces better?

“In these four years I have received criticisms or demands that are exactly the same. In this case, they are a lot more justified but they’re the same problems we have suffered and overcome.

“If I stop doing what I believe in, the situation is going to be even worse. The question is not of changing how we proceed, but making our procedures work.

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“Every game I imagine we have true possibilities of winning. The game against Manchester (United) allowed us to believe we could beat Liverpool – but we lost 6-0.”

Leeds can only move away from Bielsaball if they move away from Bielsa. They learned that very early on, but others are struggling to take the message on board.

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