YES that Mad Bastard Bielsa's brand of football IS good enough for Leeds United

[Quiffy]

I was looking at marcelo's reign in Marseille yesterday and was alarmed to see he left them after an opening day loss against caen. Naturally I wondered if history was going to repeat itself.

Looking further into it revealed that he left because he couldn't agree a new contract with their chairman, as the chairman fiddled with the final contract after negotiations had finished, so the contract was left unsigned and bielsa announced he was leaving in the post match press conference, before he'd even told his players. This time around he has signed his contract.

In terms of warning signs he had previously mentioned to the press that he was unhappy with the chairman Lebrune, something never mentioned yesterday to the english press regards radz, so I'm not expecting history to repeat itself.

The wrath of the fans was focused directly at the chairman and bielsa's popularity with the fans was maintained.

Anyway for a bit more history....
https://www.espn.co.uk/football/club/marseille/176/blog/post/2555917/marcelo-bielsa-leaving-marseille-ligue-no-surprise

[moscowhite]

Last season, when Labrune didn't buy the players he wanted in the summer transfer window, he publicly criticised him and never played Doria, the Brazilian defender signed by Labrune without his consent. He could have left then but, only a few weeks in the job, he felt like giving it a go.

This part of that article undersells what happened here. At the start of Bielsa's first season at Marseille he got stuck right into the chairman for breaking promises over the summer, left no doubt what he thought about Labrune, then said he'd do what he could with what he had anyway. He took them top of the league, then absences for the African Cup of Nations hit the team and they drifted to 4th — which is exactly what Bielsa had said would be the problem in the first place.

It's almost like he stuck around to prove a point.

They then spent weeks in the next summer (as in the article) getting everything agreed in a new contract about what players would be bought/sold and when, and Labrune immediately broke those promises, so Bielsa packed in after the first game.

What I've always taken from this tale is that if he's not happy with what Leeds are doing, he won't be shy about saying so.

In fact: here is Marca's report on that first summer's press conference, which I found while looking for this wonderful photo of Marseille's press officer in the background:



https://www.marca.com/en/2014/09/05/en/ ... 32919.html

Olympique Marseille manager Marcelo Bielsa has launched an attack on the directors of the French club, accusing them of not respecting his transfer requests and not consulting him on players signed by the club.

"My assessment of this transfer window is a negative one. I think the president made me promises he knew he could not deliver on", the coach said in a press conference.

"None of the players signed were requested by me. We wanted Stambouli or Alderweireld. I found out about the sale of Lucas Mendes to Qatar at the last minute. I found out about the signing of Doria when he was undergoing his medical. I didn't want him", said the Argentine, who was clearly upset with his board.

"None of the players who have joined were my requests. I proposed 12 names and none of them came through. I asked for Jara, Manquillo, Isla, Montoya, Coke, Ocampos, Rekik, Aurier, Tello, Medel and Stambouli. We had to rush our business despite the fact we knew who we wanted", Bielsa added.

Labrune's response
Marseille president Vincent Labrune responded to Bielsa via 'L'Équipe', stating that he "doesn't understand" the criticism because "the squad has enough quality to achieve the objectives outlined" of qualifying for the Champions League.

In a club statement, the Marseille president said he would speak to Bielsa when he returns from his holidays "after four months of intense work to allow the club to return to the top of the league".

[kennyb41]

I shudda read this before i posted what i have on transfers thread and stuck it here.

[kennyb41]

YES YES FCKING YES!!!!!............................Stolen below.....

When it comes to tactics Marcelo Bielsa is light miles ahead of us mere mortals...

People will look at our business this summer and question the strength of our squad in certain areas. Why do we have so many wingers and so few centre backs? Will we play 4-1-4-1 or 3-3-1-3 and how do the players we have fit in that formation? But people make too much out of numbers when it comes to formations. With Bielsa ball players aren't restricted to positions and that is the key to causing havoc against teams set up more traditionally. If our left back suddenly pops up on the right wing then who on earth in the opposition teams is meant to be marking him because guaranteed the opposition right winger won't track him all the way back to the opposite side of the pitch.

Players like White who are able to bring the ball out of defence opens up space, likewise having a fluid attack who switch, rotate and cover each other defensively causes chaos amongst the opposition defence. Bielsa ball is all about creating positions on the field, work it so we have a numerical advantage thus enabling us to have the space to create chances. That is why Bielsa prioritises the attacking attributes of our defenders because he needs all our defenders to be comfortable on the ball so they can pop up anywhere on the pitch and not lose possession.

When it comes to tactics Marcelo Bielsa is light miles ahead of us mere mortals. That is why he can do baffling things, such as selling Jansson, but that they make sense to him because he knows exactly what he needs. Whilst the players he has won't be exactly what we think the team needs he is judging them by a different set of criteria to us. For anyone to say a particular formation is the best way, or that we needed a particular player would just be foolish as Bielsa's way is the only way for him and his research and statistics. If he thinks playing ten strikers and a defensive midfielder and no keeper was the way then it would probably work!

Any formation is reliant on the players at your disposal and whilst we could look at our squad and say we only have two centre backs, Cooper and White, with one of them not having played at Championship level Bielsa probably thinks we have an abundance of centre backs as he will see all our fullbacks and defensive midfielders as being able to play in the back three.

This is where Bielsa differs so much from other managers we see, and why it's hard for some to wrap their heads around what he does. People are so used to seeing rigid definitions of roles and positions which is why we see that most overused of phrases 'square pegs round holes' when part of Bielsa's games is to soften up those pegs to fit numerous holes - which is exactly what we've seen with Phillips, Shackleton, Roberts, to great effect. So is the formation really reliant on players in this case? If anything it's the opposite with Bielsa, players moulded to fit his formations.

We should be really excited for this coming season because we have generally kept the same players but Bielsa will have had chance to take them to another level this summer having already improved them massively last summer. The interchanging that looks set to happen up front between the wingers and No.10 positions could be unbelievable to watch and I you can see us almost becoming Keeganesque this season, whilst we will be vulnerable at the back at times, we could be scoring 30 or 40 more goals than last season.

In Bielsa we trust! We have to, he’s the best shot at promotion we’ve had in years!

[kennyb41]

YES YES FCKING YES!!!!!............................Stolen below.....

When it comes to tactics Marcelo Bielsa is light miles ahead of us mere mortals...

People will look at our business this summer and question the strength of our squad in certain areas. Why do we have so many wingers and so few centre backs? Will we play 4-1-4-1 or 3-3-1-3 and how do the players we have fit in that formation? But people make too much out of numbers when it comes to formations. With Bielsa ball players aren't restricted to positions and that is the key to causing havoc against teams set up more traditionally. If our left back suddenly pops up on the right wing then who on earth in the opposition teams is meant to be marking him because guaranteed the opposition right winger won't track him all the way back to the opposite side of the pitch.

Players like White who are able to bring the ball out of defence opens up space, likewise having a fluid attack who switch, rotate and cover each other defensively causes chaos amongst the opposition defence. Bielsa ball is all about creating positions on the field, work it so we have a numerical advantage thus enabling us to have the space to create chances. That is why Bielsa prioritises the attacking attributes of our defenders because he needs all our defenders to be comfortable on the ball so they can pop up anywhere on the pitch and not lose possession.

When it comes to tactics Marcelo Bielsa is light miles ahead of us mere mortals. That is why he can do baffling things, such as selling Jansson, but that they make sense to him because he knows exactly what he needs. Whilst the players he has won't be exactly what we think the team needs he is judging them by a different set of criteria to us. For anyone to say a particular formation is the best way, or that we needed a particular player would just be foolish as Bielsa's way is the only way for him and his research and statistics. If he thinks playing ten strikers and a defensive midfielder and no keeper was the way then it would probably work!

Any formation is reliant on the players at your disposal and whilst we could look at our squad and say we only have two centre backs, Cooper and White, with one of them not having played at Championship level Bielsa probably thinks we have an abundance of centre backs as he will see all our fullbacks and defensive midfielders as being able to play in the back three.

This is where Bielsa differs so much from other managers we see, and why it's hard for some to wrap their heads around what he does. People are so used to seeing rigid definitions of roles and positions which is why we see that most overused of phrases 'square pegs round holes' when part of Bielsa's games is to soften up those pegs to fit numerous holes - which is exactly what we've seen with Phillips, Shackleton, Roberts, to great effect. So is the formation really reliant on players in this case? If anything it's the opposite with Bielsa, players moulded to fit his formations.

We should be really excited for this coming season because we have generally kept the same players but Bielsa will have had chance to take them to another level this summer having already improved them massively last summer. The interchanging that looks set to happen up front between the wingers and No.10 positions could be unbelievable to watch and I you can see us almost becoming Keeganesque this season, whilst we will be vulnerable at the back at times, we could be scoring 30 or 40 more goals than last season.

In Bielsa we trust! We have to, he’s the best shot at promotion we’ve had in years!

[kennyb41]

Another mad optimist with his fcking arse in the air YEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAA!!!

So good i posted it twice.

[jackos]

Can I just say that after what Bielsa said during yestedays presser I like the guy even more, I doubt he will ever leave Leeds or Yorkshire. He gets us. We are all Marcelo. Our Che.

When you are talking about Marching OI Together and everybody hates us it is a thing we feel. When you belong for a second year in a sentence like this. There are a lot of clubs better than Leeds United but there aren't a lot of clubs that could be better that don't have these feeling that unites everybody and the culture and passion of the club

[Devi]

Is he married? Cos I’m in love

[Quiffy]

Ta Moscow. You've coloured that in nicely. I'll sleep better tonight.

I suppose the only thing to worry about now is that Marcelo walked from Marseille even though he was adored by the fans. Our love won't count for much if he's messed about by radz.

My wife likes all these dystopian films and books. That's what I imagine life to be like post bielsa. Tina Turner singing "we don't need another hero" anorl.

[Blackwhite]

Loved this

[Musson Grumble]

Loved this

Fabulous,
We should adopt the song as the players walk on music, quickly followed by MOT, of course.
Best I've heard since 'Eye of the tiger'
The Rosario rumba, or is it samba?
#RR

[eric olthwaite]

The man’s funny as fuck, TBF.

[Clacton white]

YES YES FCKING YES!!!!!............................Stolen below.....

When it comes to tactics Marcelo Bielsa is light miles ahead of us mere mortals...

People will look at our business this summer and question the strength of our squad in certain areas. Why do we have so many wingers and so few centre backs? Will we play 4-1-4-1 or 3-3-1-3 and how do the players we have fit in that formation? But people make too much out of numbers when it comes to formations. With Bielsa ball players aren't restricted to positions and that is the key to causing havoc against teams set up more traditionally. If our left back suddenly pops up on the right wing then who on earth in the opposition teams is meant to be marking him because guaranteed the opposition right winger won't track him all the way back to the opposite side of the pitch.

Players like White who are able to bring the ball out of defence opens up space, likewise having a fluid attack who switch, rotate and cover each other defensively causes chaos amongst the opposition defence. Bielsa ball is all about creating positions on the field, work it so we have a numerical advantage thus enabling us to have the space to create chances. That is why Bielsa prioritises the attacking attributes of our defenders because he needs all our defenders to be comfortable on the ball so they can pop up anywhere on the pitch and not lose possession.

When it comes to tactics Marcelo Bielsa is light miles ahead of us mere mortals. That is why he can do baffling things, such as selling Jansson, but that they make sense to him because he knows exactly what he needs. Whilst the players he has won't be exactly what we think the team needs he is judging them by a different set of criteria to us. For anyone to say a particular formation is the best way, or that we needed a particular player would just be foolish as Bielsa's way is the only way for him and his research and statistics. If he thinks playing ten strikers and a defensive midfielder and no keeper was the way then it would probably work!

Any formation is reliant on the players at your disposal and whilst we could look at our squad and say we only have two centre backs, Cooper and White, with one of them not having played at Championship level Bielsa probably thinks we have an abundance of centre backs as he will see all our fullbacks and defensive midfielders as being able to play in the back three.

This is where Bielsa differs so much from other managers we see, and why it's hard for some to wrap their heads around what he does. People are so used to seeing rigid definitions of roles and positions which is why we see that most overused of phrases 'square pegs round holes' when part of Bielsa's games is to soften up those pegs to fit numerous holes - which is exactly what we've seen with Phillips, Shackleton, Roberts, to great effect. So is the formation really reliant on players in this case? If anything it's the opposite with Bielsa, players moulded to fit his formations.

We should be really excited for this coming season because we have generally kept the same players but Bielsa will have had chance to take them to another level this summer having already improved them massively last summer. The interchanging that looks set to happen up front between the wingers and No.10 positions could be unbelievable to watch and I you can see us almost becoming Keeganesque this season, whilst we will be vulnerable at the back at times, we could be scoring 30 or 40 more goals than last season.

In Bielsa we trust! We have to, he’s the best shot at promotion we’ve had in years!

I suppose its a modern take on the Dutch total football . Given the choice of attacking , entertaining football that takes a club to 3rd on first attempt , or dull hoofball defensive tactics that take the club to mid table ....... I think I just might prefer the former . Guess some are happy with mid table dullness though

[Professor Weeto]

The man’s funny as fuck, TBF.

Yeah, loved this.

[Mr Reality]

Sounds like it's going to be a while before Roberts and Ayling are back.

[Yeboah]

Sounds like it's going to be a while before Roberts and Ayling are back.

I saw Ayling in Boston Spa, when team were in Australia, he said he thought it would be 6-8 weeks before he was back.

[jackos]

The man’s funny as fuck, TBF.

Yeah, loved this.

He was on form in today's pressa, do wish we still had Salim doing the translation though, he really got into it when he was asked about the documentary, but I hardly understood a word of what was said.

[Oheddieeddie]

Sounds like it's going to be a while before Roberts and Ayling are back.

I saw Ayling in Boston Spa, when team were in Australia, he said he thought it would be 6-8 weeks before he was back.

L

Did you tell him he was a loser who might as well not have bothered last year?

[Professor Weeto]

The man’s funny as fuck, TBF.

Yeah, loved this.

He was on form in today's pressa, do wish we still had Salim doing the translation though, he really got into it when he was asked about the documentary, but I hardly understood a word of what was said.

It's weird, I'm finding Corberan easier to follow now, but mainly because I am listening more intently to the original Spanish and can already get a very vague idea of what Bielsa is saying most of the time.

[kennyb41]

I'm hoping that's a little ploy from our Bert and he's starting Costa and Teddy.