Marcelo Bielsa, we could fall out
This is a man I assumed to have the highest aesthetic standards in football, and now I'm forced to picture him roaring his approval as Danny Ward runs the clock down in a corner of Wembley.
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Marcelo Bielsa
A collection of 27 posts
They Sacked Bielsa
Leeds United were brave, in 2018, hiring Marcelo Bielsa to change the club's culture. But Premier League paranoia was too powerful in the end.
Goodbye Marcelo Bielsa, hello Premier League
Marcelo Bielsa's obsessive practice of his life's work gives football the true seriousness it needs for us to remember that it's only a game.
The company parts company
Marcelo Bielsa should be a football club owner's dream. Can you help him? No. He is here to help you.
Rock concert: Vélez Sarsfield vs Huracán, 1998
A gap opens up, then someone appears, a player or member of staff, I'm not sure; they open their arms wide and hug Marcelo, and Bielsa's arms are like a flytrap closing around him, hugging him back.
The footballing idea: Argentina vs Sweden, World Cup 2002
At the airport back in Argentina, a group of Newell's fans handed Bielsa a letter of praise.
We will not live this again: Newell's Old Boys vs Sao Paulo, Copa Libertadores Final, 1992
Fernando Gamboa is an interesting case study in what Newell's Old Boys means to Bielsa, and what Bielsa and his team mean to Newell's Old Boys' fans. Imagine Vinnie Jones but taller, with shoulder length black hair.
Swansea City 2-2 Leeds United: The Stubborn Strategy
Bielsa sits, crouches or prowls, eyes on the action, with one aim in mind that inspires countless thoughts and strategies: get this plan working. Bielsa has one way to play. His flexibility comes from the extraordinary lengths he'll stretch to so that he doesn't have to change a thing.
Leeds United 2-0 Rotherham United: The Problem With Normal
At times you could feel the strain Leeds' players were under; it would have been easy to revert to last season's type, to concede a stupid goal, have a couple of players sent off, give it loads of bollocks in the second half when it was too late then end up losing amid boos. But that was then.
Unopposed
Tthere's something simple and appealing about Bielsa's stoic-ball. 'Don't worry about them, let them worry about you' is a trope that has always been interpreted by Warnockian centre-halves to mean 'kick the other bastards first', but what Bielsa offers is something more profound.