Believing in Leeds & Bielsa
Just because it’s not been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be done
Steve Nicol spouts the common sense belief that Leeds United cannot keep up the pace throughout the season. And the first season under Bielsa, two years ago in the Championship, makes that seem true: Leeds did end the season looking tired. In their home loss to Derby County in the playoffs, they just couldn’t keep up.
Last year, when they won promotion, couldn’t answer the question, of course: with the long break for covid, every team got to rest and heal. Leeds restarted with a loss on the road, but then ran the rest of the league off the pitch. Their first season back in the EPL has started the same; yesterday’s blow-out of Aston Villa shows how dangerous they are.
The question remains: Can this last all season?
Here’s what to keep an eye on.
Injuries. Already, Leeds has had to deal with not having team captain Liam Cooper available for most of the season as well as lead playmaker Pablo Hernandez. Then, on Monday, the fulcrum of the offense, Kalvin Phillips, got a shoulder injury that will keep him out up to two months.
But this is why teams look to get as many skilled players as possible. Redundancy is an absolute necessity for success at this level. There really is no one to take Phillips’ place — Bielsa has made him a unique player for the Whites — but the offense clicked at Villa without him. The defense threw a shutout and has grown stronger, even without Cooper. Koch gets better by the game.
There’s a limit to how many injuries a team can sustain, but, at this point, Leeds looks like it can survive the normal amount.
Rotation. Bielsa is going to have give every player time off in order to sustain the energy all season. The international breaks help, but Leeds now have a lot of players who have national team duty; they aren’t going to get a lot of rest that way. Again: redundancy. At some point, Patrick Bamford is going to have to take some time off. Koch can’t play every game. Jack Harrison will need some recovery time.
Fortunately, Leeds has been able to build a solid core of backups. Raphinha came off the bench at Villa for the last ten minutes, and he made the pass of the day. With Jack Harrison forced to miss the Man City match (he’s on loan from them), Ian Poveda took his place and was almost as effective. Alioski isn’t a usual starter, but when he plays — he took Phillips’ spot in the lineup at Villa — the team doesn’t miss a beat. He made a cross into the box that should have been Bamford’s first goal.
The thing all these players have for them is working daily under Bielsa’s tutelage. Those not familiar with the team might have been amazed at Jamie Shackleton’s play, when he subbed on after twenty minutes, but he’s been there since day one. Bielsa knows that despite being so young and inexperienced that he can be trusted to get the job done. The team is loaded with players who work the system on the training ground and are ready when called on.
Defense. The best defense is a good offense. This is clearly Bielsa’s credo, and it worked at Villa. It doesn’t hurt to have good defenders, of course, and Leeds does. When Jack Grealish made that amazing run in the second half, the defense was stretched, but they never gave Grealish the opening he was looking for. He was finally forced into a tightly angled shot that keeper Illan Meslier was able to save relatively easily. When Luke Ayling let Ollie Watkins get inside him and set up a Grealish shot, Ayling ran to the perfect spot on the goal line to just clear what would have been a game-changing goal.
Leeds is going to have games when the offense doesn’t flow; Monday against Wolves was such a goal. On those days, they’ll need to play great defense — again which they did against Wolves, who got a lucky deflection to sneak the win. Bielsa will always want his team to press and push, but he knows that when they play the top teams, they’ll need the defense to step up. They couldn’t against Liverpool, but they did against Man City, shutting them down with a single goal.
And Aston Villa couldn’t score at all, and this was a team that scored seven against Liverpool. If the Leeds defense can keep that level of play going, the offense will be able to do their thing.
Free time. Leeds is out of the Carabao Cup, they’re not playing in Europe (yet), and the FA Cup is some time off. In coming seasons, these will be extra challenges, but, in 2020–21, these are pressures they won’t have to face. That’s perfect for a first season in the Premier. In coming seasons, they’ll have to prepare for Europe and extended cup runs.
So. Can this last all season? Of course it can. They’ll need to avoid injuries, and they’ll need a rotation of players who fill in and keep the system moving. They’ll need the defense to keep the team in a place to press forward. And let’s remember: A lot of these players are in their third year of working under Bielsa. Their fitness will have continued to build, far beyond where they were in the first season.
Bielsa, of course, will have learned better how the English game works. He understands just how much pressure there is, how hard a single match is. He’s not going to work his system with no regard to this reality. It’ll do no good run the team into the ground, something he knows far better than the unthinking commentators like Nicol in that clip. For probably the first time in his career, he has the players and resources he needs to fulfill his vision of how a great football team should play. It’ll require no small amount of good fortune, of course, but Leeds United has the resources to let Bielsa do his thing.
And he’ll do it until the season’s final whistle.
