Sport
Criticism of Marcelo Bielsa is sheer arrogance
Just 14 games, that is all it took. The Premier League season isn’t even at the half way mark and murmurs of doubt are beginning to sound. Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds United were beaten 6-2 by Manchester United on Sunday afternoon; it was the first time they had crossed to Pennines and headed to Old Trafford for a league match in 16 years, and the result was not what anyone connected with the club was hoping for.
Reactions to matches like that are instant, and often quite explosive. Marcelo Bielsa is a coach who has long split opinion across the world; nobody is quite so wedded to a specific approach and philosophy in the way he is. Believing in and understanding his tactics — which are the result of obsessive preparation and demand fitness and energy levels only a certain type of player can possess — and his unique, unorthodox character, really depends on how somebody views the game of football. Bielsa is about his principles above anything else; he needs the perfect conditions and the right backing, and the end result is seldom success in the traditional sense. He has never won a major trophy outside of his native Argentina, not because he doesn’t pursue silverware, but because he will never abandon or change his beliefs for it. Bielsa’s teams, at least the best ones, entertain, amaze, impress and grow.
After years of desolation in West Yorkshire; Bielsa has breathed new life into Leeds. To criticise his approach after a heavy defeat, no matter the opponent, is shortsighted and unfair; there are thousands of fans elsewhere in the Premier League and across England who would love to watch their team play the way Leeds do. Bielsa has fixed so many issues at a club that felt broken for over a decade, full of viscous cycles, incompetent owners and numerous poor decisions.
He navigated them to promotion as champions last season, having made the playoffs in his first campaign; the Championship is among the most competitive, demanding and ferocious leagues in Europe, and it has long been said that pragmatism and physicality are key to getting out of it. Neither are a great feature in Bielsa’s approach, and yet he created a revolution. Even now, after such a heavy loss to bitter rivals, the plaudits and admirers keep coming; with him in charge, the ‘Dirty Leeds’ tag is a thing of the past.
It is the fallback position of many English football pundits and fans to demand teams who succeed in the lower leagues playing attacking, expansive football change their approach when they reach the top flight. The pre-season narrative is filled with questions as to whether their existing style will work. It was the same with Brendan Rodgers at Swansea City in 2011 and Eddie Howe at Bournemouth four years later, both of whom cemented their teams as strong Premier League clubs. Howe departed from the Vitality Stadium this summer after relegation, but his problem was a lack of goals, rather than playing too openly. Sean Dyche’s Burnley, who are regarded as one of the most pragmatic and direct teams around, only climbed out of the bottom three on Monday.
Questions aren’t reserved for those at the bottom of the table, either. After a difficult first season at Manchester City in 2017, Pep Guardiola — who once took a pilgrimage to Argentina just to have a sit down with Marcelo Bielsa and learn more about his principles — was dubbed a ‘fraud’ because he had apparently failed to dominate in the way he had with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, playing the kind of high risk football which is so entertaining. Initially, it was perceived to be easy to beat, especially as counter-attacking idealist Antonio Conte led Chelsea to the title that season.
Guardiola’s response was to win back-to-back league crowns in record fashion, playing some of the most incredible football ever seen in England. His current issues mainly stem from a Liverpool side who are equally as relentless and eye-catching and, like Howe, his players losing their impetus in front of goal.
But none of these coaches are as intrinsically linked to their approach as Bielsa. Asking him to change is not only arrogant, self absorbed, ignorant to evidence and just plain disrespectful, but also futile and unhelpful. If he were to go in a different direction, the squad he has built and developed would not be designed for it, and his message wouldn’t be pure or as well thought out. Bielsa’s message is his essence; his very presence in English football causes intrigue and wonder and his difference drum up headlines. The Premier League is the said to be the best in the world; it is almost certainly the top brand, and part of that appeal is welcoming the best minds in the game to prove themselves. While the style argument relies on myths anyway, with Marcelo Bielsa specifically, it is a non-starter.
That is not to say the discourse which has surrounded the Manchester United result is not over the top; the argument isn’t that Leeds should be praised for their performance, but rather that it was part of the bigger Marcelo Bielsa picture. He won’t have wanted to lose 6-2, but it was worth it to stick to his guns. More generally, it is likely that Leeds will pick up enough points this season, and they have a greater chance of doing so Bielsa’s way. The suggestion that managers should conform to an ‘English style’ is lazy and can be easily found wanting, but somehow, it is peddled with typical superiority, even in the face of genius.
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