A master tactician with huge passion
WHEN Leeds United decided to appoint the much-travelled Marcelo Bielsa as manager this summer, they could hardly have found someone with more experience.
It’s approaching 30 years ago that ‘El Loco’ (the crazy one) started out in management with home-town club, Newell’s Old Boys, in Rosario, Argentina.
A former players with NOBs, the demanding and intense Bielsa proved an immediate success. He led them to two league titles and also to the final of the Copa Libertadores in 1992, losing on penalties to Sao Paulo.
After spells in Mexico with Atlas and America, he captured another league title in his homeland with Velez Sarsfield in 1998.
Smooth
He cut short his time with Espanyol in Spain later that year to take over as manager of the Argentinian national team. Bielsa led his country for six years, but it wasn’t the smooth ride many predicted.
Expectations were raised after Argentina stormed home in first place in South American qualifying for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
It meant they went into the World Cup as one of the favourites. However, they flopped on the big stage, exiting at the group stage after a 1-0 defeat against England and 1-1 draw against Sweden.
Perhaps surprisingly in the cut-throat world of football management, Bielsa kept him job.
In 2004, Bielsa and Argentina came agonisingly close to winning the Copa American in Peru. When Cesar Delgago gave them a 2-1 lead in the final against Brazil with just three minutes left, it appeared as though Argentina had one hand on the trophy.
But Adriano levelled for Brazil in injury time and, buoyed by that reprieve, the Brazilians went on to win 4-2 on penalties.
There was better fortune for Argentina in the Olympics in Greece later that summer as Carlos Tevez scored the only goal as they beat Paraguay in the final to clinch gold.
Bielsa resigned at the end of 2004 and then resurfaced with their neighbours Chile in 2007. By helping ‘La Roja’ qualify for the 2010 World Cup, after failing to make the previous two tournaments, and revamping their style of play, Biela became a hero in his adopted country.
Chile won through their group and then lost 3-0 to Brazil in the last 16, but it had been a magical ride.
Success
After four years at the helm, Bielsa resigned in February 2011. Since then, he has had spells back in club football with Athletic Bilbao, Marseille, Lazio and Lille, with varying degrees of success. His first season in charge of Athletic Bilbao was remarkable. He guided the Spanish outfit to the Europa League final, beating Manchester United, among others, en route. Sadly for Bielsa, there wasn’t a happy ending as Bilbao lost 3-0 to Atletico Madrid in an all-Spanish final in Bucharest. They then lost 3-0 to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final.
Bilbao finished mid-table in Bielsa’s second season at the helm and he wasn’t offered a new contract at the end of it.
He then took over at Marseille and, like at Bilbao, got off to a flyer. However, they couldn’t keep the pace going and eventually finished fourth, earning Europa League qualification.
After losing their opening Ligue 1 match to Caen the following season, Bielsa resigned after falling out with the club’s management.
A year later, he took the reins at Lazio, but, bizarrely, quit just two days later. Then came a disappointing sixmonth stint at Lille last term which ended with Bielsa being dismissed.
If those are some of the facts about Bielsa’s career, they only tell a fragment of the story.
For while he doesn’t have bundles of trophies to his name, he is extremely highly regarded by a whole host of top managers.
Bielsa was one of the first proponents of the pressing game that has since become all the rage. His innovative 3-33-1 formation was designed as an attacking and flexible system, with players required to switch positions and get up and down the pitch.
Energy
It requires a lot of energy and is one of the reasons why Bielsa likes to give young players their chance.
It is also been suggested that one of the reasons his teams often start the season well and then fade in the closing furlongs is precisely because they have put so much energy and effort in. There is little left in the tank.
One of Bielsa’s other great obsessions is football videos – he has a vast collection - and his attention to detail and preparation put him ahead of the rest in years gone by.
It was no great surprise that when he held his first Leeds press conference in late June he said he’d watched all 51 of their games last season.
“I know everything a foreigner could have possibly absorbed about Leeds and what it means to the fans,” he said.
It says a lot for him that many current coaches, and a number that played under him, have been heavily influenced by his style and teachings.
Those include Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone and former Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli.
Pochettino played under Bielsa for Newell’s Old Boys and Argentina.
“He is like my football father. We are a generation of coaches who were his disciples,” the 46-year-old told SFR Sport. “How he feels football, the passion he has for football, I think we all took that from him.”
Bielsa spoke via an interpreter in that first press conference – for almost an hour and a half – but is keen to be able to speak to his players in English in the future.
However, he said: “I believe the players will interpret what I say on the field and have ability to take on board what I say to put my thoughts and beliefs into action.”
They certainly have so far.