With Radrizzani, Orta and Bielsa, Leeds are finally equipped for their Premier League return

On Wednesday 15 July, Leeds United could finally confirm their place back in the Premier League after an absence of 17 years. This has been a depressingly barren period for the club, as financial mismanagement and poor leadership has meant they had seemed doomed to oscillate between League One and the Championship forever.

Should Leeds beat Barnsley and Brentford fail to oust potential play-off rivals Preston, the Yorkshire club will be promoted to the Premier League. A lot of this change can be put down to the arrival of two men, one year apart, with first a new owner, Andrea Radrizzani, arriving in 2017, soon followed by the legendary Marcelo Bielsa in time for the 2018-19 season.

Radrizzani’s arrival was particularly significant following a few tumultuous years under the stewardship of Massimo Cellino. Cellino’s reign had been marked by strange managerial appointments, attempts to influence the team’s starting line-up and the superstitious removal of all seats numbered 17 from the stadium. Cellino believed the seats caused Leeds bas luck.

The most important factor in Radrizzani’s arrival was to achieve stability

You would hope that, considering the absolute lack of success Leeds had under his reign, 17 would now be Cellino’s favourite number. Along with the reinstatement of the removed seats, the most important factor in Radrizzani’s arrival was to at last achieve stability for the club.

Radrizzani is clearly a man that knows football, and, acknowledging the fact that he might not be the best person to lead the footballing side of the club, he quickly appointed a director of football who knew the division, Victor Orta. With Orta’s help, he initially brought in Yorkshireman Paul Heckingbottom, in an attempt to win over the fans, but this experiment quickly failed and, within a year, he and Orta turned to Bielsa.

What is particularly remarkable about Radrizzani, coupled with Orta, is the fact that he very firmly, from the outset, decided that he was not going to follow the examples of Wolves or Newcastle, in attempting to spend big and sign players who are already above the Championship’s level.

In appointing Bielsa, he believed that the money that would otherwise go into signing players should be instead pumped into the contract of a truly top manager. This would be a manager of the calibre who would not need brilliant players to succeed, but would instead develop them to the requisite quality. A revolutionary idea, that would also save the club millions of pounds.

Bielsa brought a first league title in years to Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina

Radrizzani and Orta were determined to aim high, and they initially went for the man recently sacked by Chelsea, Antonio Conte, fresh off the back of the Premier League title. Their second choice, it is fair to say, was not too bad either, and in 2018, Marcelo Bielsa was unveiled as the new manager of Leeds United.

Bielsa is the definition of the word enigma, a man who, despite not having many trophies amongst his repertoire, has changed virtually all the clubs he has been at for the better. To name just a couple of his achievements, he brought a first league title in years to Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina, whilst taking a previously decrepit Athletic Bilbao to the Europa League final and back to the upper echelons of Spanish football.

And this was all alongside his role in revolutionising tactics, with a focus on intense pressing, rapid counter attacks and positional interchange that is reminiscent of Dutch Total Football of the 70s and has influenced Mauricio Pochettino, Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone amongst many others.

Philips has performed so well that some have backed him for an England call-up

His focus on these tactics allowed him to immediately transpose them onto little old Leeds, with Radrazzani understandably delighted that Bielsa only requested some minor tweaks, such as the signing of hard-working forward Patrick Bamford. This lack of signings has meant that, considering the players at his disposal, Bielsa is probably the sole reason, on the playing side of the game, for the club’s monumental rise—without him promotion would not have been possible.

This is exemplified by the improvement in some players, such as Kalvin Phillips and captain Liam Cooper under Bielsa’s stewardship. Cooper was previously a player prone to mistakes, unreliable and not the best on the ball, but Bielsa has turned him into the leader of the backline, directing play without the ball and showing intelligence with it, distributing to players who will use it effectively and efficiently.

Philips has performed so well this season that some have backed him for an England call-up.

Bielsa’s 3-3-1-3 formation has blown the Championship apart, with Leeds’ quick interchanges and rapid counterattacks exploiting spaces that teams didn’t even know existed. This is coupled by immense opposition analysis, with Bielsa often watching all the games an opponent has played that season—up to 69 hours of football– in an attempt to exploit any weaknesses they may have.

The decline did hint at a downside of Bielsa’s style of management

Last season’s ‘spygate’, which was blown massively out of proportion by an out of his depth Frank Lampard, merely exemplified the extents to which Bielsa was prepared to go to find an edge.

Last season’s improvement was extraordinary, and their defeat in the play-offs, although disappointing, showed how far the team had come, having been in the automatic promotion places for much of the campaign. The decline did hint at a downside of Bielsa’s management that has been symptomatic wherever he has gone, however— ‘Bielsa Burnout’. The high-intensity training sessions that Bielsa puts on throughout the season, means that, towards its end, the players are understandably feeling tired, meaning his game plan cannot be played out to full effect.

These training sessions included a drill called ‘Murderball’. Every Wednesday, Leeds would undergo a 90-minute 11 v 11 game, only that there are no stoppages for set-pieces or the like, an idea that is taxing just to think about.

A few shrewd additions could provoke a challenge for the Europa League

Next season, if Leeds do make it to the Premier League, will undoubtedly be incredibly interesting, as England’s top division could be exposed to Bielsa for the first time. There is some doubt around this, however, as the man that has invigorated the Leeds fanbase to levels not seen since the glory days of Don Revie is prone to leaving jobs at strange times, departing Lazio after a few days. Bielsa may think that his job is done, and move on, but at the moment that is looking unlikely.

Ultimately, with Bielsa in charge, anything is possible, with the Premier League most likely unprepared for what is to come. With the current crop of players, however, I would predict they are only good enough for lower mid-table, although a few shrewd additions could provoke a challenge for the Europa League.

All, as has been the case for Leeds across the past couple of years, is in the hands of Marcelo Bielsa. Should he stay, the Argentine has the ability take Leeds back to where they belong, into the upper reaches of the First Division.