England is fascinated by Marcelo Bielsa. The cranky coach stands out with his unusual actions and a spectacular football. A portrait of a man who is nicknamed "El Loco" - "the crazy one".
To see how close genius and madness are in Marcelo Bielsa, one can look at many anecdotes. One of them goes like this: after two title wins at the beginning of his coaching career, the start of the third year went wrong. With Newells Old Boys, the Argentinian took a bitter 0:6 defeat against the rivals from San Lorenzo.
A dozen of fans were so angry that they visited Bielsa's home. He was not particularly interested in discussions. Armed with a hand grenade, he stepped out of the house, threatening the fans to leave, "or I'll blow you up." The angry crowd quickly buzzed off.
After coaching a total of eleven teams, including national teams of Argentina and Chile, Athletic Bilbao, Marseille and Lille, the 63-year-old arrived in England since this summer - and he has been fascinating the football nation. On Sunday, Bielsa won with Leeds United his first Championship match against Stoke City, 3:1. Before and after the game he gave bizarre interviews to the English TV, particularly characterized by a persistent whisper with his interpreter. The latter spoke sentences in English to Bielsa, which the coach repeated, but sometimes forgot half of the words meanwhile.
"The poorest only have football for relaxation"
Shortly after Bielsa arrived in Leeds, northern England, he instructed his assistants to make a calculation. The Argentinian wanted to know how long an average fan of the club must work to buy a ticket for a match of the team. The result was: about three hours.
Only a short time later, Bielsa let his players pick up garbage for three hours, so they can feel what fans occasionally have to sacrifice to see them play. According to the credo that Bielsa set up years ago: "Those who sacrifice beautiful football for the result, should be tortured in my opinion. The poorest among us only have football for relaxation. I would find it terrible if we only offered them results."
Bielsa football is wild, it is a show. During his career, he often played a 3-3-3-1 formation, with high intensity pressing. His new players in Leeds ran in the preparatory games this season on average already more than last year in the league games. A style of play that almost always creates crowd's emotions, but is also extremely exhausting for players - especially as the season in England's second tier includes 46 games, plus matches in the cup competitions.
The daily routines in the club were radically revised by the coach. There are usually not many training sessions in England, and the team and coaching staff only see each other for a few hours a day. Not with Bielsa. Under his regime, players spend the entire day at the club grounds, from nine in the morning until 19.30 in the evening. The coach has three intensive sessions, with very individual coaching. In between, each player can eat on the training base and go to a private room for a siesta or break. Bielsa even has a bed in his office.
Bielsa knew every formation of every team
How obsessed the disciplinary fanatic sometimes is, shows the story of his contact by the Leeds bosses. At first, they could not reach their desired trainer directly, leaving him a message. "The next day Bielsa called us back - and in the meantime he had watched and analyzed seven Leeds games," says the fascinated president Andrea Radrizzani.
Bielsa invited Leeds representatives to an introductory talk to Buenos Aires, also to see how serious the club is. Sports director Victor Orta wanted to know from the Argentine how well he then knew the Championship, where now even the coaches can get yellow and red cards. Bielsa rummaged through various notes, and he could say about each team, how they performed in the past season, which tactical formation was applied and with what success.
Shortly thereafter, they agreed on a contract. To get a work permit in England, Bielsa also needed a letter of recommendation. That's what his compatriot Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham coach, did, who started his career as a 14-year-old under Bielsa and holds as high opinion of him as the Spanish star coach of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola. He once called Bielsa "the best coach in the world" and emphasized that "El Loco", the crazy man, as Bielsa is called, inspired him tactically.
On Saturday, Leeds in Match Day 2 face Derby County, now coached by Frank Lampard. It should be the next step on the traditional club's long way back to the Premier League. Still in the early 2000s, Leeds reached the semifinals of the Champions League, but they have been waiting for a return to the elite since 2004.
Once he resigned after two days
The club must also be warned. As awesome as Bielsa is in many fields, he can be also difficult to deal with. In his second season at Maeseille, he stepped down out of the blue after the first match. Even more extreme was his involvement in Rome: Two days after Lazio had introduced him as coach, Bielsa announced his resignation again. He just did not like it in this club.
Bielsa is controversial - some companions love and admire him, others despise him. But either way it will be very interesting to see how "El Loco" gets along in England. They will not forget him there so fast - with or without grenade.
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