‘Pointless’ – Bielsa almost refused to let Leeds play in one of his first games in charge
Leeds United fans know how thorough Marcelo Bielsa is in his pre-match preparation.
But there’s more proof from Leeds chief Angus Kinnear in the Leicester programme notes.
He claims that Bielsa almost refused to let his Leeds players play in a pre-match friendly against Southend as they were planning to field a team with no numbers on the jerseys.
Writing ahead of the Leicester game Kinnear said, “It was at one of Marcelo’s first games in charge in a pre-season friendly that we got out first insight into the step-change of diligence is pre-match preparation.
“Twenty minutes before kick-off I was called down to the tunnel to find our backroom team were not prepared to play the game as Southend were planning to field a team without numbers on their shirts as their new kit hadn’t arrived.
“Marcelo explained that if our players could not identify the opposition it would render all his pre-match analysis redundant and that the game was pointless.”
We absolutely love this story but it must have put the frighteners up Angus Kinnear.
Leeds went on to play the game that ended in a 1-1 draw, with Luke Ayling getting the equalising goal.
And it looks like some late diplomacy meant the game went ahead as the Southend players played out the game without numbers on their kits.
Samu Saiz played in the game and there were high hopes for him under Bielsa, but he couldn’t hack the new regime and left on loan in January.
That was seen as a big blow by fans but they quickly came to realise that Bielsa knew exactly what he was doing.
Just over two years later and Leeds are flying high in the Premier League and Bielsa has already established himself as a legend and one of the best managers in the game.
It’s all in the preparation.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay makes surprise Leeds claim as BBC reports on emerging Premier League issue