Liam Cooper hits back at burnout suggestions on Twitter after Leeds beat Burnley 4-0
Liam Cooper has fired a message to any Leeds United critics who thought Marcelo Bielsa’s side would break down at the end of the season.
The high-intensity tactics implemented by Bielsa in West Yorkshire have often been sneered at by pundits who have claimed his demanding methods would cause the team to suffer from burnout towards the campaign’s conclusion.
Karen Carney was one such critic on Amazon Prime Sport [29/12/20] after the Whites beat West Brom 5-0 at The Hawthorns.
“They out-run everyone and credit to them,” she said.
“My only concern would be will they blow up at the end of the season?
“We saw that the last couple of seasons. I actually think they got promoted because of Covid in terms of it gave them a bit of respite. I don’t know if they would have got up if they didn’t have that break.”
There have been countless other pundits who have weighed in on Leeds’ ability to last the distance and Cooper, who led the Whites to Championship glory last season, took the chance to take aim at them after Saturday’s 4-0 win at Burnley made it just one loss in their last nine.
He wrote on his personal Twitter profile, “The world of football waiting for LUFC burnout!
“Not on our watch. Different class again from the boys.
“Never an easy place to go.”
Where are they now?
Pundits have been bleating on about this so-called ‘Bielsa burnout’ since he was appointed at Elland Road in 2018, but we’re yet to really witness it.
Our first season under El Loco ended in play-off disappointment at the hands of Derby County, but we romped home to the Championship title last year after a brilliant late run put the gloss on a consistent campaign all round.
We’ve suffered a few blips this season, notably in January when we lost three straight games (including a cup exit to Crawley Town), but we’ve recovered remarkably to fire ourselves to European contention with a couple of matchdays left.
A Europa League berth is still possible as we sit three points behind seventh-placed Tottenham Hotspur, but even if that is not achievable then a top-10 finish looks increasingly likely.
That would really put to bed any fears of burnout and hopefully it will lead pundits and rival fans to do more research before they brazenly dish out labels and premature predictions.
In other Leeds United news, Graham Smyth shares what Alioski was saying to Ben Mee after 4-0 win v Burnley, following ‘crazy’ incident.