Kemar Roofe raves about eye-opening Leeds man, recalls ‘heartbreaking’ moment at Elland Rd
Kemar Roofe has revealed just how intense Marcelo Bielsa’s training sessions were when he was a player at Leeds United.
Roofe, 27, was Leeds’ top goalscorer in Bielsa’s first season in charge as he netted 15 times in 34 appearances across all competitions before leaving in the summer to join Belgian giants Anderlecht.
Since heading to Brussells, Roofe has scored seven goals in 16 appearances in what has been an injury-ravaged season for the former West Brom attacker.
With football on pause due to coronavirus, Roofe has now been discussing the one season he had at Leeds with Bielsa in charge.
While Roofe is full of praise for the Argentine, he probably doesn’t miss how tough his training sessions were.
“I learnt a lot from him,” Roofe told iNews. “He made us see the game differently to everybody else. Just the way he does things opened my eyes a lot. Everything was about the fine details of formations and the opposition’s tactics. How to combat the opposition’s formation so it will benefit us more. Also, fitness as well. I thought I was fit already but working under him I got even fitter. It’s helped me a lot.
“We had some very intense training sessions. There was one session a week where we’d play an 11-a-side game and it was so hard. It was harder than the games on a weekend. There’s no walking about. There are no throw-ins. There are no corner kicks. The ball’s always in play so you’re having to run non-stop. If you’re not running at your maximum, you’ll get found out.”
Bielsa’s first season at Elland Road ended in the worst of ways – defeat in the play-offs.
After the first-leg, Leeds were 1-0 against Derby County up after winning away at Pride Park but they capitulated at home in the second leg, losing 4-2.
“It was heart-breaking,” Roofe said. “We were all devastated. When we went into the dressing room after the last game, it was like a funeral in there. No one knew what to say. It was not so much that we missed out, but the way that we missed out and the fact that we’d put in so much hard work to get there as well. We didn’t just get there by fluke.”
Roofe was a great servant for Leeds and he still seems to care a lot about the club.
He’s been doing well in Belgium and we hope we get to see more of him playing in Europe and winning titles while Vincent Kompany is his boss.
In other Leeds United news, Jamie Carragher has warned the Whites about accusations being made against them.