Phil Hay details one thing Bielsa takes ‘great exception’ to from Leeds players
Phil Hay has said that the Leeds United players are still operating under a very strict fitness regime and that Marcelo Bielsa won’t tolerate any of them “blowing up” while in lockdown.
All of the players are training from home during the Covid-19 outbreak and Patrick Bamford revealed that they have been told to buy special scales.
They’ve been instructed to weigh themselves and send photos in every morning.
Talking on the Ornstein & Chapman podcast, Hay said this was likely to lead to the Leeds side being in “tip-top” condition when the season resumes.
“The thing Bielsa is a stickler for away from ball at feet is the weight of players, their conditioning and body fat.
“They do tests every morning at Thorp Arch and they’re weighed and that was almost an inevitability [in lockdown].
‘I was listening to Bamford [in his BBC interview] and he was saying they had to buy special scales in order to photograph themselves and send the results in every day because Bielsa does take great exception to players blowing up in weight and putting on a few pounds when they shouldn’t.
“Almost everyone when he was employed was told they needed to shed more and get their body weight down.
“That will be ultra-strict and Bielsa will be expecting them to come back in tip-top shape.”
The big battle for football players now is keeping fit.
Routines have gone out of the window and it’s much harder to keep at an elite level of fitness if you’re on your own with limited accountability.
Leeds were one of the fittest teams in the Championship – probably the fittest – and Bielsa’s methods should pay dividends when the season resumes.
Hay also revealed that Bielsa has made himself available of WhatsApp to the players and we can imagine he’s pinging a strict rebuke to anyone whose weight is creeping up.
No one knows when or indeed if the Championship season will resume and we imagine this is one of the toughest times the Leeds players have had to endure.
However, the ultimate prize of Premier League football at the end should be enough to keep them motivated.
In other Leeds United news, ‘It’s wrong’ – McCoist on new PL plan set for vote on Friday that could be disastrous for Leeds