Jonathan Wilson Technically Speaking

The pressing questions over Bielsa’s energy

It seemed to be happening again as Leeds United lost 1-0 at Queens Park Rangers – their fifth defeat in 10 games. Was this what everybody had expected would happen? After all, the history of Marcelo Bielsa’s managerial career is littered with promising starts followed by late-season collapses.

It happened at Athletic Bilbao. It happened at Marseille. And it even happened at his first club, Newell’s Old Boys, who won just nine games in the whole of 1991 – in between claiming the Argentinian Apertura in 1990 and the Clausura in 1992.

Historically, Bielsa’s football has proved too intense to sustain over a full season and this was always the question lurking in the background when he joined Leeds in the summer. Within weeks of taking the job he had become a messianic figure, inspiring hope where for so long there had been none. He was eccentric and stubborn, and he got his team playing thrilling football. The absurdity of “Spygate” – a man stood on public land, looking over a fence – and the hysterical reaction from certain sections of English football only added to his popularity.

But always there was a nagging doubt: could football like Bielsa’s really be maintained over the full 46 games of a Championship season?

When Leeds lost at Loftus Road, Bielsa must have expected the questions. Were Leeds suffering a decline in energy levels? Was the familiar pattern repeating? His response was unusually spiky.

“Your question does not have any basis because if you watch the game you can see that this team has much energy,” he said. “What our team has shown in every game is that we have an excess of energy.