https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/leeds-united-burnout-marcelo-bielsa-15132995 Leeds United's run of four defeats in their last six games has seen one of the common criticisms of Marcelo Bielsa's methods become a talking point again. When Bielsa's side were out of the blocks so quickly back in August, rivals and pundits were quick to scoff and insist that the Leeds squad would not be able to maintain this high-octane style all season. The naysayers would also point to the small squad size that Bielsa said he wanted to take into the new season when he was unveiled at Elland Road in the summer. But Leeds were able to emerge from the hectic festive schedule at the top of the pile, as those pre-season triple sessions appeared to be paying off. But recent results have seen some of those doubts creep in again. While there are a myriad of factors at play, such as injuries, form, opposition, etc, what does Bielsa's history tell us about how his sides cope with his style of play over a whole season? Does Bielsa really run the risk of burnout? Do his sides historically fall by the wayside by the spring? Or is the burnout theory built on nothing but assumptions and conventional logic? We've looked back at how Bielsa's sides have performed over the past 20 years in order to see if we can draw any conclusions about what to expect at Elland Road this season. A few points of order - we've gone back over the past 20 years, only looking at completed seasons, as the concept behind this exercise will not really work for his time at Lille, Lazio or in his second season at Marseille, where he left after the first game. Marseille 2014-15 Bielsa led Marseille to a fourth-place finish in 2015 The last season that Bielsa completed in management was a memorable Ligue 1 campaign which saw Marseille finish fourth in the table - but only after setting the pace for much of the campaign. In fact, Marseille moved to the top of the division in in the sixth week and would stay there for 14 weeks before a run of three defeats in five matches either side of Christmas saw them slip to down to second. Six weeks in second place gave way to another six weeks in third, before a run of four consecutive defeats in April saw them drop as low as fifth place. Bielsa's side ended the season with four wins in a row, but it is clear that his side faded badly in the second half of the campaign, especially when you consider they did not have the distraction of any cup competitions, having lost their opening matches in the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue. Marseille 2014-15 season league position 2nd After 5 games 1st After 10 games 1st After 15 games 2nd After 20 games 3rd After 30 games 4th End of season Athletic Bilbao 2011-12 and 2012-13 Bielsa's time in Spain alerted many European fans this his high-octane brand of football for the first-time. His first campaign saw Bilbao lose in the finals of both the Europa League and the Copa del Rey, to a Radamal Falcao-inspired Atletico Madrid side and an all-conquering Barcelona side respectively, as Bilbao somewhat lost their way at the end of a hectic 64-match season. While losing to those two sides was perhaps somewhat understandable given the form of their talismen in the shape of Falcao and Messi, a La Liga tailspin saw them drop from fifth place at the start of March to a tenth place finish at the end of the campaign, which saw seven defeats in their final 13 games - including three losses in the final four matches. But it is worth pointing out that the club played 64 matches that season, including European away days in Russia, England, Germany and Portugal over the final four months of the season as they juggled a league campaign with European and domestic cup runs, something which would test any squad in world football. Athletic Bilbao 2011-12 season league position 18th After 5 games 8th After 10 games 9th After 15 games 7th After 20 games 11th After 30 games 10th End of season Bielsa's second season in Spain showed a far more consistent performance in the league - although it lacked the excitement of his initial campaign. An early Copa del Rey exit and a failure to make it out of the group stage in the Europa League meant that Athletic could focus purely on the league after Christmas, playing just 50 games that year, and this resulted in a much steadier campaign, which saw the side flit around the top of the bottom half of the table for the majority of the season. The loss of Javier Martinez was keenly felt during the 2012-13 season after his €40m move to Bayern Munich. Athletic Bilbao 2012-13 season league position 16th After 5 games 14th After 10 games 14th After 15 games 14th After 20 games 13th After 30 games 12th End of season Argentina 1998-2004 and Chile 2007-2011 From a statistical point of view it's hard to gauge how much fatigue from Bielsa's style of play was a factor when dealing with the international game, but it was clear in the 2002 World Cup that his Argentina side massively under-achieved in Japan and South Korea, given the standard of football they had been playing before. Many subscribed to the belief that a tired squad were not able to meet Bielsa's demands during the tournament. Velez Sarsfield 1997-98 Bielsa's last piece of domestic silverware came in Argentina, when he led Velez Sarsfield to the Pirmera Division title during his single season in charge there. And here, he turned the narrative of his teams tiring on its head. The Argentine championship was then split into two competitions, the Apertura tournament which took place during the first half of the season and the second, the Clausura, which ran over the second half. Sarsfield ended the Apertura in fourth place on 32 points, before a vastly improved showing in the Clasura, which saw them rack up 46 points to claim that prize - and the win the overall title, finishing four points clear of River Plate when the two halves of the season were stitched together. So what does this tell us? As is so often true in life, context is everything. Certain Bielsa teams have indeed seen their form dip over the final third of the season, but others have stayed consistent and others have even improved. The quality of squads, the number of matches and the format of the competition have all played a part in how Bielsa's sides have performed over the season as a whole, but in terms of proving definitively that Bielsa's teams fade away, the evidence is not consistently there. While there have been campaigns where his side have dipped - notably Marseille in 2014-15 - there are others, such as his year at Sarsfield, where the opposite is true. Leeds fans will be hoping that the experience Bielsa picked up during his time at Marseille will hold him in good stead for this campaign and he is able to avoid the pitfalls of a player burnout before the business end of the season.
Looking in from the outside and only now watching Quest highlights, Leeds look strong enough to remain in top 2 as the clubs below them seem so inconsistent. Mind you they’ve probably had their seasons rub of the green after some outrageous late goals. I had thought pre season Villa, WBA and Stoke would go up.
If we’re being honest, I doubt if there isn’t one Leeds fan not worrying about the burnout possibility
Sorry Eire I have no worries and anyone looking at the way Spurs, Man City or Liverpool play will see the same style of football with a couple of tweaks to suit individual managers. It's a brand of football loved by fans and Pepe had one season at City where he obviously struggled to get his brand over. Not looked back since and the same a Munich and before that at Barecelona. Klopp is now playing the same footy he did in Germany and Pochetino will not change but has got a club without huge funds into the top 5 consistently. We lose a game and my god the number of stories running the team down. Not so bad on here but the media and social media is riddled with idiots wanting Bielsa sacked, Radz kicked out. We're still top of the fkg league
I'm not fearful, we've had so many injuries a lot of the players haven't really played that many games. Also, when we have the ball in defence and do the sideways passing and we hold on to the ball, it is giving those further forward a breather. I read an article a while back where Bielsa instructs players to drift out of a game for a few minutes at a time to maintain their stamina, they all have devices on them now and the coaching staff monitor exactly how much running and movement each player does.
Maybe but many teams have been promoted on goal difference. If positions were reversed we’d hardly credit Norwich with being top
Was goal average , goal difference didn't take affect until the mid 70's, not that it made any difference as scum had a better goal difference anyways. Was the most bizarre system as it favoured defensive teams over attacking teams as a team with goals scored of 80 and goals conceded of 40, would be placed higher than a team that scored 120 goals but conceded 61, and in theory a team that scored 200 goals and conceded 40, would finish lower to a team that scored 40 goals and conceded 1, if they were on the same number of points
