Leeds (h); The Preview

Andy – First question has to be Bielsa based, he seems to have started the season on fire and his brand of football seems ideally suited to an expectant Leeds fanbase and the early Championship skirmishes. What have you made of him as a manager and character, and can it last the rigours of 46 relentless matches?

Phil – The question of whether it can last is going to be asked for as long as the season goes on, or at least until we get a definitive answer. Who can say?

There have been injuries in the camp already and Bielsa is working with a thin squad – a maximum of two players for each position is how he likes it – but the players have shed a fair amount of body fat over the summer and they look in prime condition.

The alternative to asking whether they’ll burn out is, I guess, to wonder how much better they could get because their first two wins over Stoke City and Derby County were exceptionally good; laden with all the attributes we’d been told to expect of a good Bielsa side.

As a coach, he’s fascinating. He gives no one-on-one interviews but his press conferences can easily tick past 45 minutes and some of his individual answers go on for between eight and 10.

He’s a thinker, he’s obsessed with the game and it’s quite rare to deal with a coach who actually enjoys spelling out and explaining his tactics.

For all the mystique about him, there are no secrets. Farke shouldn’t be in the dark about Bielsa’s line-up or the way Leeds intend to play on Saturday.

He has fascinated me for a while and I’m a big fan of how he thinks about the game. His arrival, coupled with my (rare in these parts) soft spot for Leeds was for me at least really exciting and I’d love to see it continue to be a success (after Saturday).

On to the game it appears to be intriguingly poised, with Farke liking to setup to monopolise the ball and building slowly from the back vs an all-action ultra-high press. How do you see it panning out?

Let’s assume from the off that a pink away dressing room isn’t going to make a difference.

Leeds will play at a high tempo and employ a high press no matter how Norwich approach the game or how patient Farke wants his players to be.

Leeds’ big strength in the first few weeks of the season has been the ability to turn over possession in dangerous areas, to suck in the opposition, play out of tight spaces and break at pace and in numbers. The finishing has also been excellent.

Rotherham, though, were effective for 45 minutes last Saturday at lying deep, holding Leeds back and punishing the gaps in behind Bielsa’s midfield.

On Tuesday, the speed and quality of Swansea’s front four forced Bielsa into two substitutions before the start of the second half so there are ways of disrupting them.

The trip to Norwich is going to depend on two things – Leeds playing to their potential and Norwich finding a way to combat them. I haven’t seen enough of Norwich so far to know how they’ll cope.

We’ve been better than our results suggest and ironically the midweek win over Preston was our worst performance by a good margin but delivered our first win.

I really enjoyed your piece in the Yorkshire Post on Bielsa and his lack of a Plan B or C. Farke is also a Plan A Manager so I don’t expect us to try and counter Leeds’ strengths specifically.

I’m worried we can be lax on the ball in defensive areas, which Leeds are setup to exploit. That said, we can play nicely through the lines and have a number of players who can drop into the hole between the opposition’s back line and midfield, so it could be a goalfest.

In terms of the season, has Bielsa set any targets or is it very much one game at a time?

He’s careful not to speak about promotion or to look too far ahead. He always says that to do so would cast him as a demagogue, that he’d rather make a point with results than offer up cheap predictions.

But, he’s the highest paid coach Leeds have ever had and he’s not been employed on that salary to finish 13th again. The club will want no less than a play-off position and I can’t see Bielsa’s attitude being any different.

It’s quite telling, though, that he’s made little of the early performances. He doesn’t see four or five games as any indication of what’s the come or of long-term potential.

Talking of the long-term, is Bielsa part of a larger plan?

There was a sense from the outside that a volatile Leeds, coupled with a manager with a track record of walking out when he’s not happy, that this could be a recipe for disaster.

Is this a shit or bust situation, or is something more sustainable being created?

Interesting question.

His contract was announced by Leeds as a two-year deal with the option of a third year. But before he signed, people close to him were talking of it being a 12-month agreement which would extend if the club get promoted this season. Either way, he’s in deep in the sense that he’s brought a large backroom team with him and he’s completely overhauled the style of play.

As for Leeds, despite the culling of two managers last season they aren’t really the volatile club they once were.

Bielsa’s background isn’t a secret. He’s demanding, and he can be difficult to satisfy. At Marseille he literally walked out at a moment’s notice. But what was telling before he joined Leeds was that he was very keen to come here, moreso than anyone expected. There wasn’t much persuasion required.

I think he sees Leeds as a bit of a mirror-image of Newell’s Old Boys, the first side he managed. It’s a club with history, crying out for bigger and better things. He knows how it’ll feel if he delivers what so many other coaches haven’t.

The style has been overhauled but there doesn’t seem to have been a huge amount of squad turnover. Is it 5 in and 4 out, at least in permanent terms?

In terms of the business itself, lb7m+ for Patrick Bamford seems steep. He was woeful while he was here… What have you made of the summer window?

Not even four or five in permanent terms. Bamford and Barry Douglas were permanent transfers but the other three (Lewis Baker, Jamal Blackman and Jack Harrison) are on season-long loans.

Leeds were (doubtless) pleased to discover that after Bielsa reviewed last season – he watched every minute of the club’s Championship games, 70-plus hours of footage in total – he was happy to work with a large core of the existing squad.

Numerous players have moved on in a fairly steady cull but as it stands, Douglas is the only new signing who has made his full league debut.

Bielsa is basically reworking the team he inherited. Again, the sense of that will be analysed in time. Many of us felt that deeper cuts, or bigger changes, were needed. But you’re inclined to trust Bielsa’s judgement and you can’t argue with the performances so far.

Bamford has been through a few quiet, unsuccessful loans but he proved at Middlesbrough that he’s good for goals in the Championship and he got a cluster last season. Quite honestly, with the way the market is these days, any forward with a decent pedigree is going to cost. Bamford’s only 24, he was coming from a club in the same division and I’d have been surprised to see him go for much less. He’s shown a couple of flashes so far, including a lovely bit of skill for the second equaliser at Swansea on Tuesday.

Douglas looks a great signing and it was telling that Wolves fans seemed genuinely sad to see him leave. That’s true about Bamford and for every City fan that derides him, myself included, there’s a Wednesday fan who would say the same about Rhodes and so on…

So final question, where’s your money Saturday?

My impression of Norwich so far is that they’re quite quick and slick up front but there to be got at defensively.

Leeds need much more of the game than they had at Swansea but if they do find a way to let their football flow, I’d fancy an away win.

The one concern is the schedule – away games in Wales and Norfolk in the space of five days. I’ll be interested to see how the energy holds up, especially because Bielsa won’t change much.

That’s an accurate assessment based on our early showings, but Tuesday we stiffened up considerably, at the expense of that attacking slickness. It promises to be an entertaining afternoon