Leeds United are currently experiencing what feels like a revolution. The arrival of Marcelo Bielsa in the summer has helped drastically turn the clubs fortunes in the Championship around going into the second half of the season. The mythical Argentinian figure, hailed by ex-Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, is bringing a new sense of excitement to West Yorkshire.
The glory days of Leeds seem long past, but new hope has arrived thanks to Bielsa. The financial struggles United have been through over the last few years have been well publicised, with the club even dropping into League One on one occasion. To those of a certain age, this would be an unimaginable concept.
Last season saw the appointment of Danish manager Thomas Christiansen. After an early surge at the start of the season to the top of the table, results began to drop off. Christiansen was eventually sacked in February 2018 after a 4-1 defeat to Neil Warnock’s Cardiff City. They lay 10th in the table.
Then came the appointment of Paul Heckingbottom, something of a surprising appointment considering his Barnsley side were in the throes of a relegation battle. Results failed to pick up and Leeds failed to to rise any higher than 11th under his stewardship. They finished the season 13th, and the somewhat inevitable sack came.
In came Bielsa over summer, and the hype began over the man who is often deified as a father of modern football. There are, however, clouds of doubt over certain aspects of his approach. The apparent over-tiredness of his teams from the high-octane style that has ultimately stopped him winning more major trophies. Then there are the messy departures from Lazio and Lille.
It is hard to pinpoint where responsibility lies exactly for these past occurrences. So far, there has been little sign of such things happening with Leeds. It’s been a dream start for the Whites with Bielsa, and the club appear to be looking to make a long term success out of the Argentinian’s appointment.
The set-up
The hallmark formation that is so often associated with Marcelo Bielsa is a 3-3-1-3. It is implemented, somewhat indirectly, into his Leeds United side. As per the team sheet, they appear to line up in a 4-1-4-1, but throughout the game this amalgamates into the 3-3-1-3. Below, we can see the the 4-1-4-1 Leeds appear to set up in.
This formation ends up morphing into a 3-3-1-3. The holding midfielder Kalvin Phillips, but more recently Adam Forshaw drops in between the centre-backs while the full backs push on. One of the central midfielders, usually Mateusz Klich, operates as more of an all-action midfielder in the second line of three with the full backs.
The other operates as a number 10, although these positions do sometimes rotate. The number 10 was Samuel Saiz until he was frozen out of the team. Pablo Hernandez and sometimes Klich take up that role now. The transition between formations can be seen below.
