A thrilling start — but Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds will be judged against Chris Wilder's...

[ASFN Admin]

After a multitude of plaudits for Marcelo Bielsa, the first hint of a backlash did not come from Mohamed Salah’s hat-trick. It arrived a couple of hours before Liverpool’s 4-3 win from Sky TV’s Soccer Saturday’s newest pundit, Tony Pulis, who while admiring the Leeds United manager’s CV, said he would reserve judgement on his Premier League performance based on a reference closer to home. “It will be interesting to see how Bielsa does in comparison to Chris Wilder,” Pulis said, with enough mischief and edge to make it seem like he will be exploring the subject with forensic vigour at a later date. The undertone was obvious — with Pulis’ emphasis on Wilder’s Britishness, implying that our obsession with an exotic, eccentric South American manager is to the detriment of a home-grown one a couple of miles away at Sheffield United. Lest we forget, Wilder shelved the ‘El Loco’ documentaries for 12 months when promoted at Leeds’ expense in 2019, and has already shown how promoted sides can defy the odds with funky formations. Pulis has a point when suggesting we are more easily seduced by the idiosyncrasies of an overseas manager than some of our own. That is a natural consequence of the allure of quirky characters with fresh ideas. Intuitive, open minds are drawn to different cultures and styles. Besides, any hint of a sneer at the lauding of a foreign coach denying similar levels of acclaim for a British one is likely to see you allied with all manner of flag-waving undesirables. That is unfortunate because aside from the unnecessary and irrelevant nationality reference, Pulis’s broader point is right. When casting judgement, rather than assess Bielsa’s and Leeds’ first season in the Premier League against Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho, a head-to-head with Sheffield United and Wilder makes more sense; two managers working in the same part of the country, with similar resources, who have navigated their way from the championship with their own, perceptible philosophy in a stadium where (when they can return) fans will influence outcomes. Leeds’ first 90-minute dash in the Premier League — and that’s what the thrilling opener against Liverpool amounted to — offered grist to the mill for those on both sides of Pulis’ argument. Those who have observed and chronicled Bielsa’s career can observe the hype and praise, sit smugly back and ask the new members of his fan club: "What took you so long?" There may be a few who feel a tad resentful they have lost a sense of ownership now one their favourite performers has broken into the English mainstream. But on the flipside, they travelled to Anfield in the most favourable circumstances possible — namely with no fans and with a home back four seemingly playing in three time zones — and were still beaten. To steal an old quote from Klopp, they "failed in a beautiful way", but their strategy proved no more rewarding than every other league visitor to Anfield since 2016, the majority of whom have willingly conceded possession rather than tried to dominate it. As Bielsa acknowledged, "I can never be happy in defeat", having ultimately showed future visitors to this stadium a new way to lose. Attacking Liverpool’s defence highlighted early season rustiness, but Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane have rarely had such space to thrive. Let’s not be too ignorant of the reality: had the wasteful Firmino been as sharp as Salah, Liverpool could have doubled their tally. The possession stats disguised the true number of goalscoring opportunities and the champions' broader superiority.

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