Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa is known as an innovator, a man who is greatly admired by many of the modern generation of bosses. The veteran Chilean guided the Yorkshire giants back to the English top-flight last season. The Whites opened their first season back in the Premier League since 2003/04 with a thrilling 4-3 defeat at reigning top-flight champions Liverpool.
Likes front foot football
Bielsa’s style of football is that he likes his teams to be on the front. That style has been evident with every team he has managed. It has proven a widely popular and successful style of play. The experienced boss nicknamed ‘el loco’ for his often unorthodox behaviour, as never believed in changing his philosophy. He was not going to all of a sudden change just because they were playing the English champions.
Leeds didn’t change their style for the trip to Anfield and came so close to getting a reward for their brave approach. If Spanish striker Rodrigo had not produced a forward’s tackle on Fabinho in the area late in the game, the Whites may have come away from Merseyside with a deserved point. Leeds will play like that for the rest of the season and will no doubt shock a lot of people along the way.
Can establish themselves back in the top-flight
Ever since the appointment of Bielsa as Leeds head coach, the Yorkshire club there has been an expectancy that they would return to where a lot of people believe they belong. In terms of size club, Leeds United are massive. They were a sleeping giant in the Championship and should be facing the likes of Liverpool every week. It is just a shame that their fiercely loyal support were not at Anfield to witness their team push the champions to the limit.
Judging by the way they played in the second tier last season and their opening clash with Liverpool, Leeds have it well within them to establish themselves in the top-flight once again. When the majority of teams win promotion to the Premier League, they are usually instantly dubbed as favourites to go back down. In many cases, that’s true, as two of the three promoted teams tend to be involved in the fight for survival.
However, this season there have been very few people predict that the Whites could struggle this season. The presence of Bielsa in the dugout is surely enough to help maintain the Yorkshire clubs stay in the top-flight this season.
A mixed set of fixtures coming up
Leeds have got the hardest fixture of them all out of the way now. They now face a mixed set of fixtures, which include a home game against fellow new boys Fulham next up, before a Yorkshire derby with Sheffield United. The next match is a home clash with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
The Whites will be confident of picking up points from those next three matches, even if they failed to pick up points from their trip to Anfield. They will continue to play in the same positive manner. Leeds have shown enough under Bielsa in the last few seasons to suggest that they will have enough to avoid the dreaded return to the Championship.
Can Leeds United avoid the relegation fight this season?
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