Patrick Bamford went 10 matches without a goal this season and Marcelo Bielsa barely flinched over his Leeds United selection.
It was only in the 10th match of that drought, the home game with Queens Park Rangers, Bielsa admitted, had he been fit, Eddie Nketiah would have finally had his full league debut.
An injury at the 11th hour kept Bamford in the side and thankfully the number nine scored in the following match seven days later.
Bamford is one of the most divisive figures in Bielsa’s regular XI, largely because of his goal output in a side which creates more chances than any other in the Championship.
Despite Bielsa’s repeated defence of the striker, a significant proportion of the fanbase regularly questions his place in the team, especially when a prolific Nketiah was waiting in the wings.
Javier Saviola, one of Bielsa’s former proteges in the Argentina national team, has written about this dynamic for strikers under the head coach.
In a piece written for The Coaches’ Voice, Saviola, now 38, reflects upon how different Bielsa’s way of thinking is and how he was criticised after a hat-trick.
Saviola's story proves Bamford's goal droughts will remain irrelevant to Bielsa, even in the top flight, if he continues to excel with his teamwork for others.
"I was lucky to have Marcelo Bielsa as a manager at the 2004 Athens Olympics when Argentina won gold,” he said.
“I have a thousand anecdotes about him. His craziness about football is like an excessive fanaticism.
“To be alongside him as a player makes you realise how crazy he is about this sport. He lives for football and that’s all he thinks about – making his players better.
“I always say that if Bielsa (below) gets a six-point player, he’ll make him into an eight or a nine. It’s amazing.
"Another thing is how sincere he is when he talks to you. That’s why players love him so “much – he is so upfront when he approaches you, whether it’s good or bad.
“I remember I scored three goals in one match. I was really happy, yet when I got to the dressing room he offered a different opinion.
“‘You were a disaster today.’ Why? I didn’t understand at all.
“But in his footballing vision, it was about what I did in the defensive phase. Or, rather, what I didn’t do – like help my teammates.
“Bielsa has such an open mind and is so knowledgeable that the last thing he thinks about is those three goals.
“He comes at things from a different angle. That’s when you realise that he lives in another dimension, in another world; he doesn’t think like other people.”
