Leeds United youngster Robbie Gotts has explained the differences between training under Marcelo Bielsa and at Lincoln City.
The highly-rated midfielder joined the League One outfit on a season-long loan following the Whites' promotion to the Premier League.
Gotts made one Championship substitute appearance during Leeds' title-winning campaign last season but impressed during their 1-0 defeat against Arsenal in the FA Cup third round in January.
As a result, competition for his signature was intense this summer before Leeds eventually decided to send him to Lincoln.
He's made four appearances in League One so far for Michael Appleton's side in what is his first taste of regular first-team football.
Gotts believes that training with the first team every day has made a huge impact in his development ahead of this loan spell, whilst comparing the different training methods at Leeds against Lincoln.
“I think it is the fact the 23s basically train with the first team every day," Gotts told the Lincoln matchday programme.
"You do the same training as the first team, with the same intensity. We do this game called Murder Ball, on a Wednesday that’s just chaos, 11 v 11, man to man on a full-size pitch.
"You just need to sprint about and if you’re not sprinting you can’t do it. Also, working against the first team and seeing how structured they are too, as a team.
"You feel like you can’t do anything against them, especially in tight areas, but it becomes useful when you go into a game, as well as with the fitness levels.”
He continued: “Intense, if I had to explain Leeds change under the gaffer in one word.
"It is just different at Leeds, for instance here we do a lot of small-sided games, which I wasn’t really used to. I haven’t done one of those in a couple of years. When the gaffer came in at Leeds, we stopped doing all that.
"It is interesting, looking at what we did on the training pitch at Leeds and then how it comes into play into games. We used to do a lot of game-specific stuff, passing, and moving, defending when you’re off balance and stuff like that, which is really good to watch and be involved in.”
Playing for Leeds United shines an intense spotlight, through social media.
At times, it can be like a shot in the arm but Gotts explained how he keeps away from those platforms to keep his head clear.
“I try not to look. I think everyone tries their best to blank stuff out," he explained.
"The trouble is, there are people giving an opinion on the game who don’t really know about the game.
"Of course, everyone is a bit curious to see what people’s opinions of them are, but the advice I always try to give is to not look at it because I don’t think it is that good for you.”
