No Marcelo Bielsa, but no problem for Leeds United’s players on their first day back at Thorp Arch yesterday.
The Whites were finally given the green light by EFL officials to return to training while observing a long list of regulations to keep themselves, their families and the wider public safe.
One by one, they drove into the training ground on Monday in five-minute intervals to ensure they were never too close together as they made their way directly to the pitches from the car park.
However, their head coach was not there in person, at that stage anyway.
Captain Liam Cooper told the media, afterwards, many of the drills were what they were used to after nearly two years with the Argentine.
“I didn’t see Marcelo, to be fair. We drive in, it’s a scattered entry, so every five minutes there will be a lad driving in and you can’t cross paths,” he said.
“In your protective equipment, with your face and all your stuff’s waiting for you in a bucket as you get there.
“They’re all cleaned, your GPS and your boots. If you need treatment you can go in the physio room. That’s limited to a man per person at the minute.
“The physios are in their PPE.”
Cooper said he had spent much of his time working in a five-man unit with three other defenders and one midfielder, though he did not name names.
“It was good. You have to stick to the social distancing in the full session,” he said.
“It’s a bit difficult for us sometimes because we watch a lot of stuff off the iPad, but the iPads weren’t out today.
“We know a lot of the drills now. We’ve been working with Marcelo and his staff for a good time now and we know a lot of the drills.
“There was no new ones today so it was pretty all smoothly. It was like that first day back at school.
“It was surreal and a feeling I hope I never have to endure again because it’s been a difficult time, but one where you have a lot of time to reflect.”
LeedsLive understands EFL is aiming for matches to resume across the weekend of June 20, less than one month from now.
Cooper sees no issues with the Championship leaders being ready to hit the ground running, putting the team’s level at 90 per cent already before they spend the next few weeks on that final 10 per cent.
“I was quite surprised at the standard considering the lads haven’t been able to do technical work for a while,” he said.
“The delivery was good, the passing was good and the lads have come back in unbelievable shape.
“The fitness coaches are surprised at how good a shape we’ve come back in. We’ve not stopped. All the lads have bought into it.
“We’re raring to go and in a good place to be able to start off with the tactical side as opposed to getting fitness again because we’ve maintained that throughout this period.”
