Ever the non-conformist, Marcelo Bielsa likes to keep his Leeds squad at the training ground from early morning to mid-evening but they have evidently not been wasting their time.
Long before the final whistle Stoke City looked badly winded by Bielsa’s relentlessly vigorous, high-intensity, pressing game, not to mention bewildered by the home side’s kaleidoscopically flexible movement with Leeds players constantly rotating positions.
It is no exaggeration to say that, courtesy of goals from Mateusz Klich, Pablo Hernández and Liam Cooper, the visitors were blown away in much the same manner as any specks of dust encountered by Bielsa during his daily housekeeping inspections at his team’s weekday base near Wetherby.
“Our players were very ambitious and they gave a great effort,” Bielsa said, before reverting to perfectionist mode. “I was pleased with some moments but others, no. We’re a dynamic, offensive team which takes risks so these are positive aspects. But we didn’t always move the ball as well as we wanted. There are aspects we have to correct.”
Two hours before kick-off, the queue on the motorway slip road approaching the Elland Road exit was already lengthy and, from there, the quarter-mile crawl to a crowded car park took 30 minutes. A manager known as El Loco throughout the Spanish speaking world had taken residence in town and it seemed the whole of Yorkshire wanted to take a first look at Bielsa’s work in progress. They were rewarded with glimpses of brilliance.
The former Argentina and Chile manager has said he hopes his new life in the Championship will be “full of emotions” and so it proved here as the 63-year-old “Godfather of modern football” – not to mention Pep Guardiola’s mentor – hugged fan after fan en route to the technical area where he sat perched on an upside-down drinks cooler.
A rousing minute’s applause for the late Leeds great Paul Madeley heightened an already highly charged atmosphere and, belying late afternoon temperatures still in the high 20s, a ferocious tempo ensued. Anyone hoping to see Bielsa’s hallmark 3-3-3-1 formation in action would have been disappointed, the Argentinian opting instead for 4-3-3 against freshly relegated Stoke and their new manager.
Gary Rowett is highly regarded but swiftly felt the full force of Bielsa’s pledge to “dominate the opposition” and could find no way of countering it. “This will have been a big shock to some of my players,” he said. “Leeds were a lot quicker and more dynamic. I think one or two of our players were surprised by the intensity and one or two didn’t do their jobs. Leeds’ movement was excellent and they pressed us really well but we made it far too easy.”
Jack Butland’s reflexes may have kept out Kemar Roofe’s early shot but, in the 15th minute, England’s reserve goalkeeper had to endure the high‑decibel strains of Marching on Together echoing to the rafters as Klich scored.
The goal involved the Polish midfielder, hitherto a bit-part player here, dinking the ball over Butland at the end of a move which began with a measured pass from Kalvin Phillips – who, deployed in a deep midfield role, protected his defence superbly – picking out Samuel Sáiz. Having sashayed past a few markers, the impressive Sáiz spotted Erik Pieters had played Klich onside and duly slipped a fabulous through ball to the Pole.
As Klich celebrated, Leeds fans no longer questioned Bielsa’s decision to place the £7m former Middlesbrough striker Patrick Bamford on the bench alongside the loanees Lewis Baker, Jamal Blackman and Jack Harrison.
Although two of Rowett’s own boys, Tom Ince and James McClean, occasionally menaced, Benik Afobe remained starved of service and Oghenekaro Etebo struggled against Klich and company. Behind him Rowett’s defence were pulled all over the place by the excellent Roofe and the lively Ezgjan Alioski and fell further behind as half-time approached.
When Hernández was played in by Barry Douglas his connection seemed faulty and the resultant low shot was a little weak and speculative. A routine save beckoned for Butland who, instead, somehow permitted the ball to slip agonisingly through his fingers.
Afobe reduced the deficit from the penalty spot after Douglas hauled Ince down but the left-back soon atoned thanks to the in-swinging corner from which Cooper rose imperiously to head Leeds’s third beyond Butland. “We’ve given an expression of our desire,” said Bielsa. “Now we have to sustain it.”
