Marcelo Bielsa will be putting the finishing touches to his gameplan for Leeds United's return this weekend, as he looks to get the club's promotion charge up and running again.
Leeds face a tough trip to south Wales for a Sunday lunchtime kickoff against Cardiff City in their first match back following the three-and-a-half month layoff owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Unlike several of their promotion rivals, Leeds have not opted to take part in any friendlies clashes against other teams before the big restart, instead opting for internal practice matches.
Premier League and Championship sides had a series of regulations they had to follow for any warm-up matches they wanted to take part in, including not being able to drive more than 90 minutes to face an opponent, with players having to travel in their own cars and in their own kit.
That meant the likes of Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Burnley and Sheffield United were potential Premier League opponents, but Bielsa opted to keep everything in-house.
Talking to the media via Zoom on Thursday ahead of Sunday's trip to Cardiff, the Whites head coach explained why he chose to keep all preparations in-house.
"In the last four weeks we had three players per position, so we had three teams and this allows us to do a lot of football training, very, very useful for us.
"We think in this way was going to be enough for us. We have prepared to continue with the preparation as we plan. We could have played, maybe a friendly match, but when you organise something there are some difficulties that are logical. We prefer to continue without this way."
Cardiff opted to face Welsh rivals Swansea City in two practice matches last week.
