Godfathers of Football: Marcelo Bielsa - Eccentric Influence And Laying The Foundations For So Many
Football is blessed with some astonishing characters, those who have helped shape the game in a manner so radical that it ill never be the same again. None are more astonishing that Marcelo Bielsa, the relentless eccentric who laid the foundations for managers worldwide with his expressive, high risk football.
Bielsa is well known for his eccentricity, from resigning at Lazio after just 48 hours, to using a cool-box as a touchline perch during his time in Marseille. But no story can sum Bielsa up as eloquently as when he was held at gunpoint during an Argentina training camp in 2001. It's 2am and the Argentinian national team has used an army barracks as a training base in preparation for an upcoming match, in the darkness a small figure huffs and puffs around the perimeter of the barracks. An old CD player hangs out of his baggy tracksuit bottoms and his old trainers pound at the wet ground. Bielsa isn't listening to 'Santana' or 'Led Zeppelin' - he is listening to himself. Not singing of course, but reciting the 22 that he believes can change and influence a sequence of play, or a match as a whole. These 22 possibilities all have counters, all memorised and under a woolly hat, Bielsa's brain works frantically to adsorb the information. The self-given lecture drowns the outside world out, but also the cries of the armed guards who command him to stop. It is only until the lights are raised and the barrel of a gun is aimed at him, that their command is finally adhered to.
The story in itself is magnificent, but it so accurately portrays the character of a man who has inspired a generation of coaches the world over. Bielsa is a relentless obsessive who will shut himself away to study tapes of games for hours on end without seeing sunlight. Before his appointment at Athletic Club, Bielsa watched all 38 games from the previous La Liga season before compiling his mountain of notes in to bite-size lectures. His depth of knowledge for the game is infectious, fascinating and unmatched.
Bielsa's passion for football is so awe-inspiring that suitors are constantly drawn towards the Argentinian. His football brings pure joy to spectators as the hell-for-leather, high-intensity approach roars through opposition teams as they break high, wide and fast. The defensive side of the game is fascinating, deploying central midfielders as ball-playing centre backs, as he did with the wonderful Javi Martinez at Athletic Club is a defining characteristic. He deploys his wingers high, stretching the pitch and consistently moving the sequences from one side to the other, relying on ball movement to grind down the other team. It is beautiful to watch and the best example is the dismantling of Manchester United across two legs in the Europa League.
Bielsa shot to fame in Latin America whilst coaching Argentina, leading them to Olympic Gold and the 2002 World Cup, where Argentina ultimately failed. It was during this time that he took influence from Rinus Michels, Oscar Tabarez, Cesar Luis Menotti and Carlos Bilardo to formulate a system that relied on four key principles.
Concentracion, Permanente Movilidad, Rotacion y Repenitizacion - Focus, Permanent Movement, Rotation and Improvisation.
Whilst widely considered to have his own school of thought, Bielsa sought-out influence from a number of coaches, especially those in his native Argentina, early iterations of his style formed a middle ground between the pragmatism of Carlos Bilardo who guided Argentina to the World Cup in 1986 and Cesar Luis Menotti, whose expressive football brought joy to Argentina in 1978. It is easy to see that both schools here had influence - Bilardo: Focus, Rotation; Menotti: Improvisation, Permanent Movement. But from here, Bielsa found a tactical fluidity that other coaches simply couldn't explore.
Upon his appointment as Chile coach 2007, after 3 years out of the game, Bielsa transformed his 4-3-3 system in to a his trademark 3-3-3-1. His school of football gained plaudits from all corners of the globe as La Roja stormed around the pitch in a footloose inherently attacking fashion. It was here where Bielsa's astonishing tactical nous and unmatched work ethic transformed a nation that had under performed to their first World Cup since 1998 and, ultimately, laid the formations for his successor Jorge Sampaoli. His fellow Argentinian, Sampaoli, took Chile to consecutive Copa America titles and the last 16 at the 2014 World Cup.
Tactical flexibility is something that all coaches crave, being able to switch from one formation to the other, but retain the effortless rhythm that a top-class team should have. Bielsa achieved just that at Athletic Club and Marseille, where both sides relentlessly switched between the aforementioned 3-3-3-1, slightly more conservative 4-2-3-1 and 5-4-1.
Training sessions are relentless under 'El Loco' as players adapt to his tactics, but more importantly the synchronisation of movement that he so craves. Coaches today talk of playing in 'boxes' or 'squares', areas of the pitch where certain players have influence. Bielsa believed this more so than most, understanding that when all of the 'boxes' work together then the cohesion of the team will be unmatched, thus circling the four elements of his tactical philosophy.
Bielsa truly believes in intensity. Intensity oozes out of all parts of his character, from the icy stare, the press conferences and the relations that his has with his players. The frenzied, high and suffocating press has become a trademark of all of his teams, as well as those who claim to be Bielsa disciples. Pep Guardiola, Jorge Sampaoli, Eduardo Berizzo, Mauricio Pochettino and Tata Martino all list Bielsa as the biggest influence on their playing style, all of them press high. Almost all of them can switch between 3,4 & 5 at the back systems.
However, another trademark of the Bielsa tenure is a drop off in results from the second half of the year onwards. Marseille in particular stormed to the top of Ligue 1 in exhilarating fashion, before their form dropped off considerably from February and they finished a disappointing 4th. Andre Pierre Gignac was quoted as saying "The workouts are intense but enlightening, technically and tactically - He knows everything to the smallest detail. I glanced at his training schedules; there are hundreds of them and every one featured games he analysed. He taught us a vibrant, real type of football." but the pressure was intense. Video footage of him slapping Mario Lemina on the back as the midfielder tries to catch his breath back sums up the intensity of the sessions that Bielsa puts his players through.
Like his influence Cesar Luis Menotti before him, Bielsa won't be remembered for a packed trophy cabinet. An Olympic Gold, three Argentinian titles and a 'Manager of the Year' award in 2001 in scant return for someone who has had such influence in the game. But trophies aren't the correct way to measure the genius of Bielsa. So many similarities can be drawn with Menotti, they are both idealists, they seek ultimate balance and both will never change.
Whilst theoretical teachings, or preaching, can never be measured as ultimate success, without the ground breaking expressionism that Bielsa teams displayed over his 20 year coaching career, we wouldn't have a crop of exceptional coaches playing beautiful football. Football wouldn't have the possession based, high press of Guardiola. It wouldn't have the erratic balls out approach of Sampaoli. Nor the measured tactical methodology of Pocchettino.
Bielsa is an enigma, and whilst he is as tiring as he is influential, football will never have another like him. Long live 'El Loco'.
Bielsa is well known for his eccentricity, from resigning at Lazio after just 48 hours, to using a cool-box as a touchline perch during his time in Marseille. But no story can sum Bielsa up as eloquently as when he was held at gunpoint during an Argentina training camp in 2001. It's 2am and the Argentinian national team has used an army barracks as a training base in preparation for an upcoming match, in the darkness a small figure huffs and puffs around the perimeter of the barracks. An old CD player hangs out of his baggy tracksuit bottoms and his old trainers pound at the wet ground. Bielsa isn't listening to 'Santana' or 'Led Zeppelin' - he is listening to himself. Not singing of course, but reciting the 22 that he believes can change and influence a sequence of play, or a match as a whole. These 22 possibilities all have counters, all memorised and under a woolly hat, Bielsa's brain works frantically to adsorb the information. The self-given lecture drowns the outside world out, but also the cries of the armed guards who command him to stop. It is only until the lights are raised and the barrel of a gun is aimed at him, that their command is finally adhered to.
The story in itself is magnificent, but it so accurately portrays the character of a man who has inspired a generation of coaches the world over. Bielsa is a relentless obsessive who will shut himself away to study tapes of games for hours on end without seeing sunlight. Before his appointment at Athletic Club, Bielsa watched all 38 games from the previous La Liga season before compiling his mountain of notes in to bite-size lectures. His depth of knowledge for the game is infectious, fascinating and unmatched.
Bielsa's passion for football is so awe-inspiring that suitors are constantly drawn towards the Argentinian. His football brings pure joy to spectators as the hell-for-leather, high-intensity approach roars through opposition teams as they break high, wide and fast. The defensive side of the game is fascinating, deploying central midfielders as ball-playing centre backs, as he did with the wonderful Javi Martinez at Athletic Club is a defining characteristic. He deploys his wingers high, stretching the pitch and consistently moving the sequences from one side to the other, relying on ball movement to grind down the other team. It is beautiful to watch and the best example is the dismantling of Manchester United across two legs in the Europa League.
Bielsa shot to fame in Latin America whilst coaching Argentina, leading them to Olympic Gold and the 2002 World Cup, where Argentina ultimately failed. It was during this time that he took influence from Rinus Michels, Oscar Tabarez, Cesar Luis Menotti and Carlos Bilardo to formulate a system that relied on four key principles.
Concentracion, Permanente Movilidad, Rotacion y Repenitizacion - Focus, Permanent Movement, Rotation and Improvisation.
Whilst widely considered to have his own school of thought, Bielsa sought-out influence from a number of coaches, especially those in his native Argentina, early iterations of his style formed a middle ground between the pragmatism of Carlos Bilardo who guided Argentina to the World Cup in 1986 and Cesar Luis Menotti, whose expressive football brought joy to Argentina in 1978. It is easy to see that both schools here had influence - Bilardo: Focus, Rotation; Menotti: Improvisation, Permanent Movement. But from here, Bielsa found a tactical fluidity that other coaches simply couldn't explore.
Upon his appointment as Chile coach 2007, after 3 years out of the game, Bielsa transformed his 4-3-3 system in to a his trademark 3-3-3-1. His school of football gained plaudits from all corners of the globe as La Roja stormed around the pitch in a footloose inherently attacking fashion. It was here where Bielsa's astonishing tactical nous and unmatched work ethic transformed a nation that had under performed to their first World Cup since 1998 and, ultimately, laid the formations for his successor Jorge Sampaoli. His fellow Argentinian, Sampaoli, took Chile to consecutive Copa America titles and the last 16 at the 2014 World Cup.
Tactical flexibility is something that all coaches crave, being able to switch from one formation to the other, but retain the effortless rhythm that a top-class team should have. Bielsa achieved just that at Athletic Club and Marseille, where both sides relentlessly switched between the aforementioned 3-3-3-1, slightly more conservative 4-2-3-1 and 5-4-1.
Training sessions are relentless under 'El Loco' as players adapt to his tactics, but more importantly the synchronisation of movement that he so craves. Coaches today talk of playing in 'boxes' or 'squares', areas of the pitch where certain players have influence. Bielsa believed this more so than most, understanding that when all of the 'boxes' work together then the cohesion of the team will be unmatched, thus circling the four elements of his tactical philosophy.
Bielsa truly believes in intensity. Intensity oozes out of all parts of his character, from the icy stare, the press conferences and the relations that his has with his players. The frenzied, high and suffocating press has become a trademark of all of his teams, as well as those who claim to be Bielsa disciples. Pep Guardiola, Jorge Sampaoli, Eduardo Berizzo, Mauricio Pochettino and Tata Martino all list Bielsa as the biggest influence on their playing style, all of them press high. Almost all of them can switch between 3,4 & 5 at the back systems.
However, another trademark of the Bielsa tenure is a drop off in results from the second half of the year onwards. Marseille in particular stormed to the top of Ligue 1 in exhilarating fashion, before their form dropped off considerably from February and they finished a disappointing 4th. Andre Pierre Gignac was quoted as saying "The workouts are intense but enlightening, technically and tactically - He knows everything to the smallest detail. I glanced at his training schedules; there are hundreds of them and every one featured games he analysed. He taught us a vibrant, real type of football." but the pressure was intense. Video footage of him slapping Mario Lemina on the back as the midfielder tries to catch his breath back sums up the intensity of the sessions that Bielsa puts his players through.
Like his influence Cesar Luis Menotti before him, Bielsa won't be remembered for a packed trophy cabinet. An Olympic Gold, three Argentinian titles and a 'Manager of the Year' award in 2001 in scant return for someone who has had such influence in the game. But trophies aren't the correct way to measure the genius of Bielsa. So many similarities can be drawn with Menotti, they are both idealists, they seek ultimate balance and both will never change.
Whilst theoretical teachings, or preaching, can never be measured as ultimate success, without the ground breaking expressionism that Bielsa teams displayed over his 20 year coaching career, we wouldn't have a crop of exceptional coaches playing beautiful football. Football wouldn't have the possession based, high press of Guardiola. It wouldn't have the erratic balls out approach of Sampaoli. Nor the measured tactical methodology of Pocchettino.
Bielsa is an enigma, and whilst he is as tiring as he is influential, football will never have another like him. Long live 'El Loco'.
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