"Wherever he went, Bielsa offered unforgettable football"

Marcelo Bielsa, the man who could convince a twig she can spread Floyd Mayweather.

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• Interpreter of Marcelo Bielsa at Losc, Salim Lamrani has agreed to follow the Argentine coach to Leeds during the 2018-2019 season.

• Despite a narrowly missed rise to the Premier League, this teacher-researcher in Iberian and Latin American studies had an extraordinary experience.

• He has now decided to tell this in a book entitled “Football according to Marcelo Bielsa”.

  20 Minutes

  had the pleasure of interviewing him.

Interpreter of Marcelo Bielsa during the short and difficult experience of the Argentinian on the bench of Losc, Salim Lamrani took the lead by agreeing to follow El Loco to Leeds during the 2018-2019 season to take care of psychological management of players.

From this crazy season unfortunately concluded by the failure of the rise in the Premier League (defeat of Leeds in the semi-final of the play-offs against Derby County), this academic decided to put down on paper his adventure alongside one of the most fascinating coaches of our time.

On the occasion of the release of his book "Football according to Marcelo Bielsa", Salim Lamrani, who has since left Leeds to find his university research work, has agreed to answer our questions and take us behind the scenes with him. of a season with the Fada Bielsa.

Liverpool-Leeds United 4-3

Leeds United-Fulham 4-3

Marcelo Bielsa: “For me, style is always unique.

Developing my idea for a game requires such a great effort that I do not offer an alternative.

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Football according to Marcelo Bielsa pic.twitter.com/r5zMgw5v8Y

- Salim Lamrani (@SalimLamraniOff) September 19, 2020

Why did you decide to

tell

your experience in Leeds with Marcelo Bielsa?

It seemed interesting to me to tell about this great sporting and human experience from the inside and to present what football is according to Marcelo Bielsa through the course of a season.

The work accomplished in the space of two seasons is extraordinary because with a substantially similar squad, he managed to bring Leeds United back to the Premier League after a long journey through the desert of more than fifteen years.

This achievement should be viewed at its true value.

Why did he think you would be the man for the job, you who are not from the football world at all?

Did you doubt for a moment before you said yes?

When we were in Lille, Marcelo Bielsa noticed that I had good contact with the players and that they regularly came to my office, which was right in front of his, to discuss.

He therefore thought that I could be a good "discipline coach", that is to say a mediator / psychologist in charge of conflict prevention, the transmission of values ​​and especially listening to the players.

It was a tall order, but I didn't hesitate much before accepting because having a footballing experience in England is unique.

How it could be detected in this group, who had just finished 13

th

of Championship with a not very sexy game, the potential of a team ready to play the rise in its first season?

He chooses players who can adapt to his style of play of constant movement, high intensity movement and change of pace.

Footballers must therefore have the physical characteristics allowing them to assimilate and reproduce his football idea.

On the basis of these criteria, the coach defines his group and keeps the elements likely to propose his football.

It should be added that it systematically integrates the best elements of the training center and is based solely on the reality on the ground before developing its starting XI.

He never hesitates to start young at the highest level if he feels the player is ready.

Tell us a bit about the pre-season preparation, those famous six weeks of hell for the players.

Preseason days are naturally long and taxing as they must provide players with the athletic and aerobic foundation necessary to face the pace of a 46-day season.

There were two, sometimes three, workouts a day.

Players arrived at 9 a.m. and could stay until 7 p.m. when there were three sessions.

They sometimes ate their three meals at the training center.

In addition, all players had to reach their healthy weight set by the club nutritionist and some players have lost up to seven kilos.

In top level football, the differences are in this kind of detail.

This hard work has paid off as players, including the older ones, have come to realize in games that they have never been so physically fit in their careers.

How important is psychological work for Bielsa?

Top-level sport in general, and professional football in particular, due to its popularity and the expectations it arouses among millions of supporters, requires optimal mental and psychological preparation.

Four aspects are fundamental in football: the physical, technical, tactical and psychological aspects.

Today, all the teams generally have a good preparation in these four areas and sometimes the difference is made on the psychological approach.

Marcelo Bielsa, who has been in professional football for 35 years, has clearly embraced these realities.

Guys I'm watching Marcelo Bielsa's documentary and you knew what of the 2 episode the only players who moan c OM c a crazy truk anyway the mentality is beyond me

- The Seller (@ MisterCheese10) September 28, 2020

Most of the players under his command unanimously say that with Bielsa they felt stronger, able to topple mountains.

What's his secret?

Bielsa has this indefinable virtue that allows him to convince players that they are capable of competing with any opponent, regardless of their status, and that the only tangible truth is that of the pitch.

He manages to persuade them that if they adopt his working method and make the necessary efforts, they will be able to offer fans and football fans a game that will make an impression.

Wherever he went and where he was able to develop his work in good conditions, he offered unforgettable football.

I told you: the Premier League is going to be good with Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United 🙂

- Salim Lamrani (@SalimLamraniOff) September 19, 2020

Bielsa seems to be a real workaholic.

You confirm ?

Yes, he lives for this sport.

He is a very methodical and rigorous coach and he always analyzes opponents and competitions in a meticulous way.

He leaves nothing to chance.

He therefore studied all the teams in the Championship to get an idea of ​​the level of the competition.

In addition, during the season, after each match of the team, he asks his staff - including me - to watch the match and give a score to each player.

This allows him to have a plural view on the individual and collective performance of the team.

Why this frantic need to know everything, to control everything, to analyze everything?

Marcelo Bielsa's way of respecting football, the club and the supporters is to do everything through work in order to achieve the best possible results.

This requires in-depth analysis of the opponents.

For example, before facing Derby County, he watched the 51 games of the previous season and drew up a table with a specific color for each result - win, draw, loss - which allows in the blink of an eye to draw up a global panorama of the different strong and weak times of the rival.

He analyzes the starting XI and the data of each match according to the tactical changes made during the match.

He then divides each match into five-minute segments and records goals, scoring chances as well as half-scoring chances, indicating for each segment which team dominated the game and whether this domination resulted in a goal or an opportunity.

He also draws up an individual sheet for each player of the opposing team with the main data.

It is methodical and rigorous work.

Anti-Bielsa

regularly say that

he draws so much energy from his players that his teams' cycles are very short.

Do you agree with that?

Wherever he went and where he had time to develop his work, he pulled the best out of the players and put on an unforgettable spectacle for the supporters.

All recognize that they have reached a level like never before.

This is what should be remembered from a coach like Marcelo Bielsa.

In addition, he has always led teams with modest numbers and constantly made them play the leading roles, whether in Marseille or Leeds.

On the other hand, I don't believe that the short cycles are specific to Marcelo Bielsa.

In today's football, very few coaches stay at the same club for more than two or three seasons.

The era of Ferguson and Wenger, where coaches marked clubs by their permanence, now seems to be over.

How did he relate to the English media?

We know that in France

it did not always go well.

When Marcelo Bielsa gives a press conference, he is not speaking to journalists but to the public with whom he wishes to share his way of understanding football and to whom he wants to pass on his knowledge.

If the questions asked relate to football - this was usually the case in England - press conferences can last more than an hour.

On the other hand, when these are unfounded or when they seek unnecessary controversy, his answers can be very terse.

In France, it pushed them to do their job even worse pic.twitter.com/9D8iSvWG5R

- Vice (@ViceIsFootball) June 4, 2019

Reading you, one gets the impression that you share the same vision as Bielsa vis-à-vis the importance of the place of supporters in football, is that the case?

We may have the same sensitivity to popular layers, yes.

The vast majority of supporters come from the lower classes and are confronted daily with the difficulties of life.

And I believe that we cannot be indifferent to the fate of the most vulnerable.

This is the reason why Marcelo Bielsa attaches great importance to supporters because he knows that football has the capacity to bring happiness to people.

In addition, supporters remain loyal to their colors for life and that is why they are indispensable in football, he says.

As he puts it so well, the latter offer everything to their club and only ask for emotions in return.

“I prefer actions to promises” “And sometimes, for the poorest, the victory of the favorite team constitutes one of the rare moments of joy in a life marked by adversity”.

Thank you @SalimLamraniOff for this sharing with all 👌.

@DidierRoustan @LUFC pic.twitter.com/fel97jTRa7

- Saïd Aïgoun 🇫🇷⭐️⭐️ (@SaidAigoun) September 24, 2020

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