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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Last season may have been Leeds United’s best chance to be promoted back into the Premier League for the first time since 2004.
Once again, they fell away at the back end of the campaign, but rather than it being a famous case of ‘falling apart again’, it could be attributed to their manager’s rigorous training regimes and the issues they bring.
After last season’s failure, one would have to hope that Marcelo Bielsa would be learning from his mistakes, but it seems he isn’t.
Bielsa burnout
It has been covered in depth previously, but for anyone not familiar with the phrase ‘Bielsa burnout’ it is the theory that the Argentine’s high-intensity football and training regimes leaves his teams susceptible to fatigue and injuries.
Indeed, Leeds were blighted by an abnormal number of injuries last term, and they proved costly in the end. Kemar Roofe and Pontus Jansson both missed the playoff semi-final second leg against Derby, and their replacements had shocking games. Patrick Bamford didn’t have any effect, mustering just one shot on target, while Gaetano Berardi was sent off.
Towards the end of the league stage, Leeds petered off as well, failing to win any of their final four matches of the season.
Not learning
Bielsa has been in this game for almost 30 years, and despite being heralded as one of the greatest managers around, his trophy cabinet is rather bare, and part of that has to be blamed on this burnout phenomenon.
The problem is, he simply refuses to learn. Reliable journalist Alan Nixon has said that his pre-season training is even more intense than last season.
With a new 1km running track being installed at the training ground it’s not hard to believe that their regimes have been even tougher this summer.
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Leeds’ players will undoubtedly be as fit as possible once the opening day rolls around, but Bielsa seems to be setting his team up to fall off at the end of the campaign once again.