Marcelo Bielsa highlights similarities between Leeds United and Aston Villa

LEEDS United’s first season back in the Premier League always centred around one main objective – staying in it.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Upon their own top-flight return, tonight’s visitors Aston Villa eventually secured their own survival by the skin of their teeth last term, staying up by a place and a point at Bournemouth’s expense.

Seven months on, Villa and newly-promoted Leeds now find themselves mentioned in conversations when it comes to possible qualification for

MAKE MINE A TREBLE: Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford nets the second goal of his hat-trick in October's 3-0 victory at Aston Villa. Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images.MAKE MINE A TREBLE: Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford nets the second goal of his hat-trick in October's 3-0 victory at Aston Villa. Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images.
MAKE MINE A TREBLE: Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford nets the second goal of his hat-trick in October's 3-0 victory at Aston Villa. Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Both are in the top half of the table, 10th-placed Leeds just one point behind the eighth-placed Claret and Blues who also have two games in hand.

Win those and Dean Smith’s side would be just one point off fifth.

Villa, says Whites head coach Marcelo Bielsa, hold a big advantage over the Whites – having one season back in the Premier League to benefit from.

Yet United’s head coach acknowledges similarities between the two teams and in Bielsa’s case more so with the players on the pitch.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Reflecting on the achievements of two sides that have arguably exceeded expectations this season – and if he saw any similarities between Villa and Leeds – Bielsa reasoned: “This is their second year back in the Premier League and they have made corrections.

“That’s an advantage because corrections come from mistakes that have been made.

“It’s impossible to come from the Championship to the Premier League and not make errors because the levels are totally different.

“I do see a certain similarity in the characteristics of the players that play in each position.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The players they have in each position, I’m referring to the two full-backs, the two centre-backs, the defensive midfielder, the box-to-box and offensive midfielder, the two wingers and centre forward.

“They’re players with similar characteristics to those we have. If you see something similar in this then I do as well.”

Since 2016 at least, Villa and Leeds have followed similar paths but a path that Leeds were already well used to having lost their top-flight status in 2004.

Twelve years later, Villa suffered the same fate when they finished bottom of the Premier League in 2015-16.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Unlike Leeds, Villa took just three seasons to seal their Premier League return when winning the 2019 play-offs at Derby County’s expense.

United had looked destined to end what was then a 15-year wait for top-flight football only to experience a late collapse in falling out of the automatic promotion spots to finish third.

Defeat to Derby in the play-offs semi-finals followed.

But now the two teams are back side by side and Bielsa’s 2020 Championship champions announced their return in style in the first top-flight clash between Leeds and Villa in 16 years at Villa Park in October.

A Patrick Bamford hat-trick gave United a 3-0 victory against a side who at the time held a 100 per cent record.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Challenges in this league: we have them every week,” said Bielsa, asked about the significance of October’s victory at Villa.

“Great performances are followed by some unsatisfactory performances for every team.

"There are teams who go on a series of positive results or teams where the opposite happens.

“To those same teams, the same thing happens between the two successively.

"I understand where your question is coming from.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"A great performance like that has repercussions on the mood of the team.

"I also think it’s a competition so long and unstable, it makes it hard for me to believe the effects of one game last for a long time.”

Asked what he felt had been the main difference with Villa this year – and what he was expecting against them second time around – Bielsa explained: “You construct a team to go from one half of the table to the other half, from 20 to 10 and from 10 to four. Or from 10th to 15th, from 10th to five.

“Aston Villa have deserved the changes they needed to make.

"They found solutions to the positions they thought they needed to improve.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"They managed to conserve the players that showed they had the level to play in this competition.

“They have some young players who complement the project and make it efficient.

"Aston Villa’s a team that play very well.

"They are consistent. In that game (in October), we were a very good version of ourselves.

"In the 20 games since, they’ve had ups and downs and so have we.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A message from the Editor:

Leeds has a fantastic story to tell - and the Yorkshire Evening Post has been rooted firmly at the heart of telling the stories of our city since 1890.

We believe in ourselves and hope you believe in us too. We need your support to help ensure we can continue to be at the heart of life in Leeds.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Subscribe to our website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app.

With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.

Click here to subscribe.

For more details on our newspaper subscription offers click here.

Thank you Laura Collins

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.