Marcelo Bielsa trusting Leeds United's swing and Whites reward will come - Daniel Chapman

Howard Wilkinson used to tell his Leeds United players, take 10 shots and you’ll score.

He probably told his Sheffield Wednesday and Notts County players the same thing.

People might think Marcelo Bielsa invented the single-minded manager, but they never saw Wilko on the transfer trail when he heard about a birth certificate marked ‘Sheffield’.

There must have been countless times over the years when Wilkinson’s players trooped back to the changing rooms, counted up their efforts on their fingers and toes, and wondered if their manager was mad.

Implacable, serene, flicking through his Barbra Streisand cassettes ready for the drive home, Wilko would be unperturbed by their goalless match.

Look at the players in here: Lee Chapman, Rod Wallace, Gary McAllister, Gary Speed, Gordon Strachan, maybe not you David Batty, Mel Sterland – take another 10 shots, lads.

You’ll score.

When it comes to belief, Wilkinson and Bielsa are not far apart.

Not in themselves: Wilko was too aware of his own mistakes to think himself infallible, Bielsa always deflects credit while talking up his failures.

But in their ideas. To Bielsa, one of the keys to management is getting players to embrace your ideas, totally, completely, and it can’t be done by acting.

That’s why there’s no plan B: Bielsa can’t let the players think he has any doubts about plan A.

If the boss doesn’t believe in it, what were all those triple training sessions about?

Wilkinson was more flexible. Often derided as a slave to 4-4-2, he adapted to circumstances and innovated within the limits of his players.

Inheriting a squad full of centre-backs from Jack Charlton at Hillsborough, he got Wednesday promoted with three at the back and attacking full-backs.

Batty’s job in the title-winning team at Leeds was to drop between and behind the centre-backs, Chrises Fairclough and White, basically doing what Kalvin Phillips does now.

But there was a time and place for changes and halfway through a season wasn’t it.

The work was done in pre-season, and the campaign was a test of how far those plans could take them.

In 1992, without the luxury of six weeks to integrate Eric Cantona for the title run-in, Wilkinson’s solution was simple: use him as a super-sub, while the first XI got on with the job they’d been doing since August.

The players all credit Wilkinson’s sureness with helping them to the title, while Alex Ferguson was screaming on their telly every night.

‘Trust your swing’ was Wilko’s other mantra: believe in what we do, do it to the best of our ability, and take the rewards – or the reverse – that come by doing things our way.

He didn’t mind a bit of Frank Sinatra when the Streisand tapes wore out.

Which is how Bielsa quietly fixed, in United’s game against Arsenal, what many thought was becoming a big problem.

While by any law 25 shots should have meant a goal, that stat overshadowed non-events at the other end, where a defence that conceded eight in two matches came up with a clean sheet.

Mikel Arteta reckoned Leeds would be better drilled than his Arsenal by having fewer players away for the international break.

But I’m not sure two weeks of head tennis between Luke Ayling and Pascal Struijk, while every other defender was either abroad or injured, was the key.

Were there any drastic tactical changes bringing new security to the Peacocks’ defence? Not really.

They – and the players pressing in front of them – just did a better job of what they’re always trying to do.

They were helped by Arsenal’s lousy attack, but that’s not a cheat.

Breaking down the reasons for conceding so many, Bielsa factored the presence in the Premier League of “40 of the best forwards in the world”, and the Gunners have at least a couple of them.

It’ll take time before consistently shutting out that level of talent starts feeling easy.

Faith isn’t easily maintained after eight goals against, but Leeds are making the most of this season’s licence to relax.

Even if things were worse, Elland Road would be more sanguine than, say, Bramall Lane, where Chris Wilder is being distracted from his Patrick Bamford dartboard by talk of the sack.

When they hired him, at the bottom of League One, how much better did Sheffield United expect to get, than this?

Leeds United’s aim is avoiding relegation and, with the Blades helping to occupy the places below us, we can enjoy the entertainment of 25 shots a game.

One of them will go in, eventually, and Leeds will get their rewards from these matches, eventually.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/goalscoring-efficiency-pepes-var-debate-rodrigos-impact-and-boost-defence-leeds-united-talking-points-3044433https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/we-tried-everything-score-goal-robin-koch-laments-leeds-uniteds-luck-arsenal-draw-3044366https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/yorkshire-evening-post-launch-leeds-united-only-digital-subscription-ahead-premier-league-campaign-2967964

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Thank you Laura Collins