The Ultimate 2018-19 Hipster team

Take a noble fall of English football that for years wallows among the minor English leagues, then add us the most eccentric-crazy-competent-manic-obsessive-compulsive guru of contemporary football and there you will have the perfect hipster fetish team of this season. After the first five days of Championship, the love story between Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds United is the most beautiful and unexpected tales that European football is offering at the moment. Watching the maniacally tactical football of Bielsa applied to the still rude and confusing game of the Championship is a pleasure for the eyes and - for now - also for the ranking of Peacocks: they are first with 13 points together with Middlesbrough. It seems to see one of those American sit-com love stories, in which the strange dude of the class comes out and falls in love with the beautiful, intelligent and low-key girl. These stories never run smoothly, you just have to wait for the moment when Bielsa will go crazy for a piece of paper on the ground, the team will leave and Leeds United will return the forgotten Cinderella of English football. For now, however, everything is fine and then it is worth to throw in this precise mix of football nostalgia and tactical hipsterism.

La Locura

Marcelo Bielsa is a football genius. He - like a real guru -unconsciously founded a school of coaches that make tactics and psychology their winning weapons: Pochettino, Simeone, Sampaoli and also Pep Guardiola are among the followers. However, the Rosario-born coach is more known to the general public for his obsessive-compulsive obsessions and coup-du-teatre, like when he walked away from Lazio after just two days or when he left Marseille after just one game of Ligue 1).

El Loco has brought his radical perfectionism to Elland Road - in deep England football, that of training only until lunchtime and post-game beer - which for now has been unexpectedly well received by the environment. The Guardian has collected some of the Bielsa-moments that the coach has already giftes since he arrived on British soil, here a quick summary:

- The new Leeds manager wanted to find out how hard the average supporter had to work to pay for a ticket to watch the team. How many hours did he or she have to put in? It was unclear what kind of calculations went into the answer but one was provided. It would be about three. So the Argentinian called his players together and he told them that, for the next three hours, they would be picking up litter from around the club’s Thorp Arch training ground. He wanted them to learn a lesson; to appreciate how the fans laboured to fulfil their passion.

- He runs his forefinger across various surfaces at Thorp Arch to check for dust, invariably being appalled at what he finds, while he once inquired why there was a bootprint on a wall – about half a yard from the floor. It was explained to him that, perhaps, it was the result of somebody leaning back against it, with his or her foot up. “That shows the person is not concentrated on their work! Unacceptable!” Bielsa exclaimed.

- Kinnear and Orta (Leeds management) had wanted to know how well he knew the Championship. Bielsa delved into his copious notes and began his response by detailing the respective teams in formation from last season’s Burton v Bolton game. Leeds asked Bielsa how well he knew the Championship. He knew every formation each team had used last season Then, he went through every formation Burton and Bolton had used throughout the season and, after that, he did likewise for every other club in the division. Bielsa could say, for example, how many times a team had played 4-3-3, 4-4-2 or 3-5-2. He had even calculated the probability for one formation to beat another.

- Having studied the architectural drawings, Bielsa demanded the first team be granted their own private space and that a dormitory and games room be created for them.

From Perfectionist Marcelo Bielsa brings radical approach to Leeds United by David Hynter

A New Cool Leicester, Maybe

Leeds are often described as the deepest sleeping of England’s giants and their travails since relegation from the Premier League in 2004 are well-documented. The club have tried many things and gone through many managers yet the roll of the dice on Bielsa is arguably the most intriguing and exciting. The roaring beginning of the Bielsa era on the Leeds bench has returned enthusiasm in a depressed environment since 2004, which lives on nostalgic memories and fame. Leeds has a troubled history. In the mid-60s, under the guidance of Don Revie, became the strongest team in England by winning two championships, an FA Cup, a League Cup, then the dark for 25 years. The team returned great during the '90s, conquering the Premier League with Howard Wilkinson and starting a path that would have brought the club even among the big ones of Europe with another coach-myth, David O'Leary. The one that came in the semifinals of the Champions League in 2001, which could deploy talents like Rio Ferdinand and Woodgate, Batty and Bowyer, Kewell and Viduka. That team remained in the Pantheon of the '90s football thanks to the wide shirts and the English game of Leeds. Three years later, the debt-ridden club was relegated to the third series, never managing to get back to the Premier League and combining rather embarrassing messes like the history of last year's logo change.

As their Argentine coach is quick to point out, it’s far too early to make any calls but the signs are good. The team have developed a high intensity, attractive style of play that is taking the English second tier by storm. Leeds have already established themselves as one of the few teams in English football that use positional play. They play out from the back with confidence and circulate the ball quickly — all while moving fluidly within a well thought out structure. Leeds lineup in a nominal 4-1-4-1 or 4-3-3. The defensive midfielder drops to form a triangle with the center-backs in the buildup phase while the full-backs push up in support of the wingers who have the freedom to cut inside. The attacking midfielders play relatively free roles and the center-forward acts as a focal point. This basic structure is the scaffolding for a highly fluid and dynamic team. The result is a Little Barcellona or Sarri's Napoli playing in one the most backward leagues from tactical point of view.

The idea of Andrea Radrizzani - Italian owner of Leeds United - is to replicate what Ranieri did with Leicester: apply a very precise tactical identity in a tactically disorganized championship. Pink is scarce, we do not have to go around it. However, the game and the psychology of Bielsa can dramatically enhance the quality of mediocre players, so Leeds is a reservoir of strange players and with complex stories to fall in love with. Among these we have selected:

- Samuel Saiz, midfielder. Talent grew up in Real Madrid and then evaporated in the Spanish minor series before being reborn in Leeds at age 26.

- Pablo Hernandez, external. Ex-Valencia and Swansea is perhaps the only really known name present in pink. He tried to establish himself in La Liga between Valencia and Getafe, he is one of those players who has a painful two-year break in Dubai. He has already signed 4 assists.

- Mateusz Klich, playmaker. The 28-year-old born in Krakow is a good central midfielder, also entered in the Polish national team. Bielsa is turning him into a box-to-box midfielder, he has already scored two goals since the start of the season.