The Class of '21

It was a season played behind closed doors, with a significant chunk of passion taken by having to watch on TV, at home with only clueless pundits for company, spouting the same old crap about Luke Ayling having played for Yeovil (why’s that such a big deal??) and Stuart Dallas being a born and bread Yorkshireman. Even more annoying than still having to listen to Andy Hinchcliffe was having to watch another replay of a nothing foul, while you could hear the Leeds players zipping the ball around, trying to launch another attack. When you add those sad bastards in a caravan at Stockley Park into the equation you wonder how any child could fall in love with this game. Thankfully, Bielsaball is here to save the day. 

Leeds United enjoyed a glorious return to the Premier League in season 2020/21. A ninth placed finish wasn’t beyond our wildest dreams, but there was more to it than that. Through Bielsa, Leeds introduced a new type of football to the country that invented the game, and it was even new to us. Despite watching 100 Bielsa games, we hadn’t known the full beauty of Bielsaball until this season. In the Championship we had seen the fitness levels, the high press, and the patterns of play, but in the opening game at Anfield we finally saw the fearlessness. A newly promoted team visited the home of the English and World Champions, and had seven players bombing forward every time they got the ball. The attacking intent never wavered, but even more thrilling than the high scoring first half of the season was the marked improvement during the low scoring second half. Bielsa eradicated our weaknesses and Leeds ended the season at the top of the form guide – over 11 games no less – proving to everybody (that cares to take notice) that Bielsaball has no ceiling. What about his players, do they have a ceiling? Three years on, we still don’t know. Every year they keep the question alive.

Illan Meslier

Has there ever been a better under-21 goalkeeper? Leeds fans of a certain age will remember a 21-year-old Paul Robinson’s heroic performance against Barcelona, a personal dual with Rivaldo that he lost in heartbreaking fashion right at the death. But Robbo was never as polished as Meslier. Elsewhere in the last thirty years there has been Gianluigi Buffon and Iker Casillas, and today there is Gianluigi Donnarumma. I’m sure there are many other candidates, but how much better than Meslier could anyone be? He is the youngest Premier League no.1 in history, and broke records in a magnificent debut season where he made brilliant saves routinely, and barely put a foot wrong. He is tall, elegant with his feet, safe with his hands, and calmness personified. He has the reactions of a cat, he is agile, and apparently he won’t peak for another ten years! Victor Orta’s greatest signing. 

Luke Ayling

Marcelo Bielsa claims the improvement in the Leeds players is only down to the players themselves, and perhaps in the case of Ayling this might be true. Bill was already one of the best players at the club when Bielsa arrived, and there is no stand-out attribute that he has improved upon significantly, a point backed-up by his ‘numbers’ in the Premier League; no goals and no assists. But Ayling has continued to improve steadily every season, through experience, confidence, and elite physical conditioning. Regardless of his goal involvement, in many other metrics he has excelled; nobody in the Premier League made more tackles, and nobody in Europe carried the ball further (Lionel Messi having to settle for second best). He performed admirably when covering at centre-back, and although he cost us a few goals by switching off in vital moments, he seems to have fixed that in a faultless second half of the campaign. England have three bone fide world-class right-backs already and Ayling may never reach that level, but you don’t need 11 world-class players to win things, a handful is enough if the rest are people like Bill.

Gjanni Alioski

Thomas Christiansen’s insistence on playing Alioski on the right-wing infuriated me; some left footers are suited to it, some aren’t. By the time Bielsa arrived I was even infuriated with him playing on the left-wing due to his fondness of the offside flag, but El Loco’s solution was to give the defenders a 40-yard head-start, and Alioski quickly formed a wonderful partnership playing behind Jackie Harrison. In fact, such are his fitness levels, we practically play with two left-wingers when Alioski is at full-back. The madcap Macedonian was Orta’s first signing, and you can see what endeared him; his strength of character, his passion, his fitness, his pace, and his technical ability too. Alioski frustrates at times, with rash decisions and a lack of quality in the final third, but he had a brilliant first season in the Premier League and I’m certain he will continue to improve. In any case, a dozen bad passes are instantly forgotten with a kiss of the ball-girl or a rattle of the tunnel. Don’t go Gjanni, you’re one of us. 

Liam Cooper

Marcelo Bielsa vowed to turn Cooper into the best defender in the Championship during his opening discussions about taking the Leeds job, but he can’t have known how easy it would be. ‘League One Liam’ turned into ‘Super-Duper Liam Cooper’ almost overnight. In season one Cooper made only two mistakes all season, but one probably cost us automatic promotion (Sheff Utd at home) and the other probably cost us the play-off semi-final (though Kiko could see the whole picture in front of him and should never have rushed out, Cooper had the situation under control). In season two Cooper cut out the mistakes altogether, but like everyone else I wasn’t sure our rock-solid captain could cut it in the Premier League. Bielsa believed, and Cooper delivered. Block after block, header after header, tackle after tackle, statistically he was one of the best defenders in the league, and he dictated our play from the back and never once got caught in possession. Captain Fantastic.

Pascal Struijk

Stuijk is yet another player that Bielsa inherited, and the only youngster among the busload that arrived in Orta’s first season that has made it into the first team. Struijk made his debut in the catastrophic Cardiff collapse and was blamed for being caught flat-footed for the equaliser, yet even a seasoned campaigner couldn’t have expected Lee Tomlin to morph into Zlatan Ibrahimovic and play a perfect through ball with a back-heel volley. Typical of El Loco, the next time he called upon Struijk was during the most panic-stricken game of his whole tenure, and the Beneluxian helped guide Leeds to a 1-0 win over Barnsley and has gone from strength to strength since. He may never be an able replacement for Phillips, but, as third choice for that role, he was never meant to be. He was meant to be an adequate fourth choice centre-back but his magnificent performances now rank him alongside Cooper, with only the weight of an armband tipping the scales in the captains favour. 

Robin Koch

He gave away a penalty just three minutes into his debut (which brought an immediate change to the handball rule), then gave away another in his second match for a silly lunge (despite making no contact with the attacker), and a few games later gave a back-pass straight to Jamie Vardy (although Ayling instructed him to play the pass so he obviously presumed the coast was clear). Yet none of these setbacks seemed to affect Koch one iota. Injury curtailed his season, but for £13m the German could prove to be another legendary Orta coop, I can see him developing into a Rolls Royce centre-back. 

Deigo Llorente

Victor Orta seems to have the Midas touch, either that or Marcelo Bielsa’s regime simply drags the best out of anybody willing to make the required sacrifices. Llorente arrived at Leeds as an £18m Spanish international, but one whose career had stalled somewhat. On the surface this looked like a potential flop, a centre-back that would be out of his depth in the fast and physical Premier League; it’s been seen a hundred times. Nothing could be further from the truth. After six months in the treatment room Llorente’s return coincided with Leeds turning into the best team in the country. A silky centre-back and the perfect foil for any of the other three. 

Kalvin Phillips

The Yorkshire Pirlo never even seemed in the running for Player of the Year, but for me he should have run away with it. Phillips is a world class midfielder, our best player without question. If he had played 38 games last season we would have been top six without doubt (PPG says we’d have finished 4th), and if he had played no games last season we would probably have been bottom six (PPG says 17th). Surely Phillips is the next captain of Leeds United, and I can’t wait to see his million-dollar smile with a trophy aloft, maybe even the one with the big ears.

Stuart Dallas

The Player of the Year and deservedly so! Dallas deserves everything that comes to him, he is a model professional, a lionheart, and a brilliant footballer. His rise has been meteoric, from a bang-average Championship winger, to a decent Championship full-back, to a versatile Championship champion, to a Premier League midfield maestro. I doubted him at every step of the way, but Bielsa knows best. The local boy done good!

Mateusz Klich

A bad chef can ruin the best quality ingredients, and Thomas Christiansen made Victor Orta look a fool by sending Klich back to Holland after just one start. Yes, he was useless against Cardiff, but to boot someone out after one game only happens if there is a bad apple involved, and we know that’s not Klich. Under Bielsa, Klich has got better and better, and in the opening months of the Premier League he started to remind me of Pablo, such was the genius of his link-up play. But after The Great Man bestowed the ultimate praise upon him (‘Klich could play in any team in the world’) the Pole hit the wall and eventually lost his place to Dallas. Thankfully there was a happy ending to the season, a return to the side and a return to form, and next season I’m sure Bielsa expects him to improve again, and win back his place. 

Jack Harrison

If Leeds make a better signing this summer than £11m Jack Harrison then we will have done tremendously well. Harrison is a prime example of why so many top-rated English youngsters go on to do nothing in the game, because our top young players don’t get opportunities they need. Bielsa stood by Harrison throughout season one, despite substituting him at half-time nearly every week, and eventually he started to bear fruit. Harrison’s ‘numbers’ have improved every year, even after the step up to the Premier League, where he looks more comfortable than he ever has. Now we have a top-class winger, and eventually he can become world-class. It’s no exaggeration to suggest Harrison might have the best first touch in world football, and if he can start finding the top corner of the net instead of the top corner of the South Stand his will have completed his transformation.

Raphinha

How a Champions League club could suddenly decide Raphinha was dispensible will forever remain a mystery to me. How a newly promoted club stole a march on the rest of Europe to claim his signature is almost as baffling, credit again to Victor Orta and the club for being so alert and astute. Raphinha was the Premier League’s signing of the season; a wizard on the wing with a killer final ball, killer dead-ball, a killer finish, and an eye for a killer pass. He is inventive, explosive, and a box of tricks. Where Jack Harrison can stop any ball dead, Raphinha’s first touch often leaves defenders for dead, a master at taking the ball in his stride. Watching him in full flow is magical and, if he has the patience, Leeds United under Marcelo Bielsa can take him anywhere he wants to go. This time next year Raphy, we’ll be Champions League. Earn it!

Helder Costa

Costa lot, as my dad calls him, was indeed a very expensive outlay for Leeds United at £16m. It was a signing that screamed, ‘We’re going up as fucking champions’, almost a throw back to Peter Ridsdale spending the following season’s Champions League money before we’d qualified (‘almost’ I said). Costa only sat out one game of the promotion season (until the two dead rubbers at the end), and while his impact was not as dramatic as some fans expected, the transfer fee was vindicated by the end result of the season. In the Premier League, Costa started brightly but was soon sharing impact-sub duties with Ian Poveda, a youngster picked up for nothing from Man City’s development squad. Three goals and three assists from his allotted game-time was not a disastrous return, but Leeds will leave Costa behind unless he can raise his game a couple of levels. 

Pablo Hernandez

Just as Jesus did God’s work on earth, Pablo did Bielsa’s work on the pitch. There’s no room for sentiment with El Loco however, the players are machines to him, and Hernandez’s final season at Elland Road was a terrible disappointment to all. Pablo must have been in the forefront of Bielsa’s thinking considering he started the opening game at Anfield, but in the end El Loco decided he could not rely on El Mago anymore, or perhaps he decided the players needed to learn not to rely on him anymore. In his fleeting appearances he looked rusty, as expected of a player with no playing rhythm, but he did have one final major impact for Leeds, coming off the bench at Elland Road and instantly providing two assists to seal a 5-2 victory over Newcastle. That was actually a pivotal moment in the season, we had only won two out of our previous nine Premier League games and were about to get hit for six at Old Trafford; Pablo’s genius may just have played a bigger role this season than people have realised. Gracias Pablo!

Tyler Roberts

El Loco doesn’t like new toys, you get the feeling he finds them a bit of a hassle. In Tyler Roberts he has a young player who has the desire, fitness, speed, and technique, and has spent three years in the regime, so why replace him? In season one Roberts was our ‘number 10’ for practically the whole second half of the season (thanks to injuries to Forshaw, Clarke and Roofe, the loss of Saiz, the shitness of Baker, the mystery of Brown, and the Dan James fiasco) but he failed to score a single goal in that time. He doesn’t seem to have improved much since, but he was given a long run of Premier League football which coincided with Leeds finding their best form of the season, and it was no surprise that Bielsa rewarded him with a new contract. TyRo remains a work in progress, could he really be the next to explode into a top player? I’d never back against El Loco’s judgement.

Rodrigo Moreno

As with Llorente, this was a signing that I could see going wrong. Rodrigo was Spain’s number 9, but that status was hardly nailed down, and the competition was very weak. Judging him on this season would be harsh, it was stop start throughout due to injury and covid, nevertheless, I already feel stupid for doubting him. Angus Kinnear predicted Rodrigo will be our Player of the Year in 2022 and he showed why with a late season burst of form, the guy looks brilliant, and at 30 years old he is younger than Pablo Hernandez was when he joined Leeds. I wouldn’t bet against the best years of Rodrigo’s career still being ahead of him, especially under Bielsa’s wing.

Patrick Bamford

Patriiiiiiick! What a story, and what a man. Now in fairness to the Leeds fans, Bamford has received unwavering support from the terraces (pretty much) during his time at Elland Road, but unfortunately we cant just render social media as meaningless, and if we’re all honest with ourselves (or most of us anyway), we didn’t truly believe in Bamford. Bielsa did, he was all the striker El Loco needed to get us promoted, and he was all the striker he needed in the Premier League. 17 goals later and the Elland Road faithful are furious that Bamford isn’t being given the chance to win the European Championships for England. There are still glimpses of the old ridiculed Bamford – a heavy touch here, a skied sitter there – but all strikers miss chances and Bamford has proved himself as one of the countries best. And that’s the best thing, it’s not hard to see where he can improve and he has all the tools to do so, and all the help he could ever need.

What will 2021/2022 Bring?

So, where next for Bielsa’s Leeds? If they continue as they ended last season then they will be pushing for Champions League qualification in 2022. But after all the gushing we should apply some caution. Away games will certainly be more difficult with fans pushing the home team to match our intensity, but home games will be easier with the Revie and Hunter sucking balls into the net. More of a concern is the fact that Leeds had seven weeks between seasons 19/20 and 20/21, whereas everybody else had between four and six weeks. Perhaps the other teams will be fitter this season, better prepared to cope with us? Maybe other teams will be pushed harder to be fitter still, to get closer to Leeds’s levels? Either way, a season of 60+ points will see us back into Europe and another step closer to finally becoming official European champions, and our football will continue to win the hearts of young fans at home and abroad. Thousands of kids will fall in love with the team who plays fast and fair, there really is no ceiling for Super Leeds United.

Rocco Dean - Author of Marcelo Bielsa vs The Damned United (Pre-order on Amazon)