Before games, Patrick Bamford talks about Marcelo Bielsa’s incredible feats at Leeds United

Under Marcelo Bielsa, Patrick Bamford played some of his best football of all time at Leeds United.

 

During Leeds’ 2019–20 promotion campaign, Bamford started 44 of the team’s 46 games. In Leeds’ first season back, he scored 17 goals in the Premier League, earning him his lone England cap.

 

Because of his decision to attend every single Manchester City game to assist Kalvin Phillips, Bielsa has and will always be known for his painstaking attention to detail when conducting analysis.

 

The Leeds team was performing well above their weight under the now-Uruguayan manager, and a big part of that was due to his planning and tactics, which used to blow Bamford away.

 

In an interview with the most recent episode of the podcast “My Mate’s A Footballer,” Bamford disclosed that, in the week preceding a game, Bielsa would predict for the team how the match would go and, miraculously, he was always correct.

 

Bamford tells the Bielsa story that completely blew him away.

“One thing I do remember is that, in the week before a game, Marcelo would literally tell us how the game is going to play out and how they will score if they do score,” the man recalled. And we’ll score in this manner.

 

“I’m not kidding; it seemed as though he had seen the game beforehand and had a crystal ball. He was incredibly accurate every week and had complete knowledge of what was going to happen. He had made the incredible call days earlier.

 

Leeds United vs. Barnsley – Sky Bet Championship

 

Because Bielsa is a unique manager that Leeds will never have again, this story—while implausible—feels quite real because of the depth to which he used to write.

 

Liam Cooper stated that he knew from the first day of meeting Bielsa that his career at Leeds would take a turn for the better and that it is unlikely the Leeds captain would have played in the Premier League at all if it weren’t for him.

 

While Daniel Farke is undoubtedly doing a fantastic job at Elland Road in his own right, Bielsa will always seem especially special since he is the only one who can truly lift the team out of mediocrity in the eyes of the fans.