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Marcelo Bielsa

Marcelo Bielsa

Not many of us know much about the Marseille boss, but just Googling his name during research for this article tells us all we need to know about Argentine.

The initial feeling is that if he were to replace Allardyce then we’d be in for a pretty interesting time under his stewardship.

An article written by Grantland.com earlier this week starts off like this…

“Marcelo Bielsa’s teams are just different. If you’re watching a game with the Argentine manning the sidelines, it’s obvious within minutes.”

That’s because, according to the article, “his side run more and they run differently than any other team in the world.” Blimey.

What does stand out is the following sentence, which stands out more than any other…

“Bielsa has influenced managers from Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola to Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino.”

Hello! The reality is that his teams man mark the hell out of their opponents. They pride themselves on pressing for an entire 90 minutes, which is something we’re not too used to under Allardyce. This is echoed by Zonal Marking on Twitter the other night…

But there’s a trend in Biesla’s managerial career that immediately rings alarm bells…

“Ultimately, Marseille were brilliant for two-thirds of Sunday’s game before finally fading away. It’s reminiscent of their revolutionary Argentine manager’s career: Come out on fire, blow people away with your energy, and then flame out in a blaze of glory before reaching the finish line.”

Ah. That sounds a lot like the season we’re having at the moment.

Still, he’s managed some decent sides in the past, including national teams Chile and Argentina…

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So that’s pretty much, in a nutshell, what we might expect to see under Bielsa.