Check this out, its not all about Vp don't know how to post a link so just copied it.
I've been a massive fan of Marcelo Bielsa's for a long time. I was first made aware of "El Loco" by the BBC's South American Correspondent, Tim Vickery, on 5 Live's World Football Phone (I highly recommend the podcast for this guy, the others not so much). Vickery, who really knows his stuff, worships the ground Bielsa walks on.
Recently Vickery has been describing the effect that Bielsa has had on Chilé as a nation. He and others have described the Chilean league as being the most exciting in South America and basically describe that after what the great man did with the National Side, every club president has basically said they want to play just like that at their clubs and so it seems 75% of the clubs have Bielsa clones in charge.
Bielsa is someone who transforms clubs, and leaves a lasting impression wherever he goes often for the better. Much is made of philosophies and by and large this a nonsensical buzz word spouted by morons like Rogers who either do not know what it means or are trying to buy time for themselves. Bielsa is about the only manager who does have a philosophy. What I mean by this is that he would come into Everton and transform the club. Everything would have to change to his way of thinking. Every coach from the kids up would have to agree with what he wanted or they would be gone. Every team would play the Bielsa way, be they u9s or the reserves.
The Bielsa way is high intensity and high pressing. Guardiola did not quite copy Bielsa fully at Barcelona, so do not be fooled by thinking that if we got Bielsa in we would suddenly play tiki-taka football. Guardiola fused the traditional (since Cruyff) total football style of play with Bielsa's high pressing game which led to the style you see now.
Bielsa's style, for those who do not remember how he got Athletic Bilbao to destroy Man Utd, is much more direct than Barcelona and you often see his teams hit the long ball. I've often been frustrated by the fear of teams to hit the long ball when it's on instead losing impotence by knocking it slowly around the back until a chance is gone (á la Rogers). Bielsa's ideals are to play all of the game in the opposition half. To aggressively defend from the front. The striker would need to chase the centre backs hard, then comes the wide men, then the midfield 3.
He typically played a 3133 at Chilé. This had a few static players, namely the number 9 (a false 9 is preferred but someone like Lorente plays it best), and an anchor man who sits around the defensive midfield spot. The rest are interchangeable and extremely fluid. Bielsa's teams are often out of shape and thus hard to defend against when they win the ball. Every player needs to be comfortable on the ball, especially the centre backs.
Bielsa likes wide men, but like Moyes he likes them to tuck inside. More Pienaar than Mirallas. The greatest example of what Bielsa likes this player to do is Alexis Sanchez (the Barca flop), who runs from wide at pace, causing havoc.
The midfield three play high up the pitch but are not attacking players, moreover they are players who are best at winning the ball and recycling it forwards quickly. The defensive midifielder will sit and with fluidity will make the midfield 3 into a 4, or the defensive 3 into a back 4 depending on where the ball is. This player is often the guy who launches the attacks with quarter back style passes, so rather than being a yard dog, he's usually the Beckenbauer of the side. Instead the tenacious Gibson types are playing further up the pitch, trying to win the ball there.
As I said earlier, Bielsa plays a back 3 of centre backs. However, these all need to be comfortable on the ball and capable of long passing. Heitinga would thrive but Jags might struggle.
Bielsa's way of working is never to come in and rip a side apart and start signing players. What he did on taking the Bilbao job was to watch every game at least twice. He came into a perpetually relegation threatened side and turned them into Champions League contenders immediately by changing players positions and enhancing player's fitness levels. He would not come into Everton and tell BK that he needs £50m to spend, instead he would be willing to work with what he has and have a few surprises in store. Some players would end up in positions you never dreamed they could play, whilst he is likely to promote a lot of youth, as they have the natural energy to do the running required.
Fitness is absolute key to Bielsa's ways and he needs a full pre-season to get going. One reason I think he could slot righ tin here is that Moyes has traditionally had us as perhaps the fittest team in the league for years. If this belief is correct then Bielsa has a head start and then just needs to work on reconditioning players. By this I mean slimming down muscles from power to stamina which does take time.
Bielsa has never managed a club bigger than us. Benitez seems to be ahead in the pecking order for Napoli, so why then, are we not pushing this guy harder for the job. The only reason Bielsa should not be the Everton manager next season should be because he says he needs a season or two off to recharge his batteries (which he often does, due to the intensity he brings).
Even if Bielsa is a disaster for us, and I do not believe that he would be, he would only bring positiivity and progression to the club. He is not likely to cost us a fortune like someone like Martinez would, and he's likely to make us the most entertaining side in the league along the way.
If you have never seen the great man at work on the training pitch then Google him.
There's tons of fan videos of Bilbao training and El Loco going crazy in the middle of the action. He is so intense in training, that he seems almost serene during the matches (he's nuts on the sidelines, but just not as nuts). Watching those training videos will show you the dynamism of the coach and the reason why you cannot consider someone like Ferguson, Stubbs or Neville.
They do not have a clue how to run training sessions like this, let alone why he's doing what he's doing. No training session is ever the same and he really does develop every player he gets his hands on.
They will not enjoy training, but they will be satisfied with the results and reap the benefits, as per most of the Bilbao squad he seem to now be with most of Europe's elite clubs.
Get him in. To not speak to the greatest coach in the world, who is available, and will definitely speak to us, can only be considered negligent.
Editor's note: This comment from the "No pre-contract agreement with Pereira" news item has been republished here as an article in its own right.
