Marcelo Bielsa is in his second season in charge of Championship giants Leeds United.
Adam Forshaw has shared that Leeds United take part in more ‘classroom sessions’ compared to last season, as the team try to have a ‘different’ take on things and undertake more ‘mental’ sessions rather than just training out on the field.
Forshaw also shared that Marcelo Bielsa would interestingly look at articles that have been written about opposition players or articles that have been written that week and pay attention to them in order to help Leeds.
The Whites are sitting top of the Championship table, and on New Year’s Day, they take on fellow promotion rivals, West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns.
Speaking to Football Daily on BBC Radio 5 Live, Forshaw shared an interesting insight into what has changed off the field at Leeds, as he stated that things are the same on the training pitch.
“The sessions on-field [compared to last season] are very similar,” Forshaw told BBC Radio 5 Live. “There have been slightly more emphasis on us being more, until the last few games we have been defensively a lot better. [There are] a lot of classroom sessions [compared to last season].
“I think the continuity and everyone knowing where we are at. Leeds have had a lot of managers up until Marcelo Bielsa in these last three or four years. To have a structure and something in place. We feel like we are building something. We do feel like we more of a heavyweight in this division compared to last season.
On what they do in classroom sessions: “We will do anything. From individual sessions with your manager on your clips from the game or collective, we can do meetings on things away from football to do with articles we have seen.
“There is a lot of thought. If the manager may have seen something in the press he would have liked, an analysis on a certain player or something, we could have a meeting on it. We could pick things from certain articles that just came out that week. If it’s any one per cent that could try and help us, it’s maybe just a different side to look at it sometimes when you cannot train always out on the field. You can do mental sessions.”
The January transfer window is now open and it will be interesting to see what planning Leeds have done for the winter window.
The players the Yorkshire outfit keep and the players they potently purchase could have an impact in how they fare during the second half of the campaign.
In previous seasons, like with Fulham when they purchased Mitrovic during their promotion via the play-offs, or when Villa brought in the like of Tyrone Mings last January, that one signing or number of signings can provide a team with that push they need for promotion.
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