‘Shouldn’t be champions’: BBC pundit sends warning to Liverpool after Leeds claim

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Micah Richards has warned Liverpool that ‘champions cannot think like that’ after it was claimed that they will be ‘worried’ about Leeds because of Marcelo Bielsa ahead of their Premier League opener on Saturday.

The former Manchester City defender told BBC Radio 5 Live (09/09/20 at 7:30 pm) that Liverpool ‘shouldn’t be champions’ if they go into that match with that thought process.

It’s set to be the champions of the Premier League against the champions of the Championship, with Klopp pitting his wits against the highly-thought-of and popular Bielsa.

The talk was around how Leeds could be a different and tougher proposition for the Reds than most promoted sides because of Bielsa.

“I understand your point because Bielsa’s a top, top manager,” Richards told BBC Radio 5 Live. “But Leeds have just come up from the Championship. Every manager does this, honestly.

“If they are worried about Leeds on the opening day of the season as champions then they shouldn’t be champions if I am totally honest – they haven’t been in the league for 16 years now.

“You cannot be worried about a team that have just gone into the Premier League now because they have a great manager [in Marcelo Bielsa]. Champions cannot think like that.”

There are many teams that will find Leeds a lot more difficult than they initially think because their pressing game without the ball is pretty incredible.

The work rate Beisla has brought to the club is one not many teams can match, it’s just a case of ensuring they can deal with the quality that comes against them and with it being able to produce the quality themselves.

It’s not the best of starts for Leeds in regards to facing the champions first up, but their return has no doubt added spice to the league because English football has been missing these type of fixtures.