Can Championship leaders Leeds United continue their terrific form throughout the season? Carlos Carvalhal has a potential warning for Marcelo Bielsa.
Carlos Carvalhal knows what it takes to succeed in the Championship. In two full seasons at Sheffield Wednesday, the affable Portuguese tactician led The Owls to the play-offs twice, reaching the final at Wembley in 2016.
So he is well placed to judge Leeds’ flying start to life under Marcelo Bielsa.
The legendary Argentinian coach has had a transformative impact on a Leeds side who finished 13th in the Championship last season. Sunday’s 1-1 draw away at Millwall means The Whites are top of the table and still unbeaten after seven games.
And Carvalhal, like so many managers in the modern era, is a massive fan of ‘El Loco’ – but he says that the real test is yet to come with a hectic fixture schedule on the horizon.
“He’s not a standard person. I like this kind of personality,” the former Swansea and Sporting Lisbon boss told talkSPORT (September 18, 10am).
“He’s doing really well, (Leeds) play with really high intensity, they started really well.
“When they play Tuesday and Saturday (every week) we’ll see how they manage this kind of challenge.”
Bielsa’s sides are famed for their fast-paced approach and there are concerns that Leeds could succumb to fatigue after Christmas, quite like the 63-year-old’s Marseille team did in 2014/15 when they topped the Ligue 1 table at the turn of the year before finishing fourth.
And Carvalhal has compared Bielsa’s Leeds to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, another team renowned for their all-action style.
“Liverpool, they play with high intensity all the time. Because they play in this way, (from) Tuesday (to) Saturday, they have some accidents.”
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