Leeds impressed in the Championship last season but the Whites lost form in 2019 and fell just short in bringing Premier League football to Elland Road.
Leeds United ace Kalvin Phillips has made an interesting admission about last year’s pre-season to the official Leeds media team, and what he expects this time round, which could well please some Whites fans and concern some others.
Since Marcelo Bielsa arrived at Elland Road, Leeds have been a different beast, going from a mid-table finish in 2017-18 to being in automatic promotion contention for much of the following season.
However, some criticism emerged in the wake of the team’s loss of form after the turn of the year which led to inconsistent results and, in turn, slipping out of the top two and finishing in the playoff positions.
The criticism in question was regarding Bielsa’s high-intensity style of play leading to player burnout in the latter stages of the season, something which NBC Sports Group pundit and retired footballer Robbie Earle recently commented on in the Stoke Sentinel.
In conversation with the Leeds website, Phillips admitted: “Last pre-season was one of the toughest I’ve ever been part of and I don’t expect anything else this time around. The coaching staff and manager know how to get us into shape for the way we want to play and I’m sure the lads will all buy into it again and we can have another good season.”
Although last year’s pre-season could have been more a case of shock to the system following Bielsa’s arrival, the reason why Phillips’s ‘toughest pre-season’ comment could be concerning is whether the players could be pushed too hard from the off and experience a potential repeat of the 2018-19 season, especially with no new arrivals just yet.
On the other hand, with the Leeds players now knowing what to expect on the training ground, they might be more conditioned to what Bielsa demands of his players, while the transfer window remains open for several more weeks, which means more new players tailored to the Argentine’s needs who could fit in seamlessly.
Therefore, with another tough pre-season getting the players fighting fit, but with the added advantage of there not being a shock to their system plus potentially new players within the ranks, Phillips and his teammates could go one better than they did last season and, nine months down the line, finally get back where they belong at the top table.
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