Speaking on The Beautiful Game Podcast, Eddie Nketiah has been discussing Marcelo Bielsa and his training methods at Leeds United.
The Argentine was known for implementing some rather extreme measures at Thorp Arch. His so-called ‘murderball’ sessions became infamous, and he also reportedly weighed his players every single day before training.
Jesse Marsch, Bielsa’s replacement, has since gone on the record to claim that Bielsa overtrained his players, and Nketiah has responded after being asked his thoughts on that subject.
What’s been said?
Nketiah spoke about whether or not Bielsa overtrained his players.
“It’s difficult, he was getting the best out of the players he had, he made us improve. I’m not going to lie to you, the training was hard. I can’t remember going out to eat at all, I would just go to sleep, that was the first time I’d been put out of my comfort zone. It was good, you see they get a lot of injuries playing like that, but in terms of development it helps a lot,” Nketiah said.
Tough balance
Nketiah’s comments just go to show how hard of a balance this is to strike.
On one hand, you want to train your players so they can play to the best of their abilities, but on the other hand, you won’t get very far with a fatigued squad plagued by injuries – as Leeds have seen this season.
Did Bielsa overtrain his players? Probably, but if that’s what was needed in order to get a rather average squad into the top-half of the Premier League, then so be it.
In the end, injuries came back to bite Bielsa, but for quite some time, his methods worked wonders at Leeds.
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