Kalvin Phillips has revealed how Leeds new boys Raphinha, Robin Koch and Diego Llorente reacted to Marcelo Bielsa’s Murderball training routine.
For those of you wondering, Murderball is an eight against eight match lasting 15-minutes, with no fouls or any semblance of rules in which, when the ball goes out, another is immediately thrown in.
Speaking to Henry Winter of The Times, Phillips said: ‘Murderball’s mental. I’m used to it now but for new players that have come in like Robin, Rafa, Diego after the training session they were looking around, as if to say, ‘What have we just done?’
We don’t blame them!
Murderball sounds like a completely unique concept, emblematic of the type of manager Bielsa is.
Phillips also described the game as ‘100mph’ and admitted that he’s been fearful of hurting a teammate during Murderball before, such is the high intensity of it.
However, it certainly seems to get Leeds well-prepared for the weekend’s action.
WhoScored shows they average the fourth-highest amount of possession in the Premier League with 56.4% per game, while also averaging the joint-fifth most shots in England’s top-flight with 13.1 efforts every 90 minutes.
Murderball seems to be the equivalent of running with a backpack full of weights, which is then taken off on matchdays.
Bielsa’s mantra sounds like he wants his players to train hard, so that they can fight easy, and it’s working wonders for them in the Premier League so far despite recent back-to-back defeats.
When Raphinha starts to become a first-team regular and Llorente returns from injury, we could see Leeds move into another gear.
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