West Ham United’s Manuel Pellegrini has commented on Marcelo Bielsa.
West Ham United boss Manuel Pellegrini has told The Independent of his admiration for Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa.
Bielsa took his first steps into English football last summer by surprisingly taking the Leeds job, in a move that divided opinion.
People were split into two camps; the move would either be great success, and he’d impress just as he did with Athletic Bilbao and Marseille, or it would end in disaster like at Lille or his one-day stint at Lazio.
So far, it’s the former. Bielsa has Leeds playing a stunning brand of football in the Championship, and the Whites are well-placed to win promotion back to the Premier League after a 15-year absence.
Many managers, such as Mauricio Pochettino, Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone, cite Bielsa as their inspiration, with many coaches around the world admiring ‘El Loco’.
Now, West Ham United boss Pellegrini has given his verdict, and he’s well placed given that he’s Chilean, and saw Bielsa coach the Chile national team for four years.
Pellegrini feels that Bielsa is a manager who brings style and personality to any team, and whilst he didn’t win anything with Chile, he made them incredibly difficult to play against.
Pellegrini also hailed Bielsa for ‘playing as a big team’, and wants his West Ham side to adopt that mentality too, much as Leeds have under Bielsa this season.
“He is always a manager that gives a style to a club,” said Pellegrini “Bielsa gave another personality to the Chilean players. Maybe he did not win anything with Chile, but playing against Chile was very difficult. He had good success because he was playing as a big team. The same I was telling you about what West Ham must do, we must play with the mentality of a big team. He did brilliant work in Chile, he got Chile to play as a big team in those years,” he added.
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