Marcelo Bielsa. ‘El Loco’. ‘The Mad Man’. Current Athletic Bilbao Manager.
I’ve admired Bielsa since his reign as national manager of Chile. His wild formations and approaches on the sidelines have stuck in my head for a long time now and I have only furthered my love for the man in his time at Athletic Bilbao.
So, a little about him.
His nickname ‘El Loco’ meaning ‘The Mad Man’ is not far wrong. He is very vocal, demanding and stubborn in his opinions. It is known in the past that he has fallen out with certain players, but when you see what players these are you will find they have had problems at other clubs too. He takes analytics to the extreme. In recent weeks you may have heard how much time David Moyes and Sir Alex Ferguson spend on statistics, football videos and analysis of upcoming teams, but neither compare to Marcelo Biesa’s casting eye. He is absolutely devoted to his job.
This doesn’t mean that he’s a manger that operates like Moyes in terms of stopping opponents before playing his own game though, oh no. He just wants his team to press high up the field and defend by having the ball more than the other team. His formations differ between 3-3-1-3 and 3-1-3-3 and while this may take a period of transition for players, it is known to work in the end.
Examples of this are his poor initial results for his last 3 sides, in the national coach of Argentina and Chile, and club side Athletic Bilbao where he could have lost his job early on for all 3, but in the end has largely come up trumps. For Argentina he won the Olympic title for their first time since 1928, for Chile he gained World Cup 2010 qualification after a 2 previous tournament absence and won idol status over there and won many hearts worldwide, such as myself. When he took over at Bilbao they were a midtable club looking to progress. Within a year Bielsa just missed out on Champions League qualification and went into the Europa League. In the 2011-12 season, Bielsa took Bilbao to the final of the Europa league, beating many teams they probably shouldn’t have (such as Man United in both legs) along the way. As well as reaching the final of the Europa League, he took Bilbao to the final of the Copa Del Rey. Unfortunately he lost both finals 3-0, being out-classed by Athletico Madrid (Falcao) and Barcelona (Messi) respectively.
So why do I want him at Everton?
Well, I’ve loved Moyes’ tenure here but I will be disappointed if we appoint someone in similar ilk to the Scotsman. We’ve had 11 years of consistency and good finishes in the league, but we’ve also had 11 years of the same formation, the same substitutions, no trophies, no wins at Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal and them across the park. We’ve knocked on the Europa League and Champions League door for a couple of years and missed out, some say down to the squad which I mostly agree with but also look at the points dropped this season due to not being able to hold onto the ball and if we’d won at Arsenal or Tottenham we’d be right up there.
Can we attract him?
Yes, I certainly think we could. First and foremost, he won’t be on as much money as Moyes was, probably nowhere near. Athletic have struggled this season due to their team being dismantled after the great season of last, and are currently lying 15th with a possibility of relegation or midtable mediocrity being on the cards. Bielsa has to work with transfer restrictions, as his Bilbao side has unbroken traditional regulations that say he can only sign Basque players. Bilbao have the same capacity stadium as Everton. Taking the reigns at Goodison could offer him a chance to work in the Premier League, if he wanted it. And last but not least, his contract is up in the summer and wouldn’t cost a penny!
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