Chelsea: Three lessons as Frank Lampard takes Marcelo Bielsa to school
By Travis Tyler
2. Dirty Leeds are still done dirty cheap
Pep Guardiola didn’t simply come up with the idea of tactical fouling on his own. It is a tenant of Bielsa’s style. While Bielsa’s side will rely more on the press and tackles to win the ball, they certainly aren’t afraid to foul to halt momentum.
That happened several times throughout the match. The implication might have been that Bielsa’s analysis turned up that Chelsea could be riled up into making mistakes. Reece James in particular was seemingly targeted for this, to the failure of Leeds as the right back kept his cool.
Leeds would also challenge almost every call of the ref. Time wasting was rife, especially when the score was 1-0 in their favor. But again, most if not all of this was one sided.
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The last time Chelsea played Leeds was eight years ago. The last time before that was another eight years prior. This is a rivalry that was massive once upon a time, but it has been dulled by separation. In these situations, the rivalry generally means more to the underdog than it does to the team at the top.
If Leeds’ strategy was to upset Chelsea’s momentum and force them into mistakes, it wasn’t going to work. Tottenham tried the same once and all they got for it was a lousy third place finish in a two horse race. Chelsea, even uncomplete, is made of tougher stuff than that. Leeds may be living off glory in the 70s, but Chelsea is aiming to make it now.