Ex-Premier League manager Ian Holloway has cast serious doubts over the claims made about watching opponents’ training sessions by Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa.
After a Leeds employee was found outside the perimeter of Derby County’s training complex before their crunch game last week, the Argentine boss addressed the media on Wednesday in a surprise press-briefing, where he made the shock revelation that he had carried out the same behaviour ahead of all their matches this season.
Blasting the Whites boss, who he deemed a ‘genius’, for his actions, Holloway questioned whether he was telling the truth with his claims.
He told Sky Sports’ The Debate (17/01, 22:00): “I’ve said all season the joy of me seeing EFL games is because Bielsa’s in it. The man is a genius but that’s gone too far.
“If he’s calling out his team today, as a smokescreen, thinks he’s cleverer than all of us, hang on a minute. Tell us what free kicks you’re going to take, what corners are you going to aim for… the stuff that wins games.
“(On watching all the teams’ training sessions) I don’t believe him. I don’t think he’s done it every single time but I think in that game he’s chose to do it, it was a big rival.”
Opinion
An interesting theory from Holloway – but why would Bielsa lie about watching all his opponents when he knows the EFL are launching an investigation into his actions? Maybe he has not put as much detail into the scouting reports from training sessions as he did with the Rams – after all, they are a top six chasing side who had the potential to derail the title hopes at Elland Road – but to make such a statement when under the microscope of officials, the media and fans alike seems to big a gamble to take. A case of something being lost in translation, perhaps? Unlikely, considering how calculated Bielsa has been with his words in the past. The EFL’s investigation will no doubt uncover the truth but the next question is what exactly to the league officials do? No actual rules appear to have been broken so what sort of punishment, if any, can be dished out?