Pontus Jansson has hailed Marcelo Bielsa “one of the best in the world” as he moved to clarify remarks attributed to him in Sweden in which he said the manager’s training schedule had left Leeds United’s players “tired before matches”.
Speaking on his personal Twitter account, the defender said the comments, given during an interview with Swedish podcast Fotbollsexperterna, were in praise of a coach who he described as “one of the best in the world”, saying: “Everything he has done for us is amazing.”
https://twitter.com/PJansson5/status/1092748291232747526
Jansson’s analysis of Bielsa’s methods come a few days after Leeds dropped off the top of the Championship following a 3-1 loss to Norwich City, their fourth defeat in sixth league games.
OPINION
Jansson tends to shoot from the hip and is nothing other than revealing and insightful in his interviews. This frankness and openness is brilliant for those wanting to know what is going on behind the scenes at Leeds, but can also land the Swede in hot water, as he found with a suspension incurred earlier in the season for calling the referee a chat in a live television interview. His comments to the Swedish podcast appear a faithful account of Bielsa’s methods, as he sees it, and are likely to be troubling for many fans. Take this killer line. “We thought he would understand after a while that the league is a bit tougher and that you sometimes have to be a little smarter about how to train but he has not changed anything, just driven on almost even harder. He has his philosophy and does not let it go.” That is Jansson’s take on the intensity of the training drills under Bielsa, with the manager’s demands failing to let up, even though United are two-thirds of the way into the season and showing signs of fatigue. It could be used as a stick to beat the Argentine with if Leeds continue to stumble in their bid to secure a top-two finish.