London –
Marcelo Bielsa is in the spotlight for announcing the line-up of Leeds United against West Ham United. In the past, Jose Mourinho did it too.
Leeds will host West Ham at Elland Road, Saturday (12/12/2020) at 03.00 WIB. At a press conference last Wednesday (9/12), Bielsa announced who would step down since the kickoff after being questioned by reporters.
The eleven names are Illan Meslier, Stuart Dallas, Luke Ayling, Liam Cooper, Ezgjan Alioski, Kalvin Phillips, Mateusz Klich, Rodrigo, Raphinha, Patrick Bamford, and Jack Harrison.
This is certainly surprising because it is not usual for a manager or coach to announce the composition of his starting eleven. This will make it easier for opponents to read Leeds’ play and could be detrimental to Leeds.
But, on the one hand, many also think that Bielsa’s statement is just a psywar for West Ham. Even The Hammers manager David Moyes doesn’t believe that Bielsa will bring down the players above.
For Moyes, this is just a bluff and he is still waiting for a surprise from Bielsa. Actually what Bielsa is doing is not new, because 15 years ago, Jose Mourinho has done the same thing.
Mourinho at that time handled Chelsea who will meet Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League last 16. At that time, the Blues were again hit by a hurricane of injuries from their core players such as William Gallas, Didier Drogba and Damien Duff.
So, at the press conference session, the media also tried to ask about the conditions of the players. Then, Mourinho also answered like this:
The composition of the Barcelona vs Chelsea team Photo: Getty Images / Ben Radford |
“You really want to know the composition of my team? OK then, Cech, Paulo, Ricardo, Terry, Gallas at left-back, Tiago, Makelele, Lampard, Cole, Drogba, and Gudjohnsen,” said Mourinho, who previously also explained the line-up of players. Barcelona.
How about the match result? Chelsea lost 1-2 which was marked by Didier Drogba’s red card and the composition of his team was the same as what was announced in the press conference session.
(mrp/nds)
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