Fashions are fleeting. Marcelo Bielsa, no. The Argentine coach has returned the illusion to Leeds United after being ostracized since 2004, year in which he left the Premier. Thus, Peacocks they are not newly promoted as such. The happy and sometimes crazy football that refers to the nickname of their coach has earned them seven points in the first four days, being the only defeat at the hands of Liverpool and by 4-3, at Anfield; and the draw against City (1-1). Little by little, the defense solidifies And, after seven goals received in the first two games (they won 4-3 in the second at Fulham), they have only seen their goal punctured once in the last two games. Robin Koch (24 years old) is one of the culprits.
The German signed for Leeds this summer, from Freiburg, in exchange for 13 million euros. A whole German international who came to a team last year beat copper in the Championship. How could Bielsa and the organization chart White convince him? The protagonist himself recounts it in an interview for 'Sport1', which the journalist Albert Ortega collects on Twitter:
“They sent me a PowerPoint-like presentation. In it, you could see exactly how Marcelo Bielsa and his team of scouts They analyzed me and how I fit into the Leeds model of the game. For example, at the start of the play by serving the ball. They showed me sequences of the team's game and, next to it, those of my team, Freiburg, during the last season. I had never seen anything like it. I had the feeling that I had never been analyzed in such detail, especially when I was not yet a club player. This fact I was very impressed and was a key factor to make the decision to come to Leeds United in Bielsa“.
Koch has started all four league games and played all 360 minutes, showing that its adaptation has been as fast as, after such an exhaustive preliminary analysis, was expected. Now he is focused on his team, with whom he started last Wednesday against Turkey (3-3). It is not easy to convince an international player with a team like the German, and even less being a recently promoted. But if a project like Bielsa's hides behind the right economic proposal, everything is much simpler. La Roja is the best example of this, with Diego Llorente and Rodrigo, starters against Portugal, having changed LaLiga for Leeds this summer.