Bielsa vs Guardiola

A team who have had two 4-3 results already in the Premier League, against a team who strolled to a 4-0 win before a defensive collapse in a 5-2 defeat. Both like to aggressively press and control space, and to dominate the ball and attack a team to death.

It has 0-0 written all over it. Either that, or 5-5.

Hopefully the latter, as Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United take on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in what should, fingers crossed, turn out to be a thrilling match that will be tough to predict.

City have the individual quality, and this looks to have told in previous Bielsa vs Guardiola showdowns. The two met three times over the 2011/12 season while Bielsa was manager of Athletic Bilbao.

Guardiola’s Barcelona ended up claiming two victories and a draw. Despite it being Guardiola’s more disappointing final season with Barca, the Catalan side still amassed 91 points in La Liga.

So previous track record looks favourably on Guardiola, but this current Man City side is a far cry from Guardiola’s Barcelona. Their dominance of the Premier League has faded as defensive issues have spiralled out of control and teams have begun to work out ways of defeating them, something excruciatingly demonstrated by Jamie Vardy last weekend.

Also, Bilbao didn’t have the now xG defying Patrick Bamford.

There is certainly a lot about City that Leeds can exploit. It seems incredibly easy to break quickly through their midfield and get in behind their defence. It’s hard to see the Whites not scoring.

But it’s also very hard to see them not concede either as Leeds continue the shift from achieving defensive soundness by basically not giving the opposition the ball, to actually having to defend now against top quality players.

City will have a lot of the ball and their attackers will trouble United, just as Liverpool’s scintillating front three did on the opening day of the season.

Illan Meslier will have to repeat and expand on the heights he reached in Sunday’s Yorkshire derby against Sheffield United.

The result really could be anything from a City thrashing to a City collapse, or maybe a wild end to end draw.

But one thing we can be sure of is a heart warming moment of mutual appreciation (COVID-19 may restrict an actual embrace) between Guardiola and Bielsa.

Guardiola will shower Bielsa with praise and thank him for his ideas and influence. Bielsa will respond in typically modest fashion, and show his appreciation for Guardiola’s own ideas and style.

Bielsa may be humble, but his influence is undeniable. He truly has been a pioneer of attacking and pressing football. That’s not to say he has been the sole visionary for this kind of thing - Arrigo Sacchi was also pioneering against the grain of Italia 90 around the same time Bielsa was in charge at Newell’s Old Boys.

But his influence can be seen very tangibly today with coaches like Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino citing him as a key figure. Jurgen Klopp could probably be added to that list now after his post match interview following his first meeting with Bielsa last month.

Bielsa vs Guardiola on Saturday should bring fascination and excitement. Something for the geeks, and something for the people who just want to see a few goals fly in.

Fireworks and enthralling zero gravity football madness in a weird chamber of controlled entropic chaos seems likely. Of course, there is a horrible nagging thought that maybe Bielsa and Guardiola will just cancel each other out in a boring 0-0 draw.

But given the attacking talents and defensive fragilities we have seen from both sides this season, this seems an unlikely scenario.