'I have Leeds United in my heart' - Marcelo Bielsa coach shuts down Jesse Marsch 'talk' — Leeds Live 16/5/24
Leeds United take on Norwich City in the second-leg of their Championship play-off semi-final at Elland Road tonight and former fitness coach Benoit Delaval will be among those watching on from afar
It's there written in Benoit Delaval's packed schedule. May
16: Leeds United vs Norwich City. Delaval may be working at RC Lens these days,
but this Bielsa disciple has ensured he is 'booked in' to watch the second-leg
of his former side's play-off semi-final tonight.
"I have Leeds in my heart and in my blood," the
club's ex-fitness coach told Leeds Live. "I would like to have them in the
Premier League until the end of my life."
Delaval knows the rather bonkers nature of the play-offs
better than most having experienced it first-hand in 2019. Marcelo Bielsa's
team, like Daniel Farke's current outfit, triumphed in just one of their final
five league games. However, despite their patchy form, Leeds managed to win the
first-leg of their semi-final away at Derby County 1-0.
Leeds looked in command, especially after taking the lead in
the return fixture at Elland Road, but the hosts gave Derby a way back into the
tie right before half-time and fell apart thereafter, losing 4-2 on aggregate.
The only sound you could hear in the tunnel that night was giddy Derby players
and staff ironically singing 'Stop crying Frank Lampard!' in the away dressing
room, but the Whites came back stronger.
"We were not ready to play a game so important like
that," Delaval admitted. "When we won the first-leg, away from home,
the impression was, 'That's over. We are already in the final.' It was not like
that. We were maybe a bit too confident. We were not ready like we were for the
first-leg unconsciously.
"I don't want to say it was great to lose the play-off
semi-final - it's impossible to say that - but the second season was the result
of the first one...the hours and days after the Derby defeat were terrible but,
maybe five weeks later when we came back, we were stronger and more than ready
to get promoted without the play-offs. We didn't want to replay a play-off like
that.
"Everything was clear. We wanted to finish top of the
league. From the start of that next season, we were almost invincible. Everyone
was ready to come up. It was the best moment in my professional life."
Delaval still smiles at the memory of Leeds having 'four or
five parties' during the course of an 'unbelievable' 10 days as various
milestones were ticked off, whether it was securing automatic promotion,
becoming champions or, finally, lifting the trophy in 2020. The only downside
for Delaval was that 'fans were missing', but the squad got to share a moment
outside Elland Road with those supporters who were unable to attend games due
to COVID restrictions. Even Bielsa popped by after long 'pushing everyone to do
their best'.
"Working with him is very exciting because we work a
lot but, on the field, it's something special," Delaval said. "We are
very proactive and dynamic.
"Marcelo has a proper playing style and to enable the
players to play 46 games in the Championship or 38 games in the Premier League
is not easy for the fitness coaches, medical team or performance department,
but it's an exciting challenge. When you do your job to your best and try to
develop and try to get the players to fit into the system, afterwards, you have
unbelievable emotions. These were memories for life."
Delaval, who joined Liam Cooper in collecting the 2019 FIFA
Fair Play award for Leeds, quietly played his part behind the scenes in helping
to make the players Bielsa fit, which is a physical state quite like no other.
However, rather than trying to take any credit whatsoever, it is rather telling
that Delaval instead highlights the 'collective': the medical department
managed by Rob Price; his former colleagues Ruben Crespo and Tom Robinson, who
were the rehabilitation and assistant fitness coaches respectively at the time;
the club's technical staff and analysts; and, finally, the players who bought
into those gruelling sessions.
Murderball is not for everyone, after all. These 11 v 11
drills on a Wednesday were like nothing the squad had ever experienced as they
traded blows for 25 minutes without rest while staff roared at them and threw
the ball back in play whenever it went out. The majority of fouls went
unpunished.
"All the clubs in the world play 11 v 11 at least once
a week, but the special thing was the intensity was very high so for this
reason the term murderball was born," Delaval said. "It's the most
demanding part of the week and this is useful because if you are able to finish
murderball once a week, almost all the games are easier."
Delaval readily admitted that he 'didn't know how this word
came about', from outside the club, but there was a science to murderball. Take
Leeds' first season back in the Premier League. Top-flight games lasted an
average of 96 minutes at the time but the average effective playing time was 54
minutes. The players knew that when they had a murderball session of 25 minutes
of effective time, they had already completed nearly half a game at a
remarkably high intensity.
Leeds' Duracell Bunnies quickly won admirers at the highest
level. There is no love lost between Leeds and Manchester United, of course,
but even former Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer called the Whites the
'fittest team' in the Premier League in 2020.
No one could come close when it came to sprints or
high-intensity running. After seeing Leeds cover a distance of almost 120km in
a 5-0 win against his West Brom side, Sam Allardyce commented: "Leeds
didn't just outplay us - they outran us." A dazed Jonjo Shelvey could not
help but ask Rodrigo to 'stand still for one minute' after the former Leeds
forward 'ran around like a nutcase' in a 4-2 win against Newcastle United.
What, perhaps, was most impressive was how Leeds finished
ninth in their first season back in the Premier League all while sticking to
Bielsa's principles. "We didn't change our way of thinking or
playing," Delaval beamed.
The second season, however, got away from Bielsa as injuries
and defeats piled up and Leeds fell to 16th in the table in February. By the
time Leeds suffered a fifth loss in six games - a 4-0 hammering at the hands of
Spurs in their own backyard - Delaval knew what was coming.
"It was very difficult," the Frenchman said.
"You are at Elland Road. After the game, you know that you are going to be
sacked.
