31 May 2021 09:15:47
Takes 6-12 months for any new player to get Bielsa ready (Raphina the only exception I can ever remember) . Our new signings for this season are Rodrigo, Llorente and Koch, the Bielsa versions. Anybody we sign now is for 22/ 23 season or at best second half of 21/ 22 season (like Llorente this year) .
31 May 2021 09:52:42
What about white?
31 May 2021 09:58:29
You’d think this coming season then Rodrigo, Lorente, koch and Raphinia will be firing on all cylinders then . Hopefully we may see the best of Costa and Poveda as well and maybe some of the younger players like Summerville, Geldhart and Dremeh May start to feature.
31 May 2021 10:38:17
It took one pre season for the whole championship squad to be up to speed.
31 May 2021 10:41:31
Matt - Koch came into the starting 11 straight away this season. It is quite possible that Llorente would have done too, had he not come in so late in the window. Rodrigo came on in that first game, and had Bamford not been fit, it is quite possible that he would have started.
In 2018/ 19 Bamford and Baz Douglas both came in late on in the window. Had they had the benefit of a full pre-season with Bielsa they might have come in at the beginning of the season. Baz was playing regularly by the October, so not long into the season, and BamBam would have come into the 11 earlier than he did had he not been injured in an u-23 game.
I would expect that any player coming in early on in this summer window, who has the benefit of a full pre-season under Bielsa, will be considered ready for selection from game one. Whether they actually make the starting 11 for that game will of course depend on how they’ve been performing relative to existing players in their position. I guess if we sign a specialist left back, they would be the most likely to make the cut from the start.
31 May 2021 11:14:09
But all 3 got injured and only played about 15 games all season, arguably due to the strain of meeting Bielsa’s physical demands without sufficient preparation.
31 May 2021 11:55:56
Matt - indeed, all three might have fared better re injuries had they had a full pre-season, giving them longer to build up their capacity to cope with Bielsa’s intense training and matchplay.
31 May 2021 12:20:48
Which brings me back to my point that it is unreasonable to expect most (not all indeed Martyn! ) new players to have full impact in their first season under Bielsa. So rather than getting too excited about new players we should be getting excited about Llorente, Koch and Rodrigo being on full power. Put another way the last 5-10 matches of this season being the starting platform for next.
31 May 2021 15:23:51
Well the last 10 were amazing. I could certainly settle for that next year. I think it was maybe a bit easier against some of the top teams as they had Europe going on as well but we still did an incredible job.
31 May 2021 21:43:00
Martyn is Bielsa standard fit. He can murder meatballs like no-one else. 😆😂.
31 May 2021 22:05:31
The kebab shop I use george you need to murder it before you eat it every time.