Morning Leeds-in for 10 October: Forshaw credits Bielsa’s fitness regime as a key part of success

Adam Forshaw has seen a new attitude with the Leeds players now that Marcelo Bielsa has come to Elland Road, and he’s seen a number of differences about how the team plays.

One of the things that Forshaw highlighted was the difference in preseason and in training, with Bielsa being obsessive about the fitness levels of the players. And those fitness levels are having a big difference in the results. Forshaw said:

He had the six weeks in pre-season and the long days were well documented.

We worked our socks off, got our body fat and weight down and there were big changes with a lot of the players.

You can see that it’s working. We’ve scored another late goal and the hard work’s paying off. It’s credit to the manager and his staff. They’ve really made the difference for us.

One of the criticisms of Bielsa’s time at past clubs, like Athletic Bilbao and Marseille, was that the fitness of the players ran out before the season did, causing the teams to slide down the table. It was seen as a risk with the long Championship season for him to replicate it at Leeds, but so far, so good.

Here’s hoping that Leeds can hang on to their fitness levels and add to the squad in January if necessary.

On to the links.

Leeds United Links

Lewie Coyle has made a really good impression at Fleetwood Town. [Yorkshire Evening Post]

England and English Football Links

Tottenham Hotspur defender Danny Rose was held out of England training as a precaution. [Cartilage Free Captain]

Everton’s Marco Silva might be in the market for a new striker in January. [Royal Blue Mersey]

England Women drew 1-1 with Australia. [BBC.com]

World Football Links

Paul Pogba isn’t in the thoughts of Juventus. So that means he’s back in January, right? [Black & White & Read All Over]

A look at the relationship between Inter Milan and players from Argentina. [Serpents of Madonnina]

Suso lead the way as three AC Milan players made the WhoScored.com’s Serie A team of the week. [AC Milan Offside]

Mexico’s Gold Cup schedule was released. [FMF State of Mind]

The Houston Dynamo fell to the Seattle Sounders 4-1 at home. [Dynamo Theory]