Marcelo Bielsa confessed on Wednesday night to spying on every opponent since he took over as head coach of Leeds United last summer.
The Argentine’s revelation on Wednesday came after a club representative was caught by police spying on Derby training last week, as exclusively revealed by Sportsmail.
In an extraordinary press briefing, Bielsa, 63, whose side lead the Championship by four points, delivered a defence of his conduct by arguing that information gleaned from the reconnaissance missions was only a small part of his vast homework for games.
Marcelo Bielsa gave a powerpoint presentation as he tackled the spy storm engulfing Leeds
He explained how Leeds have watched training sessions of every team before facing them
The press conference included a detailed excel document with data on all of Leeds' rivals
‘I’m going to make it easier for the investigation of the League,’ Bielsa said after the EFL had written to Leeds on Tuesday. The FA announced last week that they had launched their own probe.
‘I’m going to give the information it needs and I assume my behaviour is observed from the most extreme position. I can tell you we observed all the rivals we played against and we watched all the training sessions of the opponents before we played against them.’
Derby head coach Frank Lampard reacted indignantly after Bielsa contacted him on the eve of Leeds’ 2-0 win at Elland Road last Friday, saying that the pre-match conduct to send a member of his entourage to watch last Thursday’s training was not a ‘toe over the line, but a hop, skip and jump across it’ when it came to fair play.
However, in providing unprecedented detail about the depth of his preparation on opposition teams, Bielsa attempted to demonstrate to a room of a dozen or so journalists, and the football world at large, the minutiae of his analytical approach to matches.
Bielsa got journalists involved as he showed data from all 51 of Derby's games from last season
The analysis was so detailed on tactics and players, Bielsa went on for over an hour to media
He has sent spies to every opponent’s training ground this season
Bielsa: ‘I observed all rivals we played against. We watched all the training sessions before we played them.’
His staff spend MORE THAN 200 hours analysing every team Leeds play
Bielsa: ‘Of each opponent we watched all the games of 2017-18 — we watched the 51 games of Derby County. The analysis of each game takes four hours of work. Why did we do that? Because we think it is professional behaviour.’
He has files on every aspect of opposing players and teams — right down to the number of minutes they have played in each position
Bielsa: ‘I might not be able to speak English but I can speak about the 24 teams of the Championship. Derby have played 4-3-3 49.9 per cent of the season. We use this to understand the system and why and when they change the system during a game.’
Even Pep Guardiola was impressed — having been handed a Bielsa dossier on Barcelona while he was boss at the nou camp
Bielsa: ‘Guardiola had a look at it and he told me, “You know more about Barcelona than me”.’
Leeds play AT Stoke ON SATURDAY… so he Has watched every game of new manager Nathan Jones’S former club Luton
‘As we’re going to play against Stoke, it’s hard to analyse them with a new head coach. So we analyse the 26 games he played with Luton and the structures he used.’
Flanked by interpreter Salim Lamrani, and with his four full-time analysts on hand at the back of a room in the club’s Thorp Arch training base, Bielsa initially focused on each of Derby’s 51 matches from the 2017-18 season.
He highlighted the extreme lengths his data inputters go to in providing information. In addition to the quartet working for Leeds, others are employed on an ad hoc basis to provide pre-match pictures of every aspect of a team’s play within 90 minutes.
Ahead of Derby’s visit, four analysts from Chile flew in to add to the manpower, analysing this season’s performances.
During a PowerPoint presentation lasting 63 minutes, Bielsa showed how this group behind the scenes contribute to breaking down every aspect of football — from the numerous formations Derby play, the changes they make, why and when they make them and how effective they have been this season.
As well as piling paper dossiers below screens, Bielsa showed video analysis of Leeds' rivals
1. He had spies at every opponent's training ground this season
Bielsa: 'I observed all rivals we played against. We watched all the training sessions before we played them.'
2. His staff spend over 200 hours analysing every team Leeds play against
Bielsa: 'Of each opponent we watched all the games of 2018-19 - we watched the 51 games of Derby County. The analysis of each game takes four hours of work - why did we do that? Because we think it is professional behaviour.'
3. He has files on every aspect of opposing players and teams – right down to the
