BarrileteCosmico wrote:It's one thing to claim that Bielsa has had an impact in Chile's tactics, and that he has had a positive influence on the players he has worked with, but to claim that Chile's current run of good-to-great players is his contribution is an exaggeration. There must be something structural at work to make Chile start producing talents like this, they are traditionally one of the weakest teams in South America: they only have 1 libertadores to their name, they've never won a Copa America, and the last five world cups they played in have been 2010, 1998, 1982, 1974, and 1966 (granted they were banned from 1990 and 94, but this hardly shows consistency). Lately though, they are producing players like Sanchez, Isla, Vidal, Gary Medel, Vargas, etc. Not all are great, but considerably better than they've had in the past.

No question thats true, but the style of play is clearly impacting the type of play that is coming out. Your right though, talent production is different, not Bielsa´s doing of course.

I would say though, as good as this current crop are none are as good as Salas was and Zamerano was no bum either.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Also, for Bielsa lovers, 5 good anecdotes:

http://www.canchallena.com/1434208-las-cinco-mejores-anecdotas-de-bielsa

Love that bit about Argentina and the defense at 3, lol, nice trolling.

Eso no es futbol, eso no es futbol, i can imagine him going bonkers about it.

thanks. got to love Bielsa, need to know moar

Lets not forget that they are very young still.Any one of these Chilean talents could surpass them in the future.

I think Sanchez has the potential to become a top 3 player in the world imo.Barca is just about the right place to hone his skills.

Dont know about that, I love Sanchez but Salas was very special.

Different players none the less.

2006 Guardiola

Does Bielsa normally play tiki taka as well?

I've often said that Bielsa is the closest thing to Pep in football, and I'm not kidding. Check out this cite, Pep could have said the same word for word:

"Conceptualmente, para mí, todos los partidos son iguales: hay que dominar y protagonizar todo lo que se pueda. Cualquier otra cosa no entra dentro de mis concepciones. La única manera que entiendo el fútbol es la de la presión constante, jugar en el campo rival y el dominio de la pelota."

"Conceptually, to me, every game is the same: you have to dominate and be the protagonist all the time you can. Anything else does not fit within my conceptual ideas. The only way I understand football is through constant pressure, playing in the other side of the pitch, and dominion of the ball (possession)."

You can find more quotes here in spanish, I might select a few and make a Bielsa appreciation thread out of it when I find time
http://www.taringa.net/posts/deportes/11453882/Frases_anecdotas-de-Marcelo-Equot_el-locoEquot_-Bielsa.html

Some of his quotes reminds me of Tostao, guess he's a Bielsa fanboy too.

"Lo fundamental es ocupar bien la cancha, tener un conjunto ‘corto’, que tenga a su defensa y su delantera separadas por no más de 25 metros, y que no tengamos gente en la defensa ocupada en la marca de alguien inexistente."

good that he's going to a club where he's actually going to get game time

Forza Rossoneri wrote:good that he's going to a club where he's actually going to get game time

He will be on bench behind Hamsik and Lavezzi most likely, at least, until he works his way into the team.

mr.galliani wrote:

Forza Rossoneri wrote:good that he's going to a club where he's actually going to get game time

He will be on bench behind Hamsik and Lavezzi most likely, at least, until he works his way into the team.

There's always going to be injuries and at least he will probably get priority over Pandev. Importantly, Mazzari rests players in Serie A when he plays CL games, so he will get some time there hopefully.

Lavezzi, Hamsik, Cavani and Vargas..
Napoli are looking more and more threatening everyday..

Bump

So how come this guys is an absolute beast for Chile and every time I watch him at club level he's beyond scrubbing it.

I mean the guy was top scorer in Copa America last year. He's gonna be the top scorer in Copa America this year. Watching him play for Chile he looks like he's even better than Sanchez, scores amazing goals, has all the right attributes for a top striker and yet he's a disappointment everywhere he's been at club level.

Think Atleti should sign him, Simeone is gonna get the best out of him.

He's 31 in 58 for chile . He's going to finish as their 2nd top scorer at least ( Alexis has 34 ) .

Don't call me James wrote:Bump

So how come this guys is an absolute beast for Chile and every time I watch him at club level he's beyond scrubbing it.

I mean the guy was top scorer in Copa America last year. He's gonna be the top scorer in Copa America this year. Watching him play for Chile he looks like he's even better than Sanchez, scores amazing goals, has all the right attributes for a top striker and yet he's a disappointment everywhere he's been at club level.

Think Atleti should sign him, Simeone is gonna get the best out of him.

Everyone looks like a beast for Chile. Sampaoli did wonders with that squad and they have really good chemistry.

Vargas, Medel, Isla, Aranguiz, Valdivia, etc look amazing together but they all have had subpar club careers. Top NT players but a risk to sign.