Former Leeds manager Paul Heckingbottom has praised Marcelo Bielsa for giving the club a much-needed shake-up.

Heckingbottom was sacked by the club in June after just four months in charge and replaced by Bielsa.

2 Heckingbottom was Leeds manager between February and June 2018

The eccentric Argentine has since won his opening two games in emphatic fashion, cruising past Championship favourites Stoke and thrashing highly-fancied Derby.

Heckingbottom, who was the Whites’ eleventh manager in just four years, believes Bielsa is exactly what the turbulent club needs.

He told talkSPORT: “The most important thing is that he has got a way of working and it’s given the whole club a shake-up, which is what it needed.

“He’s the figurehead, he’s the person who is calling all the shots.

“The club needed that, it needed some real direction to it and hopefully he’s providing that now.”

However, Heckingbottom warned that Bielsa’s high-octane, intense brand of football will be difficult to maintain in such a physically demanding league.

He added: “They certainly had a tough pre-season, with three sessions per day. And, at the minute, it’s looking really good.

2 Bielsa’s methods are demanding

“Hopefully that will bear its teeth later on in the season if they can keep that strength because they definitely play with a pace and a power about them.

“The Championship is relentless. It’s a unique league in that sense – 46 games.

“He will have to rein it in now the games have started.

“It’s only two games. After nine games last season, Leeds were top of the league and then fell away massively. One of the problems was fitness levels.

“If he has addressed that in pre-season and there’s a better base-fitness to the players then hopefully that won’t be an issue this season.”