Before criticizing Bielsa, we must understand that Bielsa is not your typical coach , not in terms of how much he's achieved, his tactics, his goals..etc.
To most coaches, winning is what matters the most. To Bielsa, how you win surpasses whether or not you win (which makes how succesful he's been even more amazing, see his feats below, in bold) Here's a video of Bielsa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HreTYI2sQgc criticizing the a defensive Italy U-23 coach, (brief translation- "parking the bus and playing long balls to your #9...that's not football") Also, you speak of "if you win a lot, then better teams will hire you"...as if Bielsa doesn't already win a lot and doesn't already get a shitload of offers, from so called big clubs...Here's a link of a high executive** admitting Bielsa rejected an offer from Inter: inter-milan-confirm-bielsa-rejection-1703131 Why would any coach reject an offer from Inter? **Bielsa's fucking weird... his nickname is "El Loco" in South America. You've gotta be crazy to be so into a game that you sit on a hot cup of coffee..(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bQqgFJVSa8) He's seasoned, to him the prestige of the club he coaches or how much money he makes is not as valuable as what impact he can make to that team or how much happiness he can get out of it. A guy who doesn't prioritize wealth is able to enjoy things like this, having the opportunity to coach professionals with little kids helping him out, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjzResfJzmg He came from an extremely wealthy family and has made millions of dollars as a coach, therefore more money to him doesn't equate more happiness or time, which he clearly values: Here's a video of him explaining the conflict between a lot of money and little time to a young footballer whom he believes can be a star (he probably gave a similar speech to Sanchez): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQOnMxwWZsc Translation: "You (player) have a very big problem, very, very big. You have money but do not have any time to enjoy that money" "Being the best takes happiness out of you: hours with your wife, with your friends, you miss parties, fun. Success diminishes your ability to be happy."
Third, it's not safe to assume Guardiola wouldn't have won with Bilbao, but it is safe to assume that Guardiola has personally labeled Bielsa as the best coach in the planet. And that Zidane personally reached out to Bielsa to learn from his methods and launch his coaching career https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiE52TbHBYQ
A summary of Bielsa's "few achievements"...
-(1990) Newell's Old Boys
Won their 3rd ever national title in the club's history, founded in 1903.
(1992-1994) Mexico
Held a massive try out of youngsters in Mexico (over 11,000)...out of that group came out Rafa Márquez, Juan Pablo Rodríguez, Jared Borgetti and Pável Pardo so many good players that in the mid 90's when Mexico started to triumph, over half the Mexican team had been developed by Bielsa. Was offered a job with Mexico but declined due to psychological fatigue.
-(1997)- Velez
After some gap years, coached again in his native Argentina, with a completely different team (Velez Sarsfield), and won the national league AGAIN.
-(1998-2002)- Argentina
Led the most successful qualifying campaign in all of Argentina's history, scoring the most goals, conceding the least goals, getting the most points achieved in any South American qualifying campaign.
-(2001)
Was chosen as the best national team coach in the world.
-(2002) Argentina
Failed in the 2002 World Cup (lost in group stage), later causing a sabatical.
-(2004) Led Argentina to a 2nd place Copa America finish.
-(2004) He led Argentina to become the first Latin American nation since 1928 to win the Olympics (the only major title Brazil hasn't won). He broke records,** won the Olympics winning every single game without ever conceding a goal** (Without a Messi)
-(2007-2011) Chile: --Qualified Chile to the WC, 2nd/10th in South America, over his native Argentina and only beaten by Brazil, achieving Chile's best ever qualifiers in the nation's history. -Also achieved: -Chile's first ever win over Argentina in a qualifier. -first win in Peru since 1985 -first win in Paraguay in over 30 years -first ever away win against Colombia -first ever World Cup win in almost 50 years
(2011-2013) Athletic Bilbao -Got Bilbao's first EVER Spanish final. -Also led the team to** it's first European final since 1977.**
(2014) Olympique Marseille Look at how he fucking trains his team...he's literally crazy. -Currently second in the league, way ahead of PSG. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLA7qPPgGso