TONY Pulis has played down Marcelo Bielsa's level of analysis but feels the way the Leeds United head coach has gone about spying on Championship training grounds this season is “absolutely crazy”.

The Boro boss, speaking ahead of tomorrow’s game with Millwall at the Riverside, was reacting after this week’s development that the Leeds boss has been spending spies to watch the sessions of up-coming opponents.

Bielsa attempted to defend his actions by suggesting it is not illegal and that it is merely part of his wider analysis techniques, which he invited the media to on Wednesday to highlight how thorough the process is.

Pulis said: “Bielsa has done what he has to do as a manager, they have to deal with it. If you bring the authorities into it, it will be interesting to hear what they have to say.

“I have been in the game for a long time and a few years ago you would ring people up about teams, local journalists or people you might know connected with that club, to find out what team they would play if they had injuries.

The Northern Echo:

“There have always been managers, experienced ones, who didn’t have the opportunity to watch games like they do now. Today we have so many games televised, I have two sports analysts and they look at everything and pick everything out of every game and the opposition.

“I had ten years in the Premier League and we had to squeeze every pip, every sinew. Did you actually think I would go into a game not organised, without a plan? It’s ridiculous to think Bielsa would only be the one.

“How could you send a person in a Leeds tracksuit with a wire cutter and binoculars? How do you do that? It’s absolutely crazy. I think he needs to start watching spy movies to see how it has to be done properly! Bielsa has been honest about it.”

Even if Pulis disagrees with the moral aspect of the spying techniques, he does not think it has had a direct effect on the outcomes of matches as Leeds sit top of the Championship.

He said: “This is a major point, when that whistle goes it is the players. They have been very good, the best team in the league, Kemar Roofe has been exceptional, the workrate ethic, they don’t just watch the board and then they decide how the result will go.

“Bielsa might be happier for us to be talking about everything else and not the best team in the league.”