MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Leeds United news here, transfer rumours, club affairs, players, fans, etc.
Specific match discussions should go in the category below.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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What are your options at the back?

Phillips can play as a centre-back or Aapo Halme is another possibility. He’s ready.

It will also be difficult for him Peacock-Farrell to play because yesterday at the end of the training session he had a problem with his knee and probably won’t be able to play.

Probably Kamil [Miazek] will play. I can’t tell you about the possibility of bringing someone in.

To complete an answer from earlier, I don’t have any news about the possibility to bring someone in general.

You are stretched. What sort of game are you expecting from Bristol City? Will they frustrate you.

In the Championship it’s hard to imagine you will have any easy game.

Because the teams at the top of the table don’t have the same sort of performance. The teams in the middle are getting close to the top or the bottom. And the teams at the bottom always make surprising results.

So you can’t imagine you will have any easy games.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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On Bristol City

In the Championship it is very hard to imagine you are going to have an easy game because the teams at the top of the table don't have the same performance. The teams in the middle of the table are getting closer to the top of the table and the teams at the bottom make always surprising results so you can't imagine that you will have an easy game.

Does the fact you were going to play Blackman mean you have lost confidence in BPF?

I thought a lot about it.

I could have avoided telling you that I took the decision to play Blackman.

But I wanted to tell you to make it public for two reasons.

Because even if it doesn’t have any value it’s good that people know Jamal Blackman reached the goal he had when he came to Leeds.

And regarding the impact of this information on Farrell’s mind I also could have avoided telling Bailey that he lost his position as a starter. But when you leave a position that you have. When you go from a starting position to a substitute one it can have a positive aspect.

And I didn’t want that Bailey doesn’t find out that he has lost his position. It’s not very serious when you lose your position as a starter because it’s football. You have good moments and bad moments and it’s the same for every one of us but it’s important that when someone loses a right, that he finds out why this happens and makes the correction he needs to make.

If I had hidden the situation I wouldn’t have given to Farrell the opportunity to find out the consequences of his performance.

What is the risk that I took into account to express the fact that Blackman deserved and won his position as a starter?

I think it was very important for Farrell to find out he had lost his position because if you are not aware of your performance you cannot make any corrections.

First I wanted to underline the fact Jamal Blackman had won his position as a starter and that he won his position as a starter but unfortunately could not play for the reason we all know.

And then I wanted clearly Farrell to know what were my conclusions.

Destiny allowed Farrell to gain back his position immediately, but it’s another subject.

When I tell the whole truth about a subject, many times I don’t tell the whole truth. I try not to lie. When I said the whole truth it’s because I think it will have a positive effect.

And in this case I analysed the impact of telling the whole truth and not telling the whole truth.

For him and his future it’s important for him to know he had lost his postition as a starter.

As you know he played 17 games as a starter and he’s going to play again. This shows the trust I had on Farrell who is only 21 years old and during 17 games he had to undergo through the competition with the best young English goalkeeper.

I say that Blackman is the best English young goalkeeper, not because I made this conclusion myself, I’m just repeating the opinion of specialists on the subject. The fact that Farrell was a starter during 17 games having Blackman as a second goalkeeper shows I trust him, and the opponents I gave to him. You can’t become a great goalkeeper if you don’t lose your position as a starter and win it back.

In this case he got it back without doign anything to get it back, desinty game it back to him but I wanted him to know the level of his peformance. Thanks to that he will become a better goalkeeper, if he feels the answers we all expect.

Was the decision purely on the West Brom game or over a few weeks?

You never change a goalkeeper just because of one game.

Are you worried your defensive injuries are going to have a negative effect on the team?

I never think that we can’t win the next games. But I can’t say either it’s the same thing if we don’t have Berardi, Jansson, Ayling, Blackman and Farrell.

Because if I say that you’ll say it doesn’t make sense.

But I don’t think that because I lost five players we don’t have the duty to win the next game. I think the opposite.

I think that the bigger the adversity, the stronger you have to be.

Do you need to sign defenders in January?

No. We will have Jansson, Berardi and Ayling back and that will be enough.

When you’re affected by a situation I always have a look at the responsibility I have in it.

Because everyone gives his point of view. I listen to everyone’s point of view but it’s one thing to tell what you think and another is to take a decision. My role is to take decisions.

People around the team give their opinion with the best intentions.

It’s a different thing to take a thing with intentions than to make a decision.

The one taking the decision gathers more opinions than the one not making the decision.

In one specific moment of the season, in one part of the team, it’s not common to have these five players missing.

These are injuries based on kicks they received, not on muscular one. Cause by traumatic situations, not muscles so it’s not based on what you are doing in training, just a lack of luck.

We will be working with many youngsters and for me adversity is never an excuse.

That’s why, I’m telling you frankly, we have no reason not to win every game.

What are you goals for the season and will you reach them?

I think I will reach them because I am optimistic. And you have to be optimistic if you are in professional sport. And because I make plans and I work hard.

That’s why if I don’t reach the goals I have no excuse for that.

I never tell what I hope to happen when we are at that stage of the competition.

Our goals are marked by what we do every game.

How close between Miazek and Huffer in goal?

I haven’t taken any decisions yet.

What have you made of Aapo Halme? Is he ready for Championship football?

He’s a possibility.

He is now well and he has played and I see him with a good level but you draw conclusions only on the games.

That all from MB.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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Lee Johnson said you were lucky - did you feel lucky tonight?

What did he mean by lucky? Was he mentioning any aspect of the game?
He felt like his side were most likely to win the game until the sending off, which he feels a bit aggrieved by.

It’s a point of view that we have to respect. We should analyse the argument that he used to reach this conclusion.

I could say that we virtually didn’t conceded any chances to the opponent. As far as I know I don’t remember any situation of danger that we suffered.

That’s why for me it’s difficult to think that we deserved to lose the game. But I always take into account the other points of view.

That’s why when I see the game again I will take into account this point of view.

The point of view saying that we didn’t deserve to win the game.

We divide the game into parts. The beginning of the second half and the segment from minute 25 to minute 35, in these two segments we didn’t dominate the game. For the rest of the time we dominated the game. The fact that we played with one player more made it easy for us but I don't think it was the only arguement.

Considering the fact that Bristol City had so few chances to score, how pleased were you with Aapo Halme and Will Huffer on their debuts?

Inside of a defensive structure that prevented any danger, Aapo Halme did a good performance.

For Will it’s different because he didn’t have to go through a challenge. The main difficulty for him was to assimilate the pressure as it was his first game.
Are you expecting to use them on Tuesday night or will you have other players available?

I couldn’t tell, but I’m not sure that Farrell and Jansson will be available for this coming.
Did you give serious consideration to signing a new goalkeeper before Saturday or was Will Huffer always going to play?

I knew that Will Huffer would play.

You must have been pleased with the performance of Pablo Hernandez?

Pablo is always a player with a lot of influence.

He always improves the style of our team and when he scores goals he is even more important.
Could we see Samu Saiz start on Tuesday?

I haven’t through about the starting XI for this coming Tuesday

We saw the video of Patrick Bamford scoring and Marcelo hugging him - is that reflective of how he is with the players?

It was a spontaneous reaction when I saw the beautiful goal from a player that is not playing now. That's why I allowed myself to make this excess.

How close is Bamford to being available?

How close is Izzy Brown?

He still needs more time.

He is well now but he has not played in the last year. To be fit is an important condition, but it's not the only one to be able to play a high-competition game. I think he will need several games to reach his football level again.

He still needs more time.
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Team news - any improvement on Pontus of BPF?

Jansson won’t be available and Bailey can be a starter tomorrow.

More on Pontus - serious or available at the weekend?

At the beginning he was supposed to be available last Saturday and then tomorrow but it was not the case and that’s why I would likely to be cautious before telling you about playing on Saturday.

Have you reviewed Saturday's game following Johnson's 'lucky' comments?

Regarding the opinions that don’t come from my analysis I prefer to be cautious before evaluating them or making any comment on them.

Because maybe the person making this opinion has an argument that I don’t have. I’m aware of the importance of playing with 11 men vs 10 for half an hour. I don’t think this is linked to any luck. What I can tell is the opponent didn’t have any chances to score and we had in our case six to seven chances to score and we scored two goals.

We dominated the game apart from three precise moments. Maybe the player was sent off during one of the three moments where the team played better at the beginning of the second half. And the during minute 25 to 35 we had a dam and also the moment when Liam Cooper was out of the team, we lacked stability. But all these things, the only results of these moments when the opponent playing better, they only got throw-ins to the box and corner.

Even if we were not excellent in these moments we defended the set pieces well.

Where do you want to see Leeds improve tomorrow night?

To attack we need a lot of dynamism. To attack we need to make the opponent make mistakes. When we attack well we defend well.

It’s not very frequent that we attack well and then defend bad. So I couldn’t say it’s a sector of the field or a moment during the game.

But it’s more about the play, broadly speaking. The idea is to defend well, attack better and then to attack well and defend away from our box.

SO the secret in this is how we lose the ball. When we lose the ball in a well-intentioned process, usually the game is variable to us. BUt when we lose the ball because of lack of ideas we don’t play well.

Are you ahead of where you thought you'd be at this point in the season?

I’ve been asked this question many times, during different moments of the season.

I’m never sure that the good moments will last and I’m not sure that we won’t be able to overcome our difficult moments. What we can’t manage are the opportunities.

So how many times are we going to play well and when we have our downs and if we think that we will always play well we are ignoring the reality that all the teams go through. Until today all the leading teams have had ups and downs.

The most important thing is how we arrive at the crucial moment, in which condition we are in the crucial moments which will decide the competitions.

When you play the last games of the Championship. When you play the last 15% of the games. When the position that you have in the table before the last 15% of the games allows you to make the definite calls.

Is the division starting to take shape in terms of who will be there at the end?

I don’t think so.

Has it surprised you how close it is?

I already knew that it was going to be a difficult competition but I was not expecting that many teams would be able to fight for the first ranking.

And I also thought it would be easier for some teams to show they had a good level.

Is Cooper's knee injury ok?

He’s fine.
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What level is Samu Saiz at currently?

I think Saiz is the most skilled player in our team and he has skills that few players have. I’m not talking about only our team but I’m talking about football in general. And then you have a trend that is linked to the performance and it’s also linked to the performance of the team-mates. I think he’s a player that we need but we are not used to think about the teams, taking into account 18 starters and not just 11. We only think about 11 players. We always think that being a substitute is not a good thing for the players. It’s a mistake to think like that. Not because I’m telling you this, because what reality tells us and Samu is very useful to our team. Either he plays 20 minutes half an hour or the whole game. I have the obligation to take into account the whole team.

And of course it’s hard for each player not to think about his own interests, so you have to find the right balance and draw the right conclusions.

Has his attitude been good when he's been out of the starting line-up?

Yes.

I’m going to answer to you in two ways. It’s a yes and I’m honest.

But if it’s not the case I wouldn’t say it publically. But in this case he had a very positive behaviour.

What are you expecting from Reading tomorrow night?

If you have a look at the results after every game it’s very hard to say who’s at the top of the table and who’s at the bottom of the table because you would tell that the best are at the top and the worst at the bottom. But when a team at the top plays a team at the bottom there is not much difference.

It means that the teams at the bottom are not very far from the top. The leading teams are not that superior to the teams at the bottom.

When I analyse Reading, they are not a weak team. They have strong players and when I look at the performance it’s not a fragile team.

On Blackman's tribute with the players holding his shirt

Immediately I saw the human quality of this group, I can't draw any conclusion to any media. I can't talk about English football in general, I can talk about what happens here in Leeds. I can say that not only is Blackman a great professional but also a great person and it's not frequent that the groups underline the quality of someone and the player. Usually you get the reward when the human aspect is important in a group so Jamal Blackman is a great person and Leeds United is a team where the human quality of the team is importance. I am just finding out the players showed Blackman the shirt. I just saw the green shirt. Let me tell me what I thought at the moment, at the beginning I thought it was a way linked to the ground staff of the stadium because they always were green, I didn't know it was Blackman's shirt but I am pleased they did this.

That's a wrap from Marcelo

Praise also for Kemar Roofe - "where would be without him and his goals" was the line when asked about how pleased he has been with his contribution.

That is all from MB today
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How crucial were the substitutions at half-time for that victory?

We had more offensive fluidity, especially at the beginning of the second half. That's why their contribution was important.
Overall were you pleased with the display over the full 90 minutes?

Our behaviour had ups and downs, We were not that regular.

We would have like to have finished the game in better conditions. We did the three substitutions and the opponent dared to play more at the end, and they did not take the positional precautions that they took before. One of the two centre-backs became a number nine. And we were built to attack. We had inside the pitch many offensive players and these offensive players had to recover the ball and it’s not a role that they are used to doing.

The opponent put many offensive players in the game and so did we.

So it was hard for us to find a good balance, but we are just talking for a very short period of the game.

And it happened during the moment where they missed the penalty so this has an influence in the balance of the team.

On the subject of Bailey Peacock-Farrell and what you told us about him losing his place in the team, how pleased are you for him with his performance personally?

I’m very happy for him and I’m very happy for the team. You have intervention that resolves games and he has a very big influence in the fact that we didn’t lose two points today.

What were Alioski and Baker failing to give you in the first half? What did you want from them?

On the right, the offensive play was good and on the left side we couldn't play as deep as we did on the right side.

On the right side we defended better and it was not the case on the left side. That’s why I thought I had to make some modifications on this sector of the pitch.

And these two players I took out of the game were playing on the left side.

Baker started very well in the game. The sector in where he was playing there was a lot of density.

And Douglas didn’t play as offensive with Alioski as he's used to doing.

Alioski is a player that’s offensive, thanks to the association, the combination with other players, that’s why I thought of putting Adam [Forshaw] on the right side, Klich on the left side and Saiz in front of them.

And also Pablo, he’s a winger with different features and my intention was to find the right balance on both sides, but I don’t think that Alioski or Baker’s performances were bad.

I just wanted to put players with different features to see if we could play as deep on the left as on the right.

You said that the reason you told us that you were planning to drop Bailey Peacock-Farrell was that you wanted him to know that to help him improve as a player. Do you think this tonight will go some way to doing that?

The crucial intervention he had tonight improves the self-esteem of a goalkeeper. And it's legitimate that it's like that.

Because he allowed us to win the game.
You must be pleased that after losing to West Brom and having injured defenders, you've kept two clean sheets?

As a team we defend altogether. We start recovering the ball with our three offensive players and we are a very offensive team, we play a lot in the opponents half and it’s not easy for us to defend respecting being faithful for this style.

In these last two games we recovered the right defensive balance.

Alioski got booked for diving, what are your thoughts on that?

I haven’t seen the actions yet so I can’t say if he dived or he rightly fell.

A word on Stuart Dallas - he's had to get used to a different role at right-back and he scored his first goal in 14 months?

He’s a multi-talented player, can play in many positions.

He attacks with a lot of surprise and he’s strong to defend.

And he’s playing as a full-back and has started at a good level.
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Jansson

We think he will be available.

Ready to play

We think he will be available and ready to play. I take precautions, but we think he will be available. I always take precautions with players who haven’t played in 20 days.

Why is he so consistent under Bielsa?

I saw all the games he played last year, but I don’t see the difference you are talking about. Anyway, I didn’t do anything special. If I said the contrary I would be lying.

Surprised - he does seem calmer

I can talk about his skills. I have seen very few players with this consistency with his weight and height.

I haven’t seen many players that tall and heavy who can have the same response as a full-back. If you are interested in checking what I am saying, in the game against West Bromwich there is a dual with the number 15, he challenges him, it’s where he got injured, that shows what I am talking about.

Ability to play at top level?

The only thing which makes me doubt my conclusions is the fact he isn’t playing at the top level. That makes me think maybe my conclusions about him are wrong. When we talk about the highest level we could say Leeds is also a team at the highest level. It’s always convenient to take care of these small details.

Weekend - closest, fierce derby - can you compare them to Rosario v Newell's?

I haven’t experienced a game against Sheffield United so I could not make any comparison. I can say the derby in Rosario is something very special and you can’t compare it to anything.

Alioski dive - how do you stop diving?

You have questions that include the answer. I never accept cheating. Sometimes people think cheating is a smart thing to do. Even if I don’t condemn it, from a personal point of view, I wouldn’t want someone cheating. There is a difference between not rewarding and not condemning. The role of the referee is very difficult. It’s indispensable and very difficult. It’s convenient to help him. Trying to cheat is not helping the referee. We have to be comprehensive to understand him when he makes mistakes and we don’t have to provoke him and lead him to mistakes.

I don’t like to criticise the footballers who cheat because in the formation process there is no personal and intimate sanction of the cheating. I don’t imagine myself at 12 challenging a team-mate because he got a penalty by cheating. When you cheat during a football game you can’t compare it with the morality in the life of human beings and, usually, that’s what we do. I talk too much.

My conclusion: I don’t want to criticise Alioski because I like him a lot.

Phillips - how difficult for him in defence?

Usually the defensive midfielder is the third centre-back in the team. When a defensive midfielder plays as a centre-back he does actions he is used to.

One thing is to take a decision when you know you have three team-mates behind you and another thing to take a decision knowing you only have one player behind you.

You see sometimes the defensive midfielders recover the ball without being sure they can do so. The centre-back doesn’t take these risks.

Phillips most improved under Bielsa?

I’m too much in love with my players so that’s why my opinion is not objective. Before sleeping, when I imagine us playing against Liverpool I always imagine us beating Liverpool.

That’s why the opinion I have of the players is subjective.

Phillips influence on everything?

He is a very settled player and that’s important in modern football. If you look at his game last year he played as an offensive midfielder and then as an eight, then as a four, and now he plays as a centre-back. If I had to do the same process, but backwards, to go from defence to attack, he could play in these different positions with good results.

This tells a lot about him because players usually lose their versatility when they go back. Dallas looks more like a full-back than a winger now, just to give an example.

Clarke ready to start?

You evaluate the players according to the number of obstacles they overcome. If you look at the first part of the second half, Clarke did not have the same level in the second part of the second half. You always ask questions about him. What we can say is he is not impressed by high competition. He has many things to learn yet and he has to look at Hernandez as an example. Hernandez has many details Clarke can learn only by looking at him. What Pablo does, you can’t teach in the game.

Sometimes Pablo goes to a zone on the pitch and because he goes to that zone, he receives the ball and he puts the ball in another zone where the defensive density is lower. Who will remember this action? The fans remember the important things, not those that lead to make important things.

Expect Blades to be more open and attacking than others?

As I’m not very familiar with English football I take many precautions before making an opinion. If I was in a bar having a coffee with friends I would say Sheffield United’s head coach is someone with new ideas and I have seen very few people with these ideas.

Head coaches, we normally look at colleagues to learn from them. and we want to learn new things others aren’t doing because usually when you observe someone, you observe the new things.

The ideas of our next opponent deserve to be studied. I don’t know the history of Sheffield United’s head coach, but what I’m saying can be right.

What are those new ideas?

Draw your own conclusions or ask me the same question after the game.

Bielsa continued on new styles

What I try to do is make the public learn about the new styles of football. When I talk about Pablo my goal is to make the fans value these aspects we usually don’t value. When I’m talking about these features of the opponent I have the same goal.

I saw things in the next opponent I wanted to raise for the fans.

Latest on the goalkeeping situation - any plans to replace Blackman before January?

I can’t answer to this question today because I haven’t thought about it yet.

We still have a month of competition to play. And usually we think about this kind of thing when we get close to the date.

Peacock-Farrell reaction

I wouldn’t think my comments on him, about his level. Usually, as a head coach, we are more responsible when the players have a negative cycle than when they have a positive one.

Usually, the positive cycles are more linked to what the player does. This link with the ups and downs, it has to do with leadership. You see, in the theme parks, these rides which go up and down, you have images that represent very well the feeling of going down. In these games, when you are going down you are catching speed to go up again. This reflects what I think about ups and downs.

There is no vital reality without ups and downs. When you are down you have people who can’t go up and you also have other people who like these games in the attraction parks. When you go down it helps you to go up.

That its.
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Congratulations, three wins on the bounce. Firstly, they posed you some problems, did Sheffield United, what did you do to turn the game your way?

There was a moment, very important, for me. My colleague, Pablo Quiroga, told me to switch the position between Kemar Roofe and Pablo Hernandez and from that moment on the play of the team improved.

If the final result had been a draw, we couldn’t say it had been an unfair result.

How pleased were you with your side out of possession, defensively?

We had to defend a lot today. When we start to play out we just played long balls from the goalkeeper and it’s not a good thing to evaluate our style because we played long balls we shared the possession with the opponent and we had to defend.

We had more chances to score than the opponent. If we compare the moments of domination, of both teams, maybe we have a little advantage.

The opponent dominated the beginning of the game and at the end of the game, but between these two moments, without being excellent, we did an interesting performance.

Can you tell us about Liam Cooper? That looked quite a nasty injury. Can you tell us anything at this stage?

Yes, it’s an important injury.

Do we have any details at this stage?

I’d prefer the medical staff to tell you. It’s not a ligament injury, but a menisc (sic) one, so it is the least serious injury among these two, but it’s a serious one.
How big a loss would Liam be because he’s your captain, he’s been in very good form recently?

I agree it would be an important loss for the team, but at the same time, other defenders were important too: Bill [Luke] Ayling, Gaetano Berardi, Pontus Jansson also and we could compensate it.

How impressed were you with the way [Aapo] Halme stepped in today when Liam was replaced?

He had a balanced game. He was not impressed by the importance of the game. He played at a good level when he had to play aerial balls and recover the ball.

Regarding the use of the ball, he had the same inconvenience as the other players of the line of three. We took this game as a possibility to compare it with the game against West Bromwich [Albion] and we had special interest in not making a mistake.

How big does that win feel today given it’s against another side who are in the top-six and competing for promotion?

It’s not convenient to make any comparisons with the other teams at this moment of the season because we are not sure at all about the fact the top-six today will be the top-six at the end of the season.

What I can say is we played against a serious opponent. It was hard for us to find a solution to the project of play of Sheffield United. The play now through the number 16 (Ollie Norwood), the movement, dropping back of number 17 (David McGoldrick) and the contribution in offensive play of number six (Chris Basham) were problems that took us time to solve, not because we didn’t know these kind of features of the team, but because our plans did not work regarding these three players.

Having said that, I still think we had possession a little bit higher than the opponent and we had more chances to score than the opponent, but there are two actions in the game, the one before our goal and when the opponent shot at the post (bar).

If the opponent didn’t make a mistake on the goal and if they scored a goal, these both things have had a big influence on the game.

Chris Wilder said he was disappointed with the referee today. What did you think of him?

I never give an opinion regarding referees. I don’t like to make an opinion about people expressing a point of view regarding the referees.

The best person to talk about the performance of the referee regarding the final result is the head coach of Sheffield United. Regarding our own interest, I never make a link between our interest and the referee.

The referee’s a very important tool to make football attractive and it’s very hard to be a referee. Taking into account these two facts I try not to do anything that will hurt the referee.

Marcelo, what did you make of Jack Clarke today? Made a big impression and created a goal.

Every time he plays he adapts better to the level of demands of the team of Leeds. He doesn’t look like a young player and every time he plays he has the capacity to create a difference with the opponent.

The action of goal is not linked to his best virtues, his best skills, apart from the fact it was an important point during the game. Every time he plays he makes the difference.

Are you still happy with what [Ezgjan] Alioski’s providing? He was removed again at half-time today.

It would be difficult to defend a position where you switch a player after 45 minutes and say he played very well. It was not a tactical substitution, it was not a substitution because he got injured.

The value I give to Alioski is important, it’s still the same. My opinion regarding him is still the same. He will always have influence in the team.

So far Alioski played 30 games, taking into account all the Championship games and international games and it’s hard to think you can play 30 games without having ups and downs. It’s hard.

He’s an important player of the team.

How pleased are you the victory sends you to the top of the table?

It’s always beautiful to win, I’m always happy when I win and if the result of this win is to be top of the table, even better.

You are almost halfway through the season and Leeds are top of the table. Does that show Leeds maybe can stay the distance?

You can’t take the risk of drawing conclusions when you have so many games to play and we never win easily any game.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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Most pleasing aspect?

The first part of both halves were very good. In the second part of the first half we suffered the effect of conceding a goal. The end of the game we didn’t have any option than to adapt to the game the opponent proposed.

We had too many tall players in front of our box. We had to solve this problem and as we were only winning by one goal the result was at stake. In the moment where playing was building the game was the goal, the axis of the challenge, we played well.

These two segments I mentioned were different after the opponent scored it was difficult for us to be in the game. When the opponent scored they increased their level of play, but they couldn’t create any chances to score. At the end of the game, QPR dominated the game, but through different paths.

The end of the first half we should have dominated and at the end of the second half we only had the option to adapt to their play.

Shackleton influence

When we dominated the game he was influential. He had no problems in defence, he is a player with personality. He is not impressed by the importance of being in the first team.

Four wins in a row since West Brom - how impressed?

It’s very difficult in this Championship to win four games in a row. It’s also difficult to deserve to win the games too. These 12 points come after an important loss. This allows us to forget this feeling of having lost by such a difference.

Five-point gap to Derby - significance?

This depends on the capacity we show to keep this difference. If we show we are able to keep this difference it would be a big difference. If you lose the capacity to play the same level, the difference won’t matter.

Jansson and Phillips

I don’t think we suffered many dangerous actions. We didn’t concede many dangerous situations to the opponent and the two or three options we conceded were linked to superiority they had on the physical size of their players.

Both Jansson and Phillips are very important in the defensive sector.

How does he rate season so far

I never imagined what would happen. We take game by game and each game we do all we can to take what we can from each match. Sometimes we get more than we deserve and sometimes less than we deserve.

This is a feature of football and why it’s so entertaining.

Championship is mad - does he agree?

You are absolutely right. Sometimes it’s linked to the fact you have no big team dominating others and sometimes linked to the fact many teams have the same level.

In this case, this year, you don’t have any team that can show it can dominate the opponent with continuity because you have no team that can dominate the others in the lasting periods. They have a similar level.

That’s why it’s important when you have a positive cycle of wins. When you accumulate wins it’s very important. We won the last four games, but many things that didn’t happen could have happened and we would be in a different situation.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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Intense period - rotation?

We have to see how the players assimilate the load of the different games in this short time (Bamford and Brown). Process coming back can’t be the same for both because they were out for far different time periods.

Pulis told me December was crucial in the Championship. We are trying to find good solutions for this period.

Changes for Bolton?

I haven’t decided the starting XI yet.

Goalkeepers

No news about it. The information I could give you regarding transfers is I see the importance the media give to this subject and if I had any news I would tell you about it.

Preferred goalkeeper choice?

It’s not a task I realise because I’m not a specialist. I usually don’t rely on hypothesis. Until now I have no news on the possibility of a goalkeeper. Of course, if I had any news on that I would comment immediately.

Key phase in the season now?

We have the same problems as every other team. Usually you don’t play every three days in a period of two-and-a-half weeks, but we adapt to what happens and take one game after the other. It’s not convenient to draw any conclusions beforehand. Actually, it’s about the same. The fatigue is to see if it generates any injuries. We also have to see if the succession of games affects the performance of the players. We have to link these parameters with the results we get. Then we will take decisions.

Winter break in Europe - unusual for you here?

It’s something new for me because it’s the first time I’ve worked in England and as you say the other leagues don’t actually have a break. My only goal is to adapt to the situation. I don’t have any opinion on it because that’s not my job. I can’t make any comment on it because I have no experience of games on Boxing Day while others do.

Aware of Christmas football tradition before arriving?

Yes, of course. Everyone knows about this tradition. Others see it as a favour because they can still watch football over Christmas. On traditions: you need to know about history and have experience. I talk about history and I don’t have the experience of it.

How good is the current run?

The only thing I can do is be happy about it. If you take the teams and see how you link the different results you’ll see you’ll have ups and downs for each team. When you win the previous game you take the next game in better conditions, but you don’t have any guarantee. Sometimes, when you have a positive cycle, your self esteem is strong and sometimes you become more relaxed. When you are mroe relaxed you are weaker. In football, for any situation, you have one rule and the opposite rule. An answer for everything. In football you can have an answer for every point of view.

Norwich - opinion

When we won versus Norwich they had more chances to score than us and we won that game. The only difference is we scored goals when we had chances and they didn’t finish their chances. When you see the result you see a huge difference, but when you take a look at both performances you see there is not much difference because when you miss a goal it means you are not efficient, it doesn’t mean you are bad. When you score and the goal is not because you deserved it. Neither thing lasts forever. Norwich has a creative profile. They won two games in the last minutes. You can evaluate this as saying it’s a positive thing. We could say the same thing about us because Bailey stopped a penalty that gave us two points. We could say the same we were lucky because Sheffield United made a mistake with Hernandez and Clarke combining. Just these two games we have four points more, but we deserve these points because of the way we played. You have two positions, we could say we deserved to win these games because we played well and others where we didn’t.

Bamford analysis after hat-trick

He scored three goals. For a number nine it’s a very important thing. He is well and he is available for the team. Of course, to reach his previous level he needs more activity and more games, but he’s available to start or play as a substitute.

Brown ready?

I don’t think he’s ready for the bench. Every time he plays he makes positive steps to being inside the group. He has a great weight, he is well, he is fit. He absorbs the volume of a game without any problems. He needs to work on his intensity and strength, but that’s normal because of how little he’s played.

The sudden movements he can make, when he sprints, when he stops, the switch of direction, the short sprints, these are the elements that are needed for a player with a technique like Izzy Brown. You need to have a certain level of performance to impose your technical skills. He’s working on these small details.

And that its from MB today.
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