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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SCOTTISH LEEDS
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by SCOTTISH LEEDS »

First question on how emphatic the win was

We needed the individual performance of Alioski, Phillips and Douglas. The performance of Jansson was very positive. We should be satisfied about how we dominated the game.

We suffered a little bit on the set-pieces against us. We could have conceded a goal that would have complicated the game, but generally speaking the development of the game was a satisfaction. Our team played always with the same style. We never conceded moments to the opponent. What the opponent got was not because we made concessions.

Impressed with late desire to keep a clean sheet?

To extend the way you play during the longest time possible is the goal of any team, is a goal for any team.

How will he manage expectations?

We’ll manage the expectations in the same way we did before. We only played 10 per cent of the Championship and it is not convenient to draw any conclusion.

Response of Kalvin Phillips after early change on Tuesday

It’s the first thing I said. The performances of Phillips and Alioski were among the best ones. Douglas is a necessary help for us. The performance of Jansson was good too. The other players could keep the level they already had.

Could he enjoy the quality of the goals?

Of course I’m happy about the results, but usually I don’t celebrate the goals.

Delighted with the progress the team's making?

It’s not about humility, it’s about respect for my colleague, the head coach, who is just 10 metres away from me. At the same time, if a head coach celebrates a goal it’s not a mistake either, I don’t think that.

Is he seeing game-by-game improvement?

Against Swansea the team didn’t have the same performance. The performance against Swansea decreased, but today it increased.

Severity of Hernandez's injury?

I couldn’t tell you. It’s obvious that Hernandez has been very important for our team. He is the player who has the best regularity and he’s the player with the biggest influence in the control of the games. He’s a very intelligent player.

Importance of Hernandez's maturity

It’s an expression of his experience. He’s a complete player from every point of view. There is a difference between experience and decisions. You have players with a lot of experience, but a lack of lucidity when it comes to making decisions. Pablo reads the needs of the team and he gives solutions to all the problems of the team and in each sector of the field.

Can Hernandez improve under Bielsa?

I think he can make me a better head coach because I see solutions in the decisions he is taking. That I only saw a very few times during my career. I maybe saw this in players who play in different positions, in the middle of the pitch, but to have such an influence when you play on the side and having an influence in the front, in the middle and in the back. His style is not something that wakens in the rival the desire to neutralise him because he always intervenes making the actions more fluid because he has an influence, he intervenes in very small spaces and he makes the action, the play of his team-mates a lot more easier. It’s really a player that improves his team-mates. He makes his team-mates better and he gives solutions to actions very complicated and he puts his team-mates in better situations. He is a real silent leader. He always takes the responsibility for the difficult things and he makes it easier for his team-mates to play. He does all of this without speaking.

Pleased the goals are making the most of dominant play?

It’s not necessary I give my point of view. I’d rather the fans, the analysts give their point of view. The content of the actions are accessible for anyone.

Transfer window?

I wouldn’t’ tell you because I’m not sure of anything in this moment.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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The decision to replace Shaughnessy at half-time - what was going wrong in that area?

We were playing with one man more, one additional man. I wanted to take out the midfielder and put an offensive player. So Phillips took the position of Shaughnessy. Klich took the position of Phillips, Shackleton was going to play the second half but he received a kick on his leg and he couldn’t play anymore.

And I wanted to have two creative midfielders. We already had Baker and I put on Saiz and the three offensive players.

I could have taken out Phillips and put in Saiz but I thought Phillips was playing very well so I thought we could take out one centre-back.

Is Tom Pearce ok? He looked to be struggling with an injury in the second half.

He received a kick in the leg. That doesn’t create an injury but they are very painful and limit your possibilities for a moment.

Because when you receive a kick like that it’s very painful. It doesn’t have any consequences, but at that time it makes it harder to play.

The physical condition - a lot of players like Tom Pearce have not had a lot of match time, and also some players like Jamie Shackleton do not have much experience.

I don’t think the players were not prepared to play this competition. The opponent also had young players like us. They had also players with less experience, with a lack of experience like us and they also had players who usually are not starters.

So I think that we were similar regarding the other team. The football is performance but it’s also what you deserve. Sometimes we only evaluate what you get and we don't evaluate what you deserve.

My conclusion is that we didn’t play well but I think the result shouldn't have been a defeat for us.

When we evaluate the facts that we can evaluate above the numerical aspect of the question, from a numerical point of view we can they scored two goals and we did not score any goals.

If you felt the players were ready for tonight, why did they struggle so much? Especially in the first 10-15 minutes?

When you say ready, are you talking about the physical condition, are you talking about the experience, are you talking about anything else?

Did you feel that the players you put out tonight were not quite ready for that kind of match?

No, I think they were ready to play. We have different analysis to make. You can’t evaluate Pearce, Shaughnessy or Shackleton the way you evaluate Phillips, Saiz or Jansson. For me it’s painful to be out of a competition. I would have liked to have continued in this cup because this kind of game increases the possibility for some players to be in the starting XI.

When you get used to winning, what reflection do you take when you lose?

We have to do some individual analysis. We have to evaluate some young players.

Also what I just said, the difficulty to attack when the rival puts many defenders in his box and we couldn’t get rid of the pressure they made at the beginning when we were trying to build from the back.
We had actually two games. When we were 11 vs 11 it was hard for us to build from the back. At that time it was hard for us to use this possession to create dangerous actions against them. In this landscape we could not ignore, the opponent only needed four actions to score two goals.
We had 12 actions and we coulnd’t score any. If the result was not a loss for us we wouldn’t have any reason to be surprised.

Were Preston the most physical, toughest side this season? And was that a problem?

Obviously we played against an opponent with physical skills but usually we have responses for the kind of problems we faced but today we couldn’t find any responses.
The problems we faced against this rival were not new problems and the opposition we had tonight was not overwhelmingly superior to the teams we’ve played against, but it took us too much time to build from the back and play well with the ball.

The transition from defence to attack got easier when one of their players got sent off.

But when we were on numerical equality it was hard for us to build from the back and create actions towards the box of the rival.

Was it disappointing you didn't supply from the wings?

We had opportunities to make crosses with good possibilities to score a goal but we didn’t find any destinatories [sic] for the crosses.

Usually when spaces are smaller the good thing to do is to try to play on the sides but we didn’t connect the crosses we made with a man in the box.

Maybe we lacked trying to play from the the centre, the middle, but it was a zone with many bodies.

And we didn’t find any gate from the centre.

Why did you think you lost the game?

Usually when we have three offensive actions we score one goal. Today we had 12 offensive actions and we didn’t score any. The proportion between the offensive actions, the efficiency was not good.

We were not good enough to elaborate better the offensive actions and we could have avoided the goals we conceded.
We had big possession and we played 11 vs 10 for a long time.

But we didn’t reflect this superiority with clear offensive actions.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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First question: After last night's defeat, is the perfect game to bounce back?

There is no link between the two games without taking into account the defeat yesterday.

It won't affect the team's momentum, then?

We hope no. And we work for it.

Last game before the break - how important to be top?

For us, the important thing is to win the game on Friday.

We don’t take into account the table at this moment of the competition.

How long before the table is meaningful?

The table is always important for us. What I wanted to say is the coming game on Friday is important by itself.

It’s not important because we can be first. It’s important by the game itself.

When I explain that the table is always important for us and at the same time I say we don’t look at the table so it looks like a contradiction, what I’m trying to explain the important thing is to finish the Championship in the best possible conditions or position.

If we take each segment of the competition and that’s what you propose me to do with your question and if we make segmented conclusions we will be making a mistake.

This conclusion I see in the media and the press taking the example of last season at the middle of the competition Leeds was third or fourth of the table and at the end they finished 13th. So there’s a reference to this situation. The content of the reference, the conclusion is not to get too enthusiastic right now and the idea is to keep doing what we doing until we reach our goal.

We need to observe what is happening right now and this is expressed in two questions.

The first one is the defeat yesterday will have an impact for this coming game against Middlesborough and the value we give to the position in the table of Leeds right now.

And as the goals are definitive ones, not partial ones I try to make a conclusion taking into account this reality.

What are you expecting from Boro? Will set pieces be key?

The aerial game is a feature of the Premiership and it has a lot of influence so I guess we’ll see again this feature during Friday’s game.

Any new loan arrivals before Friday?

I can’t give you a positive and answer and I can’t give you a negative one.

How did Marcelo react with the players after Preston? Was he angry with the performance?

No. I’m never angry at the players. I understand, I analyse, I try to help, I try to give solutions and I try to give value to the performance.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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Is Marcelo's reaction to a defeat similar to a win or draw with the players?

When I lose I’m sad. And when I win I feel happy. With relations with the players, the previous answer I gave you is my conclusion with this.

In the game of yesterday we had three groups of players.

Young players, very young players. Experienced players. And players who are getting involved with the first team.

One thing that this loss produces is we lose a space in a competition. We lose the possibility to use this competition for the new players and we also lose the possibility to give experience to the young players.

During the game of yesterday we had the starting XI was very different from the one against Norwich. The team needs more than one player for each position. What we need is to have two players for each position. And we develop this process with training sessions an competitions. If you have a look at the team who played the most, the players are those who started the pre-season with us and players who have experience inside the institution. To add players to this basis we integrate footballers and we try to promote young players.

Broadly speaking we had 18 players and we added six players. These changes has an impact on those who are playing.

And we were developing this process between the Championship and the cup. And that’s why about the defeat I also regret that we lost because we lost this opportunity.

How much of a challenge will it be to give those players more minutes?

We have many resources. Training sessions each week, the under-23 competition. The needs we have when you have an injured player, a suspended player or a player who is not playing that well. So I think we’ll have opportunities for these players.

Where will the threat come from against Boro?

It’s a team which occupies the first place, the first ranking. They represent a very well worked style of play. the head coach is a recognised one, an experienced one. And we have a challenge between two teams with the same number of points and the two teams who occupy the first and second ranking. SO these are all the ingredients you can add to this game.

Update on Forshaw and Cooper

Cooper has a possibility to play on Friday.

And Adam Forshaw will be available after the international break.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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How much of a boost would Cooper's return be?

If he comes back it will be a plus for the team. He’s our captain and he’s a courageous players, an important player and if he can’t play we have other options for the position and these options have the same qualities.

On Pontus' performances

He was one of the two best players in the last two games. He didn’t do the work preseason and so far he has played three games.

And in these three games he played at a level close to his potential.

Would Marcelo like one or two more in before the loan window closes?

It’s a possibility that if we get a new player it’s because they will have a plus fir the team. And if nobody comes we have enough players.

Is this the biggest test so far?

It’s difficult to make comparisons.

Because when we played against Stoke or Swansea we had an opposition, an important team against us because they were a couple of months ago Premiership teams. It’s an important rival, opponent. It’s going to be a very difficult, tough game.

But I don’t want to put classification between teams. But for me the next game is always the most difficult game. And in this case, the particular case we have many reasons to think that this coming game is the hardest one.

Shackleton and Pearce's fitness?

For Pearce it’s not very important. He just receive a kick on his leg. Very painful, but just a kick on the leg.

For Shackleton it’s an ankle problem, but we’ll see how this evolves. He’s a very tough, courageous player so these aspects of his personality will make it easier for him to come back.

I don’t know either for him or Pearce on Friday.

Will you get Bamford, Forshaw, Harrison's advice on Boro?

If it’s necessary, of course I will listen to their ppint of view. But the style of Middlesborough is well known. Because the head coach of MIddlesborough is a legend of English football.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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Is the game a clash of styles?

It would be pretentious from my part to say that.

To think that our style is one that cold be opposed to another one. To represent a style you need more continuity in the footballistic expressions.

And to recognise one style you need to go through a process of demonstration that shows that you are faithful to the style you are playing. This is more of a reality of Boro than Leeds. We can’t say so far that we have a particular style.

Bielsa on whether winning with a style is important

It's hard to answer this. You never win playing bad. You never win if you don't attack. You don't win if you don't make use of the ball. You can win by using these things for a short amount of time.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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Bielsa on Leeds fans

"The link between the club and the fans. You can measure this link when they are in favour or when they are against."

That is the end of the press conference.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

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MB's post match thoughts:-

How do you feel about the result and the performance tonight?

It’s a fair result. It was very hard to build the game. In spite of this, we could have four or five actions of goal. We also conceded the same amount of actions from set-pieces, mainly, throw-ins, corners.

In order to evaluate the result I compare the domination of the game and the actions of goal we have. We can be partly satisfied because we dominated the game. It’s not that we dominated the game, but what we did was pretty good, but the fact of conceding actions of goal makes the result, at the end of the day, fair.

Why did you chose to put Pontus Jansson on the bench and have Cooper play?

For our centre-backs we have three clear possibilities: Berardi, Cooper, Jansson. We also have Shaughnessy and Ayling, plus Phillips also plays as a centre-back and during this Championship they will participate in the starting XI.

It has nothing to do with the quality of the footballers. Berardi, Cooper and Jansson are good players.

And they will play according to the circumstances.

In the absence of Pablo Hernandez tonight, how pleased were you with Jack Harrison's performance?

In a game like the game of tonight, for an offensive player to perform is pretty hard. Taking into account this difficultly, the performance of Harrison was a positive one even if it was not decisive. He created interesting actions on his side.

How would you sum up these opening six games in the league?

You can’t make any definite conclusions. We played against different kinds of rivals. The game of today was very difficult to face. In the game of today the physical challenge was special.

The more games we play like this one, we will be more ready to find solutions. I think we could consider what we did so far as satisfactory, but we have many things to improve too in the games like the one of today.

We have to improve the resolution of the aerial game of the opponent. We have to increase the offensive creation against such a physical team.

Now the transfer window has shut, how happy are you with your squad?

Yes, I am happy with the players I have. It’s what we planned, actually. We have enough players to face this kind of competition.

Why did you make your substitutions so late today?

It was a very difficult game for any player to come in to. Usually when you make a substitution you think about changing, getting out a player and you can improve it. But this time my thought was the opposite one.

My thought was 'how can a player adapt to such a difficult game?'

I had in my mind three substitutions. I always thought some players will naturally get out but I was thinking about the difficulty for the player going in to adapt to this difficult game.

Did you test the Middlesbrough goalkeeper enough tonight?

It was a game that was very hard to finish offensive actions.

Because we had a huge density in the rival’s defence and they had a lot of volume. I think the question you are asking if the rival’s goalkeeper didn’t have enough work?

And this means that our offensive game was not sufficient enough. So in some way I share your analysis. Our offensive actions didn’t end with shots towards the goal but we had four or five dangerous actions. To have four or five offensive dangerous actions, respecting being faithful to the style we choose, it’s important.

What we can say is that we should have neutralised better the offensive actions of the opponent, especially on the set pieces. If we had five dangerous actions and the opponent just one, we would have been in better conditions to say we deserved the win. So what we could correct in some way was to neutralise or decrease the number of dangerous offensives actions they had.

But for the set-pieces the players of Middlesbrough were taller than our players.

Where was Pablo Hernandez tonight, was he injured?

He could have played, but we would have taken a risk to put him in the starting XI.

He was tired from a muscular point of view. And we didn’t have enough time to ensure he wouldn't worsen.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by ilkley62 »

Thanks for posting these ScottishLeeds

I enjoy reading MB's honest analysis
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by SCOTTISH LEEDS »

Bielsa on injuries

First topic - injuries for Leeds:

- Berardi still needs time to come back

- For Bamford a little less than four months.

- For Pablo it will be more than three weeks.

- Roofe won’t be able to play either - he has received a kick that means he is not allowed to play.

We have four players missing but we have solutions to face these problems.
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