MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Leeds United news here, transfer rumours, club affairs, players, fans, etc.
Specific match discussions should go in the category below.
MOT1964
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by MOT1964 »

I hope all is well SCOTTISH LEEDS.

Having really missed your informative posts, I've just noticed that the last time you visited this forum was on 10th October.
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Mr Russell
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by Mr Russell »

MOT1964 wrote:I hope all is well SCOTTISH LEEDS.

Having really missed your informative posts, I've just noticed that the last time you visited this forum was on 10th October.
Agree, hopefully he is just on a holiday.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by DominanceUK »

Mr Russell wrote:
MOT1964 wrote:I hope all is well SCOTTISH LEEDS.

Having really missed your informative posts, I've just noticed that the last time you visited this forum was on 10th October.
Agree, hopefully he is just on a holiday.
That would be some holiday! :P
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Selby White
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by Selby White »

DominanceUK wrote:
Mr Russell wrote:
MOT1964 wrote:I hope all is well SCOTTISH LEEDS.

Having really missed your informative posts, I've just noticed that the last time you visited this forum was on 10th October.
Agree, hopefully he is just on a holiday.
That would be some holiday! :P
Hope everything is Ok SL :thumbup:
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by Barlow Boy »

From the presser today......

How is Pablo Hernandez and when might you expect him back?

One month.

Are you any clearer in what happened?

It was an injury in his hamstring.

Any other injury news?

[Tyler] Roberts and [Jamie] Shackleton are available. [Barry] Douglas is sick. [Adam] Forshaw, we don’t know when he will come back.

Any message for the supporters at the halfway point?

We give the message every time we play. This is what we offer. The good and in the bad sense. If we have to give a message it’s ‘thank you for always being with us.’

When supporters get nervous at Elland Road, do you feel that?

Of course we feel it.

And the players too?

Everything the supporter feels we also feel it on the pitch. Players and staff. It’s part of our job as well.

Ongoing impression of Alex Neil’s Preston? You’ve played them quite a few times now.

Preston are doing well. This is a team that have kept their players. Just the transfer of the number seven. It’s one team that had a bad moment and now is recovering, and they have a regular way of play.


How are you going to cope with the absence of Hernandez? Are you going to bring Gjanni into the team as you did on Saturday?

Yes, it’s going to be [Ezgjan] Alioski and [Stuart] Dallas in the midfield.

What does Dallas bring you in midfield?

It’s one dynamic player. He’s flexible. He can play on the left or right side without problems. He has a good mobility and he appears in the last part of the pitch with a good tempo and a surprise. He can shoot and he can finish and also he can cross from the sides, he defends, he attacks.

Are you tempted to bring Jamie and Tyler straight back in?

One month that they’re not playing. They are healthy, but they need time to be competing.

Have you had any indication from Arsenal what may happen with Eddie Nketiah next month?

We have no information.

Do you enjoy managing at this time of year?

It’s organised like that. For me, it’s okay to play in this period. I’m happy to assume this. It’s a tradition for English football. I always like being on the side of the traditions of one country.

Do you think Championship stronger or weaker this season?

There are more teams with a similar level.

More competitive?

Performances of the teams are more similar between each other. At the moment, there is not one team making a big difference between the rest of the teams, from the middle of the table to first place.

There’s been a lot of racism in football recently. Have there been conversations in your dressing room walking off the pitch?

I am against any racists and facts like that. I disagree with this kind of situation.

Would you support your players if they wanted to come off if they were abused?

It’s something that is not convenient for me to answer because you are talking about something that is very difficult to imagine. Also, I don’t understand why it’s not enough with my first answer because you are asking something different about what you are saying. You know what you want to ask, but you’re not asking it. I am responding I am against everything in relation with racism or discrimination.

In every organisation, there are measures predetermined to resolve the situation that can happen.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by Barlow Boy »

From the presser today (pre Arsenal)....

What is the team news ahead of Arsenal on Monday?

[Illan] Meslier is going to play instead of Kiko [Casilla]. [Gaetano] Berardi in the place of [Liam] Cooper. [Barry] Douglas for [Gjanni] Alioski. Alioski in the place of [Helder] Costa and [Robbie] Gotts in place of [Stuart] Dallas.

Four players leaving the team, Kiko, Cooper, Dallas and Helder. Meslier, Douglas, Gotts and Berardi in the starting XI.

On Wednesday evening did we see the value of Bamford and what he brings to the team as a whole when he came on in the second half?

We’ve seen Bamford has proved his importance. He’s had his chance throughout the Championship.

And honestly, I think Bamford did enough in every match to value what he does in every match. You have to value what he does in a match.

Even if you have to prove in every match again, yourself. This is the rule for all the players, but we always recognise the impact that Patrick has in the team.

And we think the same of Nketiah when he played.

Obviously Eddie has gone back now and leaves you short on cover. How much of a concern is that and how confident are you that you can get the right player in the club to give you cover?

If find a player in this position of course we are going to communicate quickly, and if we find one player in this position it's because we are going to consider that it's a good option.

Are confident that can be achieved in this window?

It’s not about intentions, the question is trying to find the right player and after being able to incorporate him. Our sporting director always has options and the solutions he proposes always are linked with the solution we are looking for. Those solutions are linked with the team profile.

But after with those options we have to make arrears and this is not easy. You have different facts that the club cannot manage. The club doesn't have power in those facts. We know that the club does the right efforts to try to bring options.

On Arsenal - what are your thoughts and have you seen any of Pep Guardiola's influence on Mikel Aterta's style of play?

Always, [someone] who is a colleague of Guardiola has an additional value.

I think that Guardiola is the best manager in the world and as a great manager, of course he distributes responsibility in his staff. Arteta’s position in his staff was important work and after if a club like Arsenal chose him, Arsenal doesn’t choose him just because he was staff of Guardiola. This is just one fact of one person that has more qualities than that.

The profile of one person is public, depending on the job he has. If you are a manager you have more praise, if you are an assistant, less.

And of course when Arsenal play more matches we will see more things from the new manager. Say that one manager in three matches creates changes, is cheating, because what he can do is try to get a result.

To make changes you need a process and to keep doing this for a long time.

But what I can say it that I imagine how Arteta works.

Why is this the right occasion for Robbie Gotts and Illan Meslier to make their debuts?

Gotts is a player that deserves to play. And Meslier has qualities that allow him to take responsibility in a massive match like this one. Meslier is a 'keeper that has experience in one thing and Gotts is in his best moment in all our processes.

And the most important is that he has worked a lot to have this opportunity. But it’s just one first step in the beginning of his career.

Both of them, they don’t have to prove anything to us. If they play well, better, and if they don’t play well, it’s not going to change anything about the step forward they are giving.

Are still without Shackleton, Roberts and Forshaw?

Shackleton is going to play some minutes tomorrow in the under-23s.

Pablo and Tyler are going to be in the training group next week.

VAR will be used on Monday night. Would you prefer referees to make the decision on the pitch or are you in favour of VAR?

What referees prefer. I'm just interested in play. If referees take good decisions or bad decisions with VAR or without, it doesn’t change anything about how we face one match. It’s very difficult to be a referee.

The other day we watched our last match, where referees are cheated and it’s very difficult to realise this on the pitch.

So for me, rules and referees are very important in allowing you to play.

So I think that as referees think it’s better, I am going to accept this.

Where Bielsa does see an issue is with consistency around the application and interpretation of the rules.

But there is something that confuses the footballer a lot," he continued. "Because the rules are interpreted and for footballers it's natural to analyse how referees analyse the rules and sometimes there are confusions. So footballers don't know really how referees are going to rule the match.

After, if the referee ruled the match very strictly, the player is responsible for his excesses. Or if the referee makes the rules more flexible, the player is a bit more exposed as a boy, a fool as he's arguing about something that the referee doesn't measure in the same way.

So if I push in one corner, for example, and one referee says that it's a penalty, after a player is responsbile. And after if the same player is pushed by an opponent and the footballers claimed that the referee said nothing after the player said it in front of everyone is a boy, a fool. So this is the difficulty that is part of the work of the footballer to try to adapt to it.

Pablo Hernandez is returning to training next week - is that quicker than you envisaged him coming back?

Let’s see. One thing is to come back to training, another thing is when you come back to complete.

He knows he is able to train this week, but we don’t really know when he is able to play.

Is there any update on Adam Forshaw?

He has a problem with his hip and he cannot recover 100 per cent from this [at this time].

What sort of test are you expecting from Arsenal? They're not having the best of seasons by their standards but how difficult will it be to get a result?

Of course it’s a big challenge for us. It is enough to see the players and the prestige they have and the level they have.

The stadium they play, the quantity of people that go to the stadium, how many supporters they have around the world, the manager, the previous managers, all these facts describe the power of the club.

Jack Clarke - how important to replace him or do you feel he may be able to be replaced from within with youngsters coming through?

We planned the season with Clarke and Eddie. When we lost them, after we lost them, we would like to replace them.

But just if we find a footballer that can replace them.

We need to another centre-forward and another winger but we need players in those positions that compete with the play of team.

This will be one of very few matches this season where you are the underdog - does that change the way you prepare or set yourself up?

Being the favourite in one game is an external analysis. When the press or people thinks that we are the favourite in one match, we ourselves don't consider easily that.

And neither the opposite, like in this case. Every time we compete we trust in our resources and we respect the opponent resources. And compete means compare resources and always we do this with the wish to impose our style. And we are going to do it as well on Monday.

Is the FA Cup a distraction or a nice welcome break from the league?

It’s an official engagement and every official engagement we cannot consider a distraction if it's an official engagement.

Each game in this round is kicking off one minute later to allow people to think about mental health. What do you think about that?

All of us are forced to think about those kind of people.

As a coach are you excited about going up against a higher class of opponent?

If we are going to play with another opponent, we are going to justified as well.

It’s a competition with a great history and from there, every opponent is important.

Now if I have to answer that, I already did it.

Can a game against Arsenal show how much progress Leeds have made under yourself?

I don’t think so.

I think that the regularity of performance points to the progress.


The quality of the opponents means that you play better, have a higher performance, I can understand this, that there is something wrong. Big teams play in a similar way in every match. They don’t need a great opponent and they don’t play bad against a lower opponent. Or the opposite. The opponents are not inhibited against a great opponent and don't feel fear, are not weaker against a big opponent.

If you watch City and Liverpool, that’s the reference in English football. They play quite similar every match. Again, every opponent is the same, but they play quite similar in every match. Players who play well some times and play bad regular, they do not play in those top level teams. You are not going to see a player in a top team play one match well, and another bad.

Have you come across Arteta in your career before? Have you met him?

No. I have read his ideas, but I've never met him.

I know him because of his ideas.

You signed Nicolas Pepe for Lille as a young player. What qualities did you see in him when you signed him and did you imagine he would be costing £70million and playing for Arsenal in the Premier League?

Pepe is a great player with big resources and is a goalscorer.

And he’s a player who is able to unbalance a match. Obvious skills, when you have all of these skills in one player, the value is £70m. It’s just a matter of time and after show those skills. He has showed them clearly and after the price was linked what he has shown on the pitch.

One thing is when one player has the skills, another is to have the skills and show the skills pitch. He does both. He has clearly shown his skills and is at club where he deserves to be.
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SCOTTISH LEEDS
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by SCOTTISH LEEDS »

Happy birthday!

Thank you.

How much have you enjoyed the celebrations? Proudest achievement?

It’s going to be a memory for the rest of our lives. My best achievement is in the club where I have worked and belong. Everything happened here was very, very beautiful. I will never forget this.

Your future? Like to see it sorted quickly?

What I talk about is recognising the players. It’s very easy to justify for me. Maybe it’s a little difficult to summarise everything they have done. The first information that is very valuable is how many players were involved in the minutes of the season. Few players for a lot of minutes. Second thing is the tactical process of training they assume. The play of Leeds has been collective. The contribution of every player, if you add these contributions, is what makes the team play like that. The collective play needs to be trained in the same way, the individual unbalanced is less trainable. In our team it was more collective than anything else. That demands physical and mental work very high. We had few injuries. That talks about how the players care for themselves. Also, the capacity of our physical coaches. We had few injuries that had a long period of recovery. That talked about the efficiency of the medical staff. I also had decisive assistants. I execute decisions, but I don’t build just me, the building of the decisions. I don’t want to forget someone because we were a lot of people involved in the process to train our goalkeepers, to create images to help the players to develop, to create training to improve the fitness of our team. Each of them made more than me for the team to grow. Please believe this it is true. There is an example about the evaluation I am doing about my colleagues that confirms what I am saying is not exaggerated: Carlos Corberan has been chosen by one Championship team to be the manager of his first team and it is a team that one year ago was in the Premier League. You can prove what I am saying is true.

When will you discuss your own future?

Tomorrow we play. Of course, we need time to let this period pass because now all the emotions are high. We need to be, all of us, calm to think more clearly. I wish you help me to feel the objective I am saying. I am trying not to put the focus on me. Put the focus on players and supporters. Players I already explained. Great Leeds supporters. They wait for this moment a long time and now they can celebrate this as they deserve. The sign in our times is we want to make things happen before the process requires. Always, everybody answers, they don’t want to take the time for things to happen as they wish. I think we have to be patient in this moment as well. This is a moment everybody was waiting, wishing and deserving as well That is linked what the players and also with the supporters who are fall in love with the club. For this reason I think the ideal is try to keep this moment as long as we can. After, naturally, this moment will go. Not put another feeling on this moment that is very special. Maybe, I am so happy in this moment I don’t want to make this moment pass quickly.

Any presents?

A lot and some of them very special. They come from Argentina. British gifts from all the people I met here. Some anonymous and others more personal, but I thank for all of them. My wife, my daughter and all the more close people to me in Argentina and in those days, this link is bigger.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by SCOTTISH LEEDS »

Collective effort to make this happen - Corberan - what did you see in him?

I don’t have any responsibility about the election of Carlos in our staff. When I had a meeting in Buenos Aires with Victor and Andrea, Carlos was there as well. Carlos was Orta’s election, agreed by the owner. Accepted by me, even if I didn’t know him. He was very important colleague for us, all the contributions the club did in the human aspect, the club cannot improve this. There are people maybe you don’t know, Rob, Rishi, others who work in the shadows. Adam from the academy. Stix, a big man in the club. Maybe a big man just for him. I know I am talking a lot, but there are a lot of people who made a lot for us in the shadows of the club. The ladies in the kitchen are wonderful people. In this isolation period, my wife couldn’t be here with me, I am living alone now and this lady, Bella [?], once a week used to leave outside his door, one container with very tasty soup. Those things are not linked with the football, but the emotional. It’s a big contribution. I can talk also, in the same way, about Bella’s colleagues. People in the nutrition department, Thorp Arch security, the cleaners when they have everything clean in the isolation period, this was very important. The ground staff, they are artists, if you look at our grounds. The same with every person who works in the club, not just TA, but ER. We didn’t meet them every day, but we received their support as we did at TA. I really need to describe all we get from the club. I tell this story about Bella. Maybe I should not because it’s private, but with every person with us in this club, I could say a story as I did with Bella. When we go to the stadium, the competition always, you don’t know what’s going to happen and the driver of our bus, always he had a way of approaching me with a little gift, with a sweet that this little thing made me feel I wasn’t alone before competition. Another thing I would like to explain, in this moment, where I am high on emotion for the success, enjoying a lot for the joy we have produced. I want to say, it’s not possible to make joy to the supporters, what this creates means is the same as now, but the opposite. That means success creates a lot of joy, like sadness, loss of wish. Those feelings that produce the defeat, so if you keep the sensibility, it’s very hard when you know you are making bad feelings to the supporters. Supporters sometimes don’t understand how hard it is know when you are not making them happy, with losses. Everybody knows the money we earn in our job is too big. Finally, players produce what we receive in money, but I always think the justification of what we earn in this job, that is like fair when you receive if you take into account how hard it is to support when you have a defeat, you lose, and know you are making a lot of people sad. That’s hard and it’s like the club pays you for this. Sometimes you can feel people around football are out fo reality and I don’t know if it is fair to think this connect well to the reality. This links with how difficult it is, this life is failure. Enjoy what you receive materially in money. One example: what Phillips suffered last summer and the joy he experiences now, are not linked with his professional condition. He suffered for the pain he equally suffered. I also suffered. Now he is so happy for the joy he provoked to his people and he also is one of them. To summarise, sometimes you lose sensibility, we use to protect ourselves.

Players are guilty when they don’t get what they are looking for. To judge them you might consider how much they suffered when they cannot get success. Now the ideal is a good question to be able to give simple answers.

Berardi - want him to stay?

Berardi, for all of us, he’s an example. Don’t think the fact I say he is an example, I don’t value his football ability. The 30 minutes he played in the last match was one for the best displays he had in two years. In the social life of the team, he is very important and I imagine Berardi is the person you ask what we should do. Sometimes I considered asking him, when I had doubts. Of course my job is make decisions and I had more doubt than certainty. More than once I had this feeling to take advice from him.

What is it like for your family in Argentina?

Once a week they share the same stress I feel on the pitch. They are used to this. They have a training to support this.

When will you take a break?

Tomorrow we finish the competition and start the rest period.

Charlton expectations - Bowyer has wine for you

They are a tough team. They fight for every moment. I feel gratitude in advance for the congratulations.

Do you measure success by joy for supporters or through trophies?

Always we are ready to compete. Every time we have an objective, but if we have another objective we can get we make our effort to try and get it. For instance, promotion was one objective and be champions another.

Of course, the joy we bring to supporters is important, but both things are linked.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by Deleted User 2747 »

What a lovely man. Can see why the players love him to bits.
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Re: MB'S PRESS CONFERENCES

Post by Sniffer »

Good to see you back, SL
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