Marcelo Bielsa Leeds
How harsh does that feel after such an excellent first half?
In the second half it was difficult for us not to be dominated. The differences that we established in the first half in terms of dominance were important. But the differences that they established in the second half over us were also important. The final half an hour of the game was difficult for us, the game presented a difficulty that I saw clearly. In the first half, over their back three and two midfielders we had a lot of presence so they couldn’t give the ball to their forwards comfortably, especially over their two defensive mids and we lost that in the second half. Their two midfielders started to manage the ball better and they improved their forwards because they gave the ball to them in better conditions. And I started seeing that problem and I tried to solve it in different ways. We started in the second half with Forshaw and Klich, after I attempted with Phillips and Forshaw, after with Phillips and Tyler, after with Pascal and Tyler and finally with Pascal and Dallas. There was far too many movements to solve the same problem and in the end we didn’t solve this problem. And my task is to see the problem and solve it, and I didn’t manage to do it. To have used so many variants, this isn’t good. Because there wasn’t enough minutes for the players to assimilate to their new positions they moved to.
Considering you lost two big players in Raphinha and Rodrigo – are you not proud of the performance?
We can’t ignore the importance of those two players, but the first half showed that we could attempt to dominate the opponent with the players that we had. So to justify the performance with the absences, given that we managed to play 60 minutes with the players we had, almost at a balance or with us a little bit better. It weakens the argument that the absences is the reason for the result.
How did you feel Joe Gelhardt did on his first Premier League start?
In the first half and in the first part of the second half he had incidence in the game. As the team declined in the final 30 minutes, his performance was also dragged back because the team stopped having a hold of the ball. A feeling that performance left me [with] was he is at the level of the competition. He showed personality, he could adapt to the rhythm of the game, they are things that are important.
Can you tell us about Archie Gray’s presence here today?
He was an option to be on the substitutes bench but in the end he wasn’t picked.
Given the injury problems you’ve had are you thinking about adding players in January or do you feel you’ll soon be back to full strength?
In reference to the amount of players we have in the squad, it’s not only about the amount of players but the quality of the players that form the squad. So the players of a level for any position they cost as a minimum between £20-30million. So in an institution like Leeds who has invested a lot in players with the first year and also in the second year, to imagine that we could increase the power of our professional group shouldn’t be evaluated without looking at the economic possibilities. It’s true, we haven’t been able to count on Koch for a long period of time, who had a problem in his pelvis. Bamford’s ankle has also been a long injury, Ayling’s knee has also been a long injury. After there are injuries that are shorter and more common, so I have the feeling that we should only bring in players if they are better than what we already have and whether it’s normal to demand an investment in a team that’s invested so much already. As you say, hopefully we can resolve this with the recovery of the players who are absent. And it’s also by chance that the injuries we pick up are by players who all play in the same position and period.
Different shape today, seemed like more of a back three with Kalvin stuck on Kane – was that part of your tactical plan to change things up?
In some way the observation you make is not exact. Llorente played from the right side to the centre against a player who makes a lot of diagonal [runs]. Phillips played as a right centre-back following Kane whenever he dropped, Pascal played as a left-back marking Moura and Cooper played his natural position of left centre-back. Perhaps you interpret that it was a back three, perhaps what you saw was correct but our intention as to play Llorente, Phillips, Cooper, Pascal with Dallas on the right, Klich and Forshaw in the centre and then after James on the right, Gelhardt in the centre and Harrison on the left.
How pleased were you to see Daniel James and Harrison link up for that opening goal?
I notice a progression in both players. I think that in the measure that the competition advances, even though we’ve played 12 games, I hope they manage to find a regularity that corresponds with their qualities.
