Emne: Tema: Marcelo Bielsas pressekonferanser

[Promotion 2010]

Bielsas svar etter Preston-kampen:


Phil Hay

Bielsa asked towards the end of the press conference to do a one-on-one with a French TV station. Says for 20 years he has only done press conferences, nothing else, and won't be changing tack. Nice try.

 

[Promotion 2010]

Phil Hay

I'll say this - every press conference is an education.

 

[Promotion 2010]

Matt Bellair

Just on three months since Bielsa took charge. Don’t think it’s hyperbole to say not only has he improved our players immensely, he’s making us better supporters and better journalists. The legacy has the potential to be to that of Chile, Old Boys, Bilbao etc. #lufc

[Promotion 2010]

Før Birmingham

Pressekonferansen:

17:30
He's here...
Right, let’s see what the Leeds United head coach as got to say...

17:31
Home form important - how much of a statement would back to back wins be?
Every time that a profession team plays, the win is an obligation.
I don’t think it would have a special impact if we win.

17:32
Birmingham are yet to win - but are they in a false position, given how hard they are to beat?
It’s a team that concedes very few goals. By itself it’s a difficulty.
The few goals they conceded doesn’t correspond with their ranking so the fact that they conceded few goals means an important difficulty for us.

17:33
On Garry Monk on the job he did at Leeds
He was the head coach of a team that finished 7th as far as I know. So it’s a fact that he’s important for any Premiership head coach.
He was the head coach of several teams so he’s an experienced head coach.

17:35
Is Tyler Roberts the solution to the injury worries? And what will the goals do for his confidence?
When a number nine scores it always gives him confidence. In both games he played he was a link to the opponent’s box. He did’t score against Millwall but against Preston he scored twice. The important thing is that he creates chances to score and then when he scores more goals he will become an important player.

17:36
Are the team exceeding expectations at this stage of the season?
A club with a such a history of Leeds has to have the hope to go to promotion.

17:37
Are you expecting Birmingham to be very defensive this weekend?
I can’t tell you in advance. One of the features of Birmingham is they concede very few goals.

17:37
On injuries
The injured players won’t be in the group and able to play against Birmingham.

17:39
What other sports have you taken inspiration from for your coaching?
No, not particularly any other sport, no. When you watch other sports you make associations with certain situations, but these sports, basketball, hockey, rugby, but I don’t make any lasting parallel between those other sports and football.

17:41
Who inspired you to be the football coach you are?
I started as a head coach 35 years ago. I received a lot of influence from Jorge Solari he’s a master for me. I was with him at Newell’s Old Boys.
I collaborated with him, but I also watched a lot of Louis van Gaal.

17:42
Are you impressed with how your players have understood your methods?
Our team is faithful to some features.
The assimilation of a style is not only a method. More inmimportant is the influence of each player regarding his willingness to assimilate new styles.
To convince the player to adpot a new style is more important than the style itself.

17:47
How does this side compare in attitude and application to the better squads Marcelo has worked with?
Frankly I admire the professionalism of the English player. I am sure this is not a new thing for English people. You already know that English footballers are very serious, like players from Great Britain are very serious. So it stimulates you to develop plans of work with these kind of players. It’s also important to say I came here with ideal conditions because we had a long pre-season. The fact that we had a long period thanks to the World Cup means we could work and make decisions without hurrying.
And another thing that is important is that this club has 15 players and a group of 5 or 6 youngsters and if I had to make an evaluation of them and an opinion I wouldn’t want to change the players I had.
And you know very few teams can say what I’m saying. I can tell you that I have 12,13,14,15 players I would not change and we also have 5 or 6 young players with possibilities so it indicates that this club has good football health.
And the players are broadly speaking pretty young all of them.

17:50
It feels like this has taken hold quickly?
I have an advantage and not every head coach has it. During 10 years in my career I worked as a head coach of national teams. ANd this allows you to develop mechanisms you can transmit to the team in a fast way. Because when you prepare a game with the national team you only have two days and you have one game per month. So not every head coach has to face this kind of situation. And you can’t learn how to serve problems that you don’t face.
So I think I have the advantage of being in situations where you have to make fast solutions. We also have to take into account a pre-season which lasted 7 weeks, that’s a lot of time and we also had one month before the pre-season to analyse the team. And we also had a good basis regarding the players, we didn’t have to bring in many players. All these aspects are advantageous.

17:52
Do you want to see more improvements?
You know this is unstable, cyclical. Our performances against Millwall and Middlesbrough were not the same against Preston, Derby and Norwich.
The games versus Millwall and Middlesbrough were tough games for us. That’s why we can;t say that our team is a strong team.
Because we need to do things that we have not done before. It’s long distance run.


17:57
Is it still a priority to grasp English or is that no longer essential, given the speed your players are learning?
Yes, it’s a priority for me to learn English.
What I’m going to say doesn’t mean it’s not necessary to understand and speak English.
What I can tell you is the less you speak, the better you are as a head coach. Because you communicate not through words, but through the actions in training sessions. When you see a team is assimilating a habit it’s not because you talk a lot. It’s because you did practical facts that allowed the players to assimilate an idea.

17:59
That's all from Marcelo
And he’s done. Some interesting stuff in there.
We’ll have more for you shortly.

[Promotion 2010]

Prøver å legge inn pressekonferansene her også! Godt å få samlet gullkornene:


Pressekonferansen (før Sheffield Wed (b)):
Jeg må si jeg koser meg med å få tilgang til de detaljerte svarene til Bielsa, de forskjellige spillerne også for så vidt

13:29
He's here
First question coming up...

13:33
Take positives from Saturday?
It’s not a responsibility of the players. It’s a decision I took, and a wrong decision. The reality of the game indicated to me I did not take the right decision. I knew we had two options.
The possibility of building a line of three with Bill Ayling or Phillips. I decided to build the line of three with Phillips, making him do movements forward and backwards. Two possibilities of being in front of Cooper and Jansson or behind.
With this system I could keep all of the good things from the Preston game. Samu and Klich attacked well from the centre to the sides and Phillips started the game well as a four. I wanted to keep all of these positive features of the team.
When we didn’t have the ball I wanted to build with a line of three and with the ball a four, but it didn’t work. This was a mistake. I thought it would work, but it didn’t. That’s why the players are not responsible and I will try not to make any mistakes.

13:34
Learn about the players from defeat?
We had a problem. We had two goals we conceded. We couldn’t change the situation. What we did was not enough. In spite of this I think we didn’t deserve to lose, I even think we deserved to win. We didn’t play well, it was very hard to play well. These are my conclusions.

13:35
Next challenge to respond to defeat?
Whenever you lose you always want to win. If it’s a derby the willpower to win increases.

13:38
Spoken to players about mentality after last year's decline?
It’s very difficult to make any comparison because I was not here last year. IO know what happened last year, I know what you are trying to underline, I know it’s a derby, but I don’t think it’s good to compare both situations. The good idea is to resolve this situation right now.
It’s difficult to make comparison like the one you suggest. It’s not the best thing to predict you are going to have storms. We always try to be consciously optimistic and we have solid arguments to build optimism.
We’ll have to show that next Friday.

13:40
Forshaw - ready to start?
Yes, Adam is a player ready to play. There is a difficulty he has to solve. This difficulty he can only solve by playing. Before getting injured he was the best player in the team. He was the best because he had six pre-season games to be fit. He has not played in the last month-and-a-half. He’s physical performance is top(?). The real proof is during the game and the challenges of that. Now we are in this process, but he’s ready to play if we need him.

13:41
Injuries
Bamford and Brown won’t be with us for a long time. Roofe is close to the first team, not immediately, but he’s close. Berardi and Pablo also are close to the first team, not as close as Roofe.
Shaughnessy it will be a little longer. Shackleton is already in the first team.

13:41
Changes?
I won’t change any player.


13:43
What have players shown in training?
You don’t react in the same way after a win than after a loss. After the game we lost, we asked some questions together. We built our conclusions together. We have had so far two training session where each player can express himself.
The conclusions are positive ones and I have a lot of hope for Friday’s game. I don’t know if I answered your question.

13:43
Enjoy seeing them express themselves?
I am happy with that. Maybe I don’t understand the question. There is only one possible answer to the question. How could something positive make me sad?

13:45
Sheffield Wednesday - thoughts?
I couldn’t tell you. I think it’s a team that has many possibilities tactically. The differences are not linked to their defence only. Also have different possibilities for attacking midfielders and strikers.

13:47
How to combat their strengths?
They have many offensive players with different features. They played all of them. Number nine and 17 in the axis, 45, 19, 37, 20, these are many offensive players. They combine together in different ways and play in different positions. We have to adapt to how they play and how they position themselves.

13:47
How to combat their strengths?
They have many offensive players with different features. They played all of them. Number nine and 17 in the axis, 45, 19, 37, 20, these are many offensive players. They combine together in different ways and play in different positions. We have to adapt to how they play and how they position themselves.

13:50
Birmingham's low block being copied?
Apart from the style we chose we have many teams in the Championship who play like that. Half of the games so far had these features. I honestly think we have all the ingredients to play against these teams. It;s something common and frequent to attack in small, reduced spaces. When you have a team that defends in its own half you have small spaces and when you have small spaces the offensive players don’t make movements to free themselves. When you have free spaces the natural movement is to take the free space.
When you have many bodies in the small space the trend is close and ask for the ball. This is the worse thing you can do because if you do that we already have small spaces and if we do that, these spaces become even smaller. This is the difficulty created by the opponent. We know what we have to do to solve this kind of problem. The first step is knowing what to do, the second is doing it and the third is doing it well. You have to imagine what would happen if both teams played the same way. What kind of spectacle would you have?

13:58
Braver passing?
It’s not about daring to do something because the only thing to do is that because if you don’t, you just stop playing. If you don’t make passes, the only thing is to play long balls and give the ball back to the opponent.
What you are talking about, the system of playing against small spaces, if we play like that the only solution is to wait for the opponent’s mistake, the one playing behind the line in his own half. The opponent is waiting for your mistakes. It’s a legitimate process (confused sentences here). When they try to lead the other team to make a mistake and with that mistake, they want to try to take advantage of the mistakes made the team that wants to play. They want to counter into the wide open spaces.
You have two paths - either you risk playing and make a mistake because when you play it’s implicit you can make a mistake. The other path is you don’t play. This is a possibility too. Just imagine a game where both teams do not want to play. If the last game lasted 15 minutes, if we did exactly the same, we would play only 25 minutes out of 90.
This is among the rules. The rules allow you to do that, but this is not the spirit of the game. I assume my position regarding this problem. My position is to try to reach the beauty of the game. It’s a lot more difficult to reach the beauty when only one team wants to play. Please don’t understand what I’m saying that the fact of reducing spaces and not playing, if you do this, the rules allow you. I’m not complaining about that. I’m just talking about the difficulties we faced. The fans who are the centre of our activity is obviously in love with the result. We should know, also, this link with the result, we should ask ourselves if the fans are ready to put, as a priority, the game.
We could ask, for example, to the fans of Leeds, what they would have preferred: us to lose as we lost trying to overcome the opponent, even if we couldn’t play well, and assuming all difficulties we faced, or would the fans have preferred we draw the game without playing because if we hadn’t played, we cou;d have got one point.
We have to point out these aspects.

14:02
Phillips - difficult being withdrawn early twice
I decided to substitute Kalvin. This does not draw the portrait of Kalv, it draws my own. If you deeply analyse the decision I took you will say I corrected a mistake I made. For me, it’s a very difficult situation for two reasons. The last thing I want is to hurt a player as noble as Phillips because he’s very generous. I can’t make the same mistake again. If I think the game is not well designed and I don’t take a solution, I make a double mistake because the first mistake is I made a mistake and I wouldn’t dare to correct the mistake. I take the decisions I think are the best ones.
We could say ‘poor Phillips’ but the people who understand football say ‘what a bad decision Bielsa took because he has to change after 30 minutes a decision he took.’
When I didn’t substitute Phillips, he didn’t make any mistake. BY making the change I made the mistake.

14:10
Peacock-Farrell
He made a mistake in the first goal. This is in evidence. In the eight games before he played better than he played against Birmingham.

14:10
Derbies in Argentina
What I saw in Argentina, the emotions when training, I can’t have the same emotions here.

14:12
Where does Championship rank for him globally?
It’s a beautiful competition. Football starts with the fans and with the stadiums. Football is also about the passion the fans feel about it and then you have the game, the beauty of the game, the spectacle you offer to the fans.
Here in England the passion is on a high level and the spectacle, the beauty is sometimes good, sometimes bad as in all leagues around the world.

14:15
Forshaw - unique qualities?
Forshaw can play as Klich and Klich can play as Forshaw does. Klich is a complete player, he can play in each level of the pitch, in defence he attacks, he can play in the axis and in the sides.
Forshaw is the same kind of player. He’s very dynamic, he’s flexible. When he has to build offensive responses he is as implicated as when he has to build defensive ones. Their physical capacity are very important. They are not players that can make a difference by themselves. They make the difference associated with their team-mates. They can’t do what Samu Saiz does, the only player who can do what he does is himself.
They all midfielders, but Forshaw and Klich are different to Saiz.

14:17
Always protect your players no matter what?
I think I gave some strong arguments to explain why I was responsible and you’re asking me a question, I’m not talking about your intention, I don’t deserve to be asked this and I’m going to explain why.
When the head coach says he’s responsible and doesn’t give arguments, what they are saying is the real responsibility is the players. Because if you don’t explain why the people who listen to this say it’s not the head coach, it’s the players’ fault.
I reject this kind of practise. That’s why I am surprised. I gave arguments why I was responsible. I don’t know if the arguments are right or wrong, but they are solid. You have substance in the argument.

14:20
Always protect his players, not Birmingham...
I never say something if I cannot give arguments for it because otherwise people would suspect me. Whenever I say something I try to give arguments and when I say something, I am saying what I think. I don’t say what is good to say, but there’s something I should honestly tell you. You cannot be a leader if you don’t assume, publicly, the responsibility. You can’t be a leader if you say the responsibility is the team’s.

Beren Cross

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/leeds-united-marcelo-bielsa-press-15202402

[Promotion 2010]

Fabelaktig:

https://twitter.com/skyfootball/status/1045781848385900546?s=12

 

[Xern]

Fabelaktig:

https://twitter.com/skyfootball/status/1045781848385900546?s=12

 

[Promotion 2010]

Før Hull borte:
(Les fra bunnen og opp!)

That's a wrap from Marcelo

On the under-23s

Six players that will be subs tomorrow played today's game. We could say that we have 18 starters and usually four are missing because they are suspended or injured and you sub these players missing with young players - Shackleton, Clarke, Pearce are youngsters that come from the under-23s and Leeds has a tradition of forming players and I like to collaborate with that project. If you don't watch the games of the youngsters you can't take that into account.

When will Roofe, Pablo, Berardi be available?

I think that they will be available for the next game after the international break. Shaughnessy too. These four players.

Do you believe in squad rotation - or is it strongest team every week?

When a team regularly wins nobody is tired and they all want to play. And when you lose several games, we take into account the performance more than the state of the player. That's why I think that we use the rotations more for the performance than if a player is tired. You could reply that when a player is tired his performance is not very good, but when a player when he does a good performance he never says he is not tired.

Would it be easier now if Roofe and Pablo were available?

For example, the two chances that Tyler Roberts had against Preston, you could compare them to the Roofe ones against Derby. These two chances to score are similar to the goal that Roofe scored against Derby with the cross and also the goal he scored against Stoke. Tyler's second goal is similar to Kemar's goal against Derby - the headed goal. I think Tyler Roberts is good in front of goal, I think Roofe is also a good finisher, and Bamford also.

So is it more difficult to influence games off the bench now?

We had 15 chances to score, if we had kept the common average that we had before we would have scored four goals. It's hard to respond because that means I would be saying Roofe and Pablo and Bamford never miss a goal. And it's very hard to say something like that. And then I would be saying Roofe, Pablo and Bamford would have created 15 chances to score. It's difficult to take everything into account because the creative player and the offensive chances you have are the thing that is least visible in football. That's why I try to avoid getting involved in these kind of responses. This point of view that I coming out with, you know that this kind of point of view is right and you don't need me to tell you that. You can't predict the offensive play, it's unpredictable.

Lack of goals - missing Roofe and Pablo?

I am aware of the skills of the two players you mention. But with Roberts and Harrison we have solutions, they are solutions to finish. What I can tell you is that 70 per cent of subs you make in the games are linked to offensive players, in the last Premiership, last season, 70 per cent of the subs made we linked to the wingers or no 9 or no 10. This tells you that the creative players and the strikers and the offensive players, they are responsible for the most difficult task in the game. I also can tell you that I would love to have all the offensive players because this allows you to rotate, that gives several solutions to one position.

What expect from Hull?

I couldn't really tell you. For some teams you know what game you are expecting, like Millwall or Middlesbrough or for in a different style when you play against Derby or Norwich, you know what team you will face. Against Hull, they can play like Middlesbrough or Derby, or maybe it will be a mix of both styles. This is what we answer when we don't know what to say!

Do all players do this?

Mainly the offensive players and sometimes the players who have the possibilities to finish these actions.

Can you help players finish goals?

There is a routine of exercises that we do for finishing, 14 different points. With these 14 different ways to finish an action we see all the kind of goals we can score in football. It's a very short exercise within ten or 15 minutes we have done the different situations and the player has the information in this period - we have to repeat this many times because the mistake allows you to improve your skills, when it is a pro footballer the good thing is just to work on the finishing once for each week because at the second or third attempt he is trained enough and will finish will so that's why we make pro footballers only do this one time. This indicates that above the quality, that apart from the skill you need it is also linked to the state of mind, to many factors. That's why if you insist on the training of these actions, it is good and convenient but I wouldn't say this improves the finishing effectively.

On seeing Tottenham and Poch - did you catch up?

No I couldn't see him.

On Hull

The difference between the leading teams and the other teams, you don't see that difference when they play one against each other. We all know that games that we are going to play will be more difficult than the table indicates. We lost a game against a team that was not in the upper part of the table.

Could Roofe be involved this week?

I don't think so

Need to be more clinical?

We work on the finishing. If you are efficient in the training session this does not guarantee it during the games. Usually we as head coaches we work on creating chances to score. You can't have an influence on the result of the game, you work on the chances but you can't work on how good you finish. The best teams in all competitions, the leading teams, usually they need three chances to score a goal. I was making the difference between the leading teams and the big teams because the leading teams are not always the big teams. If you are very efficient you can lead the table even if you are not a big team, if you are not efficient, even if you are a big team and create a lot of chances to score you might not occupy the ranking you deserve. In a nutshell efficiency is something important in football.
Bielsa on not getting the wins from strong displays...
We will get what we deserve. Sometimes you do the right thing and don't get the result and sometimes you do the wrong thing and get the result. If you don't do the right things you can't suppose that you will get the results in the long term. On the other hand if you do the things right you will get what you deserve."

3.30pm: Marcelo is here....

3.25pm: Ready for Marcelo - and Salim of course

[Promotion 2010]

Før Brentford (h):


Presser'n:

13:31  Douglas injury?
He won’t be available for this coming game.

13:32  What does that mean?
It’s a difficulty not to have all of the players available. We have the solution of Dallas and before Douglas arrived he played an important role as a full-back.
We also have Tom Pearce in the same position. Without minimising the impact of Douglas we are always prepared for solutions.

13:33  Adkins's praise on Tuesday
I thank him for what he said. And especially when it comes from someone like him who knows the league so well, but this increases the obligation to prove the good words said about us.

13:36   Statement being top in the break
We lost some points during our journey and they were not linked to the absences. Especially in the games versus Sheffield and Birmingham. I wouldn’t argue we lost these points because we didn’t have enough players.
I always have a lot of consideration for those not available, but we have to be ready to resolve the absences we can have. The performances of Jansson, Roberts and Harrison are satisfactory.
For the next game I hope we can keep improving.

13:38
Beren Cross
Severity of Douglas injury
He will be available to play after the international break, but I couldn’t assure you that.
13:37  Smaller squad he wanted - justified with injuries?
I would say the opposite because we now have more absences than what we thought. I always think as an average four players would be missing for each game, now we are above this average, but I have a lot of consideration for the work done by the academy.
It allowed us to count on players like Shackleton, Clarke, Edmondson, Shaughnessy. They are covering the absences of our more experienced players.

13:41   Long penalty wait - 49 matches
I like the hard way the referees work in England. The tempo of the games is linked to the fact English football is noble(?). I say English football and not English players because we have many foreign players here.
Obviously the fans don’t celebrate speculation and people trying to cheat. That’s why the players read this message and doesn’t simulate. It’s a lot easier for the referee not to evaluate any simulation.
He has the conditions that allows him not to doubt when he sees an action. I always think if the referee takes the right or wrong decision, they always need to be supported by the actors in football because their job is very difficult.
They deserve respect when they take the right decision and deserve consideration when they make a mistake. Those of us who take an opinion on the referee have more resources than they have when they take the decision.

13:45
Beren Cross
Good game?
There is something very constant and a high percentage and then you can figure you out when you’re watching the game as a spectator. When you say good things about a player the next action, the next player makes a mistake. I don’t know if this is frequent here. In Argentina it’s very common, it happens all the time and those who do the same job as you, whenever this happens they refer to the conclusion I just made. That’s why I wouldn’t like to make any comment. I imagine it will be an attractive game, but I don’t want to risk it with my opinion.

13:44  Brentford style
It’s a team that needs the ball. You have many teams who feel comfortable without the ball than with the ball and this is not a criticism. Brentford wants the ball, they know what to do when they have the ball. They want to play, they don’t want to lose time.
When we don’t play it’s not a good thing for the side because the best thing Brentford does is to play football. If I said they have a style similar to ours after having described the opponent’s style as I just said it would be pretentious for us.
I describe their style, but I don’t take the virtues I mentioned about Brentford’s football for us.

13:48  We call it the commentator's curse
Games are related and explained by two different type of person, like here. One tells and the other interprets. When we say good things about a player the following action he does something wrong.
That’s why sometimes you have to ironically say a good thing just for something bad to happen...
That’s a message that football sends us. When you anticipate something it doesn’t mean you know what’s going to happen because we all think we know what’s going to happen.
The football warns us it’s the most popular sport because it’s unpredictable.



13:52  How do United compare to opponents so far
We have teams like Middlesbrough, they are very strong in the aerial game, in the 50-50 balls, they are strong and you are sometimes afraid of them.
You have teams like Derby County, just to give an example, they have other features linked to an offensive process that is different. There’s a style I like a lot, Preston’s style, and they are in the lower part of the table.
When the result becomes the only argument the opinion does not matter anymore. When you evaluate what a team produces as an exclusive argument we would not need any press conference because we wouldn’t have any subject to talk about.
We have a situation where we talk about football, but we still consider the result most important.
Because we always have to adapt to the important laws that rule. It’s not efficient if you do the opposite. It’s hard for me to defend things...
Preston and Brentford, they have a similar style, with young players with an attractive football, but they had different results with a similar style.
I don’t think we should take my opinion into account. but to be sure of what you’re saying we need to see a lot more.

13:59  Has Bielsa ever had a cabbage thrown at him?
I don’t see this is as barbaric as you see it. This means I have bad habits and you have good habits.


14:03  On Adkins's comments
The destinatory of these words should not be me, it should be the players, but I accept the good words and I am thankful for the good words of Adkins.
When you reject good words you can think people are falsely modest. I hate false modesty because you want people to think the opposite of what you are saying.
For example, you could say with the same players, the head coach is having better results and this is not true because the last season, at the same time, after 11 games Leeds had a better ranking. What confirms my opinion is we always have to be thankful to people who say nice things, especially when it’s a colleague who has a specialised view on...
Even more when it’s an experienced head coach like the one of Hull or Middlesbrough. Having said that, I only wish we will deserve the same good words at the end of this championship because we have many things to prove, to demonstrate that has not happened so far.

14:04   Been here four months - enjoyed the culture?
This is a countryside region. Am I right? <Yes, in parts>
I’m a countryside man more than a city man. And I like fish and chips, but I like even more the Argentina meat.

14:07   Bed in the office? How many hours a week studying football in his office?
Apart from football I don’t know how to do many things. My life is summed up by football and family. Football has taught me, but to understand it better, it is better to watch a good movie or read a good book.
It’s better to read a good book or watch a movie than insist on the topic of football because when you insist you make many efforts, but don’t take a step forward. The kids do that with their hair, but when you observe and watch football in an exaggerated way, you don’t improve. The obsession is described as a virtue.
We identify obsession with work. When I look obsessively at my work I know I am close to a failure.

[Promotion 2010]

Før Blackburn borte:


14:25
Beren Cross
What convinced Bielsa Lamrani could be a good translator?
I feel safer when I have consideration for people who are with me. The most important thing for me is the human quality of the person.
14:24
Beren Cross
How did they know each other?
Answer in Spanish.
14:23

Has there been to much on Saiz's shoulders in recent weeks?
In our team he’s one of the few players who can give a solution to the team. This is his main skill. And when you ask the player to do the player what he does the best it’s never (?)
You have cycles, seasons, moments, that can affect or improve each player. Saiz is a different player. He’s one of the few players with this feature in the Championship.
14:23
Beren Cross
Rory Smith here - from the New York Times - how Bielsa and Lamrani met?
We met each other when I was working with Marseille.
14:22

Will Pablo's return help Saiz?
Pablo has a positive influence on all the team and Samu is a member of the team. It could happen, or not. They speak the same language, they are form the same country. They both have a strong personality.
14:21

Would it be a blow to Roberts' confidence to drop him?
We have two possibilities for one same position. They can play together, also.
Both can play as strikers or both can play as a No.9 or as a winger.
When you have competition with two players for just one position it makes both players better.
And if you have a player who is becoming weaker because of the competition with someone else, it’s a player who we didn’t chose the right player, because professional players are specialist in completion because they compete with opponents, the difficulties of the game and also with the teammates.
14:19

Opinion on Blackburn Rovers?
It’s an opponent with experience. It’s not easy to play against them.
They have a good balance between their individual skills and their competitiveness.
14:17
Beren Cross
Make Newell's more competitive
When you have things that build the stability of the club, this makes the club more attractive. When the organisation of a club is efficient you’ll have players who want to come to the club and you also have coaches who want to work in the club.
Important to raise the standards across the board. The capital of Newell’s Old Boys is very important. The assets of NOB are important, the people who support the club and the training ground is a very interesting one. We work a lot with young players. It’s just a small gesture towards the club.
14:15
Beren Cross
Newell's Old Boys investment
From the club that formed me I received more from Newell’s Old Boys than what I gave to them. I’m paying a debt than making a gift to Newell’s Old Boys.
The infrastructures of an institution make that the preparation of a team develops well. The teams, according to the quality of the players. Two things are important - the quality of player and preparation they receive. The infrastructures makes them better.
14:13
Beren Cross
What was worked on in the break?
We dedicated a lot of time to the offensive play and inside the offensive play we work a lot on the movements to free ourselves.
When we do these movements we try to work the possibilities to receive the ball behind the opponent.
14:12
Beren Cross
Hernandez's age
We have many tools to evaluate the performances of each player - the physical, the technical and expressions of personality.
When you take all these possibilities into account, the margin of mistake becomes smaller, but we have to admit intuition is important in our job.
14:10
Beren Cross
Selection headaches on recovered players
It’s not very hard to see if a player is in a good shape or not. The thing allows me to take the decision is the level of production of players who fight for a space and then you have many nuances. The experience, the personal history, the variations of the performance, those who are justified. I don’t have only one rule, but at the same time it’s not very difficult to find arguments to make a decision.
What I can tell you is in several circumstances I have made the wrong decision.
14:08
Beren Cross
Jansson - comments - disappointed?
I would have preferred Pontus didn’t say that. Because actually the referee’s a colleague of both teams. On the other hand his task is very difficult. If we understand the task, the role of the referee we will help him.
The role of us on the bench gives us, allows us more serenity than the players on the pitch. If Pontus had time to think about it, he would have said the same thing.
I understand the players, when they make many efforts, and they think their treatment is not fair. This is an opinion of a 63-year-old man outside the pitch.
14:06
Beren Cross
Alioski at left-back?
So far he has given us good response as a winger. To put him in a position should be a necessity for us (?) It’s either because of the result of the game or for the features of the players who play for the opponents.
14:05
Beren Cross
Jansson?
We’ll see what happens.
14:04
Beren Cross
Harrison?
Muscular injury. It’s not serious injury because he will be back next week, but this will prevent him from playing the next two matches.
14:04
Beren Cross
Pleased to have them back?
Well, actually we have some players who will miss the game. Douglas, Harrison, Ayling. We always have an average of four or five players missing, but it’s important these three we mentioned came back.
14:03
Beren Cross
Injuries
Roofe, Pablo, Berardi, these three players are fit.
14:02
Beren Cross
International break - achievements?
We had a group of players who needed to get some rest. Another group needed the opposite thing, which pace and tempo.
The third group were the international players and we have them back now.

tick with us and follow the updates below as Bielsa arrives at 2pm.

[stian]

Liker denne uttalelsen fra pressekonferansen:

What was worked on in the break?
We dedicated a lot of time to the offensive play and inside the offensive play we work a lot on the movements to free ourselves.
When we do these movements we try to work the possibilities to receive the ball behind the opponent.

Med gode økter på offensiv samhandling og Pablo og Roofe aktuell for en startplass kan vi håpe på en boost. Satser på at pausen bringer tilbake energien og tempoet vi har sett i de beste kampene i sesongstarten.

[Promotion 2010]

Før Ipswich hjemme

Les fra bunnen og oppover:

That's a wrap from Bielsa

A 33-minute press conference and probably his longest ever answer to Sky's Tim Thornton, essentially on what has been going wrong. Superb answers as always.
Sounds like Jansson and Douglas will be missing, certainly not starting - but that Harrison will play and it sounded like Hernandez will start.

Last one from Bielsa - are there any more injuries?

He smiles: "You think we don't already have enough?!"
"Not in this last half an hour we haven't had any more no!"

On Douglas and Harrison

It would be risky and premature for him (Douglas) to play this one but probably Harrison will play.

Could he start Clarke?

I thought about it. Every time Jack Clarke gets in and plays a game as a sub he gives positives answers, he is a very young player and he is a giving a good answer because he plays as a sub and he plays good, gives a positive answer. He brings things to the team. I think the process I am following with him and giving him time will give him time to improve

Bielsa on what is going wrong

I have 15 players who know each player because every day I trust less my
my opinion which means I compare my point of view to the 15. The fitness coaches, the goalkeeper coach, my colleagues, assistants and we do it very seriously because when we have a difference bigger than one point, when one of us puts a note higher or lower than the average we try to find out why so he ask him to convince us or we convince him. We are doing this very seriously. The wrong things is to attribute the wrong things to the wrong reasons. In the last press conference one of you asked me if it was difficult for us to play disputed games. Look at how I can influence. I started to think about this. In order to make the 50-50 balls a weak point for the team there is something that is very meaningful. How do we play out? How do we get the ball from the defensive sector to the attacking one. If you look at the worst moments from our season you will see it is against teams how did not less build from the back in a good manner. Against Blackburn, it was not harder for us to build from the back and reach the last third and the two most influential players were Klich and Saiz because they could play through the lines, but when we can put the ball in the last area of the pitch easily, we think the attack would be easier but curiously in this last game we had very few chances to score. I thought that we had problems and that we played worse when the game and lines were closed and we had problems, actually this was not the problem. The problem against Blackburn was that the last pass and assist did not find the right destination

Brilliant from Bielsa after his very long answer - to Sky's Tim Thornton

I think we should close this press conference because we cannot have another subject, I left our friend speechless so I prepared myself well to avoid a second question! If you have a second question you will hurt my pride a lot!
More from Bielsa - we are not the best
Are we the best team in the Championship because if we think we are the best team in the Championship we would have the right to think that all in the cycles, that we don't have to go through the same cycles and compared to the other teams I don't think we are that good. All the teams have ups and downs and we can't say we are good enough not to have ups and downs. Imagine that in the last 8 games we had 4 wins, we would be the leaders of the Championship and you will find in the last 8 games we played, it is not hard to imagine we could have won 2 more games but 1 thing is to justify and one is to explain, I am explaining things. You can't justify why you don't get what you can get. I am just sharing with you my analysis and I am responsible for all of this. In each case I insist a lot to improve as much we can the aspects I mention and I have the resources and the authority to improve things in all things I mentioned and if I can't do that it's because it will be my responsibility.
In a nutshell
The most important one is the matter of efficiency. Usually an opponent, to score a goal against us, does less than what we have to do to score a goal. The efficiency is one of the few things you can't work on because you can't train it. What you train on is the offensive play.

On one win in five - a long answer from Bielsa from here

In the first 5 games we won 4 of them and in the last we have only won 2. .It's impossible not to see a problem in this case so we are trying to make the right diagnostic because otherwise any correction would be a mistaken one. We need to correct, we need to change this cycle of results and we have to find out what is the real reason why we are not winning games. From my point of view the main reason is we need more chances to score one goal. At the beginning of the season we needed 2 or 3 chances to score, now we need 5 or 6 chances and this is very important. You have other aspects too that I analyse and I analyse to see if I could change things. For example in the first cycle of 5 games two players were missing, now in each game 6 players are missing. Sometimes to get the sport fitness takes longer than to take to recover from an injury but actually we found good solutions for the absence of some injured players, I don't think it's a justification. Maybe the level of the subs is a little bit lower but I don't think this is the main problem. The physical performance has always been a satisfaction. It was not a problem for us to get the ball and impose our style. Of course in the last press conference one of your colleagues made an interesting comment and we should take it into account. the point was about the opponent playing with physical game and frictions. It's very difficult to prepare a group for two different things - to play with the ball and to play disputed, friction games. Of course we need to be prepared for both comments because before starting a game we won't know how many aspects we will play with one and how many with the other. We are the second team in terms of number of goals scored and we are the first team regards the goals missed. The next team after us missed only 50 per cent of the chances we have missed. We are less efficient and we could build the offensive profile of the team. This is a long answer because I am giving you the analysis that I made. Each point I mention is to know how to play when the game becomes a disputed one.
The need to start winning
We always think about scoring a goal, about getting closer to the goal, first of all because our ambition is to win the game. If we can't do that then we have to score a goal to get a draw or a win. In the case when we are winning the best way to keep the score is to keep attacking. If we don't attack it's not because we don't want to attack.

On Jansson and Hernandez

Probably Pablo will be a starter tomorrow. Jansson will come back tonight and I don't think he will be a starter tomorrow and we will see if he will be able to be in the group.

1.30pm: Marcelo is here
On time as always





ETTER IPSWICH-KAMPEN:

Kan sees her:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=jWY0OcFS2_s


 

[Asbjørn]

Den mannen, altså...

Thomas Bradley
@TBradley23
 
Bielsa fielded a question in French during his presser. Salim translated Bielsa’s answer back in English to the press. 5 minutes later it dawned on Bielsa that Salim hadn’t relayed the message back in French for the journalist so made him translate the answer again. My man

[Promotion 2010]

Før Nottm F Pressekonferansen:

We're in place...
We’ll be hearing from Marcelo in, oh, about seven minutes,

Here he is...
Right, lets see what the boss has to say...

Team news first
Gaetano Berardi has an injury which is not a simple, an easy one.
And Barry Douglas will play Monday with the u23s.
From Monday on he will be available.

On Berardi's injury
You have sometimes injuries provoked by an external pressure, hyper-extension.
He received an external pressure on the corner and he had to extend his muscle more than he could.

How pleased were you with how Alioski and Harrison worked together on Wednesday?
I don’t think I would put the same players in the same positions tomorrow, at least not at the beginning.

Because of the opposition?
I haven;t taken my decision yet, but Alioski will probably play as a winger.

How close are Pearce and Forshaw to starting?
We have a small group and all the players are close to being starters, including Pearce and Forshaw.

Is Saiz in a period of frustration with his performances at the moment?
The game against Blackburn was an acceptable one.
Saiz got many balls close to the opponent’s box and this is his main skill.
In the last game against Ipswich he had less contact with the ball. It was a closed game and harder for the creative players.
Anyways, having said that, the first goal we scored is due to the fact that he could avoid the pressure at the beginning of the action.

Forest have the worst record in the fair play table - will it be a physical game?
From what I’ve seen of the opponent, they have good players in the midfield and attack. We see that it’s a team that has developed very well it’s system of play.
And it didn’t appear to me that it’s a violent team.
On the contrary I think it’s a team with a lot of enthusiasm and good play but you’re giving us evidence that we didn’t know.

It's just a stat - interesting to see if that has an impact on your preparation for the game
Many time we get misled by statistics. But we shouldn’t think that this kind of statistic be misleading.
Because any sanction taken by the referee deserves the action. But I didn’t observe that.

How do you assess the progress 14 games in, with about a third of the season played?
After the game against MIddlesbrough, Tony Pulis, he’s a wise man, he knows a lot about the Championship, and he told me that it was very hard to keep the regularity of the team in the Championship. We are an example of that. Because we can’t impose our style all of the time.
The level of the team is the same one but the players have ups and down. Even if we play 30 per cent of the Championship so far, we want to take into consideration teh regularity of the team, the time we’ve had so far is not enough.
I’m not sure yet that we’ll play all the games with the same level. And at the same time I’m not sure that we’ll play with the same level at 90 minutes. To be trustworthy for us when we make an analysis we still have to work a lot on this to get the features of the big teams. And I’m not talking about the beauty of the style. I’m talking about maintaining the same consistency. It’s hard to play well and when you play well it’s always easier to make differences with the opponent.
But the strong teams can neutralise the opponent even when they don’t play well.
So we can sum up this with a contradictory sentence, which would be: It’s not easy to play bad.
The name people give me as a nickname, I would like you to transmit this for me.

How much does being top and the team to catch mean?
It’s a misleading position. It’s a misleading leading position. The leader is the team that has most points and it doesn’t mean that you are the best team.
The best team is the team that has more points at the end of the Championship.

How long will Berardi be out.
Not yet - but it won’t be a short absence.

Does the Ipswich result mean the club is out of the 'bad moment'?
In order to talk about a positive or negative cycle we need more games. When you win four games in the first five game, you learn something. But when you win 2 games out of 8 it doesn’t mean the same. So I hope we will be able to build a lasting positive cycle with wins. A win is always a first step.


Fatherhood matters
- Marcelo says Jansson and Roofe will both be involved for #lufc this weekend

[Promotion 2010]

Før kampen borte mot Wigan:


Bielsa on Sky moving fixtures
"I'm always with the club or fans if it bothers them. But I can't tell you that we are not able to adapt."
Bielsa on teams failing to win in the league after Leeds
"There's only one possible conclusion is that we reduce the energy of our opponents. What we could ask for is to play one game after an another."
Bielsa on fan dressing up as him for Halloween
"What I can say is that people can make a character of my face. I could be proud of this. So I'm proud about it. I say to my Argentine friend that it's a praise."
Bielsa on Brown
"The fact that he will be able to come back soon inside the group is less important than knowing when he can play."
Bielsa on right-back concern
"I can't give you a positive or negative answer. What I can tell you is that Dallas and Shackleton played well there. From January we'll have the possibility to get back the four injuries."
Bielsa on Berardi
"A lot of time. It's not a simple injury. I don't know how to explain it, the level of the tendon went the other way, it's turned around. I will ask the head of medicine department to give you the information because I am just repeating what I have been told and maybe I'm not explaining enough."
Bielsa on Wigan
"For me the next opponent that I am playing against is always a tough one and I never underestimate them. I always think that the opponents are always strong enough to impose an important challenge to our skills. We always have the hope to win. We just drew at home and it makes it important to win an away game. On the other side when someone talks so much as I just did the best thing to avoid criticism against my ideas is to win the game so we have to win."
Bielsa now talking about English football
"When I arrived to England I had the dream and fantasy that everyone has about English football. Everyone admires the English leagues because they sanction cheating, speculation and injustice."
Big answer from Bielsa on opposition teams and football
Here's a snippet: "Football authorities they are working towards the justice for the referees. For example the video analysis. What they can't sanction yet is that teams intentional reduce the time of play. It's not because they are not trying to do it. The will of the fan is to see the teams playing but we have many resources that are allowed by the rules."
Bielsa on Championship finding his side out
"Usually the teams we are playing against, they don't behave with the goal of imposing their style on the opponent. The play was created so we can have a creative opposition. That's why it's a popular sport."
Bielsa on Saiz
"Samu Saiz is a great player. He's the player who can create the lack of balance that our team needs. He is the only player in the group who can create that. Taking into account what he did so far this season and what he did so far last year he's the player who can create the best lack of balance in the offensive sector. The most important pass that ended with the goal that was scored started with Saiz. Samu's last pass is the most aggressive one we have and after praising him like that you will ask me why he doesn't play. He's not playing because he's going through ups and downs and things like this happen. Sometimes we have to explain why Saiz isn't a starter and others when Forshaw is not a starter."
Bielsa on right-back issue
"He (Dallas) will play as a full-back. He has a very important contribution to the offensive play, he has a very good first pass, he is a dynamic player and adapts very well to the play."
Bielsa on team news
"Douglas will play. I don't make a comparison between players but I can tell you what his skills are. You are familiar with his skills, he has a very good left foot especially for the set-pieces and crosses. His inside pass is very good and associated play is also good, he combines well with his team-mates. He's an experienced player and usually he always has a level of performance which the minimum is always good."
Slight delay...
Marcelo Bielsa is still out on the training pitch so we're waiting to hear from him at around 3pm.
Good afternoon...
Welcome to Thorp Arch for today's pre-Wigan press conference. Marcelo Bielsa and Adam Forshaw will be speaking from 2:30pm...

Stay tuned for all the latest...

[Promotion 2010]

Før WBA borte:


That's all from Bielsa

The Leeds United boss is all done here - fairly short, but some fascinating stuff in there, particularity his thoughts on the commercialisation of the game.

Plenty to ruminate on there, so stay tuned to LeedsLive while we pick the bones out of it all.

12:20
Final question is on the international break

Bielsa says the club will be working on getting everyone fit, with a game taking place between the first-team squad and the under-23s.

12:18
Any other team news?

No.

12:18
Happy memories from the competition when you reached the final in 1992?

Yes, but it was a long time ago. And we have two possible points of view. For those who are from Newell’s Old Boys, it’s an unforgettable memory.

And from those who analyse my career say the last time I won was a long time ago.

12:17
Will you watch Boca Juniors vs River Plate? What is it like to be involved in a game like that?

It’s the dream game. Everyone dreams of this kind of game.

Because you have the aspiration of winning this game. In this kind of game you emotions that you want to leave.

12:15
Is that enough?

Yes. It’s only my opinion. The club can have a different opinion and I will take that into account.

12:15
How much thought have given to the transfer window?

It will be very hard to add new players. But we will have four more players coming in January, Bamford, Brown, Berardi and Ayling.

12:14
How important will your defensive side be this weekend?

I think the challenge, the exam we’re going to pass this coming Saturday in the defensive segment, this exam we’re going to pass will strengthen our conclusions.

But it’s also very important for us to keep our offensive identity even if we have to take into account the offensive capacity of the opponent.

There is an old sentence which says the best way to defend is to attack. If we want to refresh this sentence and if we want to give importance to the value of possession in order to attack you need to have the ball. SO we will try to have the ball and in order to strengthen this concept it’s important to prevent the opponent from counter attacking. Because possession is important only if you prevent the opponent from counter attacking.

12:11
Are West Brom one of the most dangerous sides in terms of goalscoring?

I think the best offensive players of the Championship play in West Bromwich.

They might not have the best player in each position. But if we take, as a whole, No. 15,10,19 and 16, they are the best offensive players.

If we take them as a whole you won’t find another team with players as good as them.

12:10
You can use technology in the dugout this season - what does Marcelo use?

I don’t use any technology.

Nor my coaches. We rely on our memory.

But after 60 years, you lose your memory!

That’s why it’s harder and harder for me every day.

12:09
How much responsibility do you feel you have to provide entertaining football?

When a team doesn’t get what it deserves sooner or later the fans banish the lack of results.

The lack of tolerance regarding the lack of results is stronger than the lack of tolerance when the style is not beautiful.

The fans that tolerate are more willing to expect to wait for the beauty of the game when they have results.

I think that the commercialisation of football when the clubs are owned by private people the result is more important than anything.

But the most attractive thing in football is the beauty of the game. Those who invest in football should be aware or take precautions to keep the level of the business they bought.

Because when a team plays bad you’ll have less fans willing to watch the game but you have head coaches like Guardiola that can unite both things- beauty and results.

He plays well and wins and he increases the value of the club where he works and the players he has.

But I think it’s the responsibility of all to discuss the importance of the result above the beauty of the game.

I don’t know if the anaology’s good, I’m sure it’s not. It’s disproportionate analogy I’m going to make.

The fact that we are not taking care of the planet, our children will pay the consequence of the acts. And with football it will be the same. Because we are destroinyh football and in the future we will see the negative effects of this.

And those who have power are responsible for it. The head coaches have power, the owners of the club have power, the media have power and the fans have power but they don’t use it.

12:03
Were you impressed?

No.

Because of the defeat?

When we have to comment on defeats, if I can avoid commenting I would prefer not to.

12:02
You went to see the U23s this week - did anyone impress you?

I usually do this routine of observing the players of my group and also it concerns the best youngest players. I didn’t got to see any player in particualr, I went to see the whole group.

12:00
Here's the boss...

Here he is.

[ibster]

Før WBA borte:


That's all from Bielsa

The Leeds United boss is all done here - fairly short, but some fascinating stuff in there, particularity his thoughts on the commercialisation of the game.

Plenty to ruminate on there, so stay tuned to LeedsLive while we pick the bones out of it all.

12:20
Final question is on the international break

Bielsa says the club will be working on getting everyone fit, with a game taking place between the first-team squad and the under-23s.

12:18
Any other team news?

No.

12:18
Happy memories from the competition when you reached the final in 1992?

Yes, but it was a long time ago. And we have two possible points of view. For those who are from Newell’s Old Boys, it’s an unforgettable memory.

And from those who analyse my career say the last time I won was a long time ago.

12:17
Will you watch Boca Juniors vs River Plate? What is it like to be involved in a game like that?

It’s the dream game. Everyone dreams of this kind of game.

Because you have the aspiration of winning this game. In this kind of game you emotions that you want to leave.

12:15
Is that enough?

Yes. It’s only my opinion. The club can have a different opinion and I will take that into account.

12:15
How much thought have given to the transfer window?

It will be very hard to add new players. But we will have four more players coming in January, Bamford, Brown, Berardi and Ayling.

12:14
How important will your defensive side be this weekend?

I think the challenge, the exam we’re going to pass this coming Saturday in the defensive segment, this exam we’re going to pass will strengthen our conclusions.

But it’s also very important for us to keep our offensive identity even if we have to take into account the offensive capacity of the opponent.

There is an old sentence which says the best way to defend is to attack. If we want to refresh this sentence and if we want to give importance to the value of possession in order to attack you need to have the ball. SO we will try to have the ball and in order to strengthen this concept it’s important to prevent the opponent from counter attacking. Because possession is important only if you prevent the opponent from counter attacking.

12:11
Are West Brom one of the most dangerous sides in terms of goalscoring?

I think the best offensive players of the Championship play in West Bromwich.

They might not have the best player in each position. But if we take, as a whole, No. 15,10,19 and 16, they are the best offensive players.

If we take them as a whole you won’t find another team with players as good as them.

12:10
You can use technology in the dugout this season - what does Marcelo use?

I don’t use any technology.

Nor my coaches. We rely on our memory.

But after 60 years, you lose your memory!

That’s why it’s harder and harder for me every day.

12:09
How much responsibility do you feel you have to provide entertaining football?

When a team doesn’t get what it deserves sooner or later the fans banish the lack of results.

The lack of tolerance regarding the lack of results is stronger than the lack of tolerance when the style is not beautiful.

The fans that tolerate are more willing to expect to wait for the beauty of the game when they have results.

I think that the commercialisation of football when the clubs are owned by private people the result is more important than anything.

But the most attractive thing in football is the beauty of the game. Those who invest in football should be aware or take precautions to keep the level of the business they bought.

Because when a team plays bad you’ll have less fans willing to watch the game but you have head coaches like Guardiola that can unite both things- beauty and results.

He plays well and wins and he increases the value of the club where he works and the players he has.

But I think it’s the responsibility of all to discuss the importance of the result above the beauty of the game.

I don’t know if the anaology’s good, I’m sure it’s not. It’s disproportionate analogy I’m going to make.

The fact that we are not taking care of the planet, our children will pay the consequence of the acts. And with football it will be the same. Because we are destroinyh football and in the future we will see the negative effects of this.

And those who have power are responsible for it. The head coaches have power, the owners of the club have power, the media have power and the fans have power but they don’t use it.

12:03
Were you impressed?

No.

Because of the defeat?

When we have to comment on defeats, if I can avoid commenting I would prefer not to.

12:02
You went to see the U23s this week - did anyone impress you?

I usually do this routine of observing the players of my group and also it concerns the best youngest players. I didn’t got to see any player in particualr, I went to see the whole group.

12:00
Here's the boss...

Here he is.

BOLD 1.
Hinter Bielsa noe om at vi kanskje får transfer inn i Januar?

Kanskje enkelte i klubben ikke synes det er nok med spillerne som kommer tilbake.

og..

BOLD 2.
Snakker han til Radz om at han må sørge for å få nye underskrifter fra Roofe (og andre nøkkelspillere som nærmer seg utgangen av kontrakten eller bør få ny kontrakt pga. prestasjoner)?

[Promotion 2010]

Før Bristol City hjemme:

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/marcelo-bielsa-full-transcript-dropping-15450592


After the West Brom defeat, has it felt like a long two weeks? What lessons can you take from that game?

Obviously the defeat against West Bromwich was an injury that we had to heal.

We went through this process and you end the process when you have the next game coming up.

At the beginning the next game was not close, was not near and then when the next game is coming you have the hope of playing the next game soon, you forget a little bit the defeat against West Brom.

But of course we had to draw the conclusions regarding the mistakes we made in the last game.


What did you say to the players and will you look to make changes this weekend?

We talked about the impact that the mistake we made had on the final result that allowed the opponent to score four goals.

Is the break a good way for players to recharge their batteries, given your style of play?

Now until the the end of December we are facing a series of nine games. We play every three or four days, that’s why the players had four days off. It was a necessary pause that they needed.

Obviously I’m talking about the players that are not international ones.


Did Marcelo enjoy the break himself? Enjoy the time to take a step back?

No, I never enjoy the time after losing a game.

The Jamal Blackman injury - how important a blow is that, given you've not got a senior professional putting the pressure on Bailey? And is signing a new keeper a priority in January?

Blackman was going to be the starter in this coming game.

I’m very sad for him because of what happened to him. Because he’s a great human being, a great person, a great goalkeeper. He did a huge effort to do what we asked him to do.

To give you an example, he lost 12 kilos. This indicates his level of application as a professional. And he was a great team-mate for the other players and for us as staff.

When he won the opportunity to start a game, he got injured. Of course I’m sad for the team, for the club, but I’m especially sad for him because the destiny is unfair for him.


How close is Izzy Brown to the first team? Are you happy with your striking options once he's back or will you be looking in January?

Izzy Brown hasn’t played in the last year.

So now he’s well. He has to be well to start now, to train as a footballer. But now I don’t know how long it will take for him to find his level again. Depends on his capacity to adapt.

And it depends on his capacity to be a member of the team but we can’t ignore the fact that a player who hasn't played a game in the last year, we can’t expect him to resolve his lack of activity in a short time.


Marcelo Bielsa on why he remains convinced Leeds United don't need defensive reinforcements in January
How do you feel in the club and in the city?

I’m very happy to be in this club.

I’m happy with the players I have. I’m very happy with the human quality and the football quality of my players. I’m satisfied to with the project we are building. We share the same goals with the club.

To give you an example, taking care of the infrastructures of the club is something very important to me and very important to the club.

I’m a worker of the club and I receive a lot of collaboration from the other workers of the club and this is very important for the work I am doing.

Regarding the city, the contact I have with the assistants during the game, every time we play at Elland Road we receive massive support from the fans and it’s very generous from them.

Leeds is a beautiful city, but I don’t have a lot of time to enjoy it. And for me the most important thing of a city is the people who live in a city and the fans, the support I receive from the fans tells everything.


Is Pontus Jansson fit and available for the weekend?

I think he won’t be available for this weekend.

Do you think he might be out for a little while?

Until yesterday we thought he would be available but now the game is getting closer I don’t have the same optimism.

He didn’t train with the group, so it's not probable that he will play.

You have a lot of injuries at the back - what are your options in defence?

[Kalvin] 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 the gentleman who asked the question at the beginning, I don’t have any news about the possibility to bring someone in in general.

Or maybe before if Bailey is out for a while?

Or maybe before.

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 that you will have any easy game.

Because the teams that are 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 table or the end of the table. And the teams at the bottom of the table always make surprising results.

So you can’t imagine you will have any easy games.

What are your thoughts on the Copa Libertadores final second leg? What is it like for everyone in Argentina and who do you think will win?

You can’t make any prediction on that.

What does it mean to Argentinians?

We make so many comments about the game that I'm not able to make any new comments on it.

For the Argentinian people, football is a special passion. And the most popular teams in Argentina are Boca and River. They are the wealthiest clubs and the fact that they reached the continental final is something very special for our country.

All the Argentinians are interested in this game.

Does the fact you were going to play Jamal Blackman suggest you have lost confidence in Bailey Peacock-Farrell?

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 position 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 22 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 doing anything to get it back, destiny 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 from him.

Was the decision based 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 and results?

I never think that we can’t win the next games. But I can’t say either that 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 thing is to take a decision. My role is to take decisions.

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

It’s a different thing to make an opinion on good intentions than to make a decision.

The person making the decision gathers more opinions, more information than the one just giving his opinion.

So when there’s one specific moment of the season, in one specific sector of the team, it’s not common to have these five players missing, Berardi, Blackman, Farrell, Ayling and Jansson.


These are injuries based on kicks they received, not on muscular ones. These are injuries caused by traumatic situations, they are not muscular injuries so it’s not because of what you’re doing in the training session, it’s 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 do you think you will 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 each stage of the competition.

Our goals are marked by what we do every game.


How close between Kamil Miazek and Will Huffer in terms of who may start in goal?

I haven’t taken any decisions yet.

What have you made of Aapo Halme? He's had a lot of injuries, but 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.

[Cherry]

Mellom linjene leser jeg at han elsker laget og byen Leeds !

....og i tillegg er han venn`med oss fans!

[ibster]

Mellom linjene leser jeg at han elsker laget og byen Leeds !

....og i tillegg er han venn`med oss fans!

Syns ikke det høres ut som en mann som stikker til sommeren hvis opprykket uteblir.

[Promotion 2010]

Før Reading, hjemme:


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.

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.

Has Saiz's reaction been a good one?
Yes and I'm honest when I say yes but if it was not the case I would not say it publicly but in this case he has

On Saiz's game at the moment?
I think Saiz is the most skilled player of our team and he has skills that few players have. I am not talking about only our team but football in general and then you have a trend which is linked to the performance and it is also linked to the performance of the team mates. We always think that being a sub is not a good thing for the players. It's a mistake to think like that. Because 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 their own interests so you have to find the right balance in all this and draw the right conclusions.

How is Liam Cooper?
He is fine

Is the league starting to take shape?
I don't think so. I already knew that it was going to be a difficult competition but I was not expecting that as many teams would be able to fight for the first ranks. And I also thought that for some teams it would be easier to show that they have a good level.

On progress overall?
I have been asked this question many times during different moments of the season. I am never sure that the good moments will last. And I am not sure that we won't be able to overcome difficult moments. How many times are we going to play well and when we have our downs and if we think we will always play well it means 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 and at which condition we are in when the decisions on the competition are made. When we play the last games of the Championship, when you play the last 15 per cent of the games, when the position that you have in the table before the last 15 per cent of the games allows you to make the definitive goals.

Where would you like to see improvement?
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 defend bad. I couldn't say it' a sector of the field or a moment on the pitch in the game, it's more about the play. The idea is to defend well, to attack better and then to attack well and to defend away from our box. So the secret in this is how we use the ball. When we lose the ball because of a lack of an idea we don't play well.

Reflections on the Bristol City game
"Regarding the opinions that don't from my analysis I prefer to be cautious before evaluating them or making any comment on them. Because maybe the person making this kind of opinion has an argument that I don't have. I am aware of the importance of playing with 11 men versus ten for half an hour, I don't think this is linked to any luck. What I can tell is that the opponent didn't have any chances to score and we had in ourselves six or 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 when the opponent played better which was the beginning of the second half. And then during minute 25 to 35 we had a down. And also the moment when Liam Cooper was out of the team we lacked stability but all these things, the only result of this was the opponent playing better but they only got throw ins to the box and corners. Even if we were not excellent in these moments we defended pretty well at set pieces.

Team news from Marcelo...
"Jansson won't be available and Bailey can be a starter tomorrow."
On Jansson: "At the beginning he was supposed to be available for last Saturday and then tomorrow but it was not the case and that's why I would like to be cautious before saying he can play next Saturday."

1.01pm: Right - here we go

12.45pm: In position at Thorp Arch

[Promotion 2010]

13:28BEREN CROSS
All over

That’s it for now.

13:28BEREN CROSS
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.

13:25
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.

13:24BEREN CROSS
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.

13:21BEREN CROSS
What are those new ideas?

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

13:21BEREN CROSS
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.

13:18BEREN CROSS
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.

13:15BEREN CROSS
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.

13:13BEREN CROSS
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.

13:12BEREN CROSS
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.

13:10BEREN CROSS
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.

13:06BEREN CROSS
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.

13:04BEREN CROSS
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.

13:03BEREN CROSS
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.

13:02BEREN CROSS
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.

13:01BEREN CROSS
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.

13:00BEREN CROSS
Jansson

We think he will be available.

12:58BEREN CROSS
In place at Thorp Arch

My first time back in the hotseat for a month. Very much looking forward to seeing what the head coach has to say today. Arrival imminent.

[Promotion 2010]

Fantastisk av Bielsa og rette på oversetteren i dag etter Sheff.U borte!

Oversetteren sa: Vi vant takket være keeperens feil!

Ble raskt avbrutt av Bielsa!

Rettet til: Vi vant takket være en feil av motstanderen!


KLASSE! 

[AllWhiteTøyen]

Fantastisk av Bielsa og rette på oversetteren i dag etter Sheff.U borte!
Pure class ja. Ikke bare keeperens feil. Håpløst tilbakespill som setter keeper i en vanskelig situasjon. Han skulle selvsagt ha beina ballen utover sidelinja. Bra for oss at han gikk for alternativ 2.

Oversetteren sa: Vi vant takket være keeperens feil!

Ble raskt avbrutt av Bielsa!

Rettet til: Vi vant takket være en feil av motstanderen!


KLASSE! 

[Promotion 2010]

Før QPR hjemme:

Follow every question and answer below.

14:00BEREN CROSS
That's it from Bielsa

Look out for the full transcript later.

13:57BEREN CROSS
Captain on Saturday?

I never designate the captain. I never choose the captain. For me, the captain represents his team-mates. The natural thing to do is the captain has to be chosen by his team-mates.

Captain usually has been in the club for many years, but for me, the players have to choose their captain.

13:56BEREN CROSS
Halme

He has done balanced games. He is duty player. He does what the team needs from him. He took his responsibilities when he had to play instead of Cooper. It was a tough game and he gave a good performance.

13:50BEREN CROSS
Goalkeeper?

Actually, in football, what is possible doesn’t always become a reality. Before giving any information I prefer to be sure about what I am saying. I can’t be sure about buying a goalkeeper, even if we take into account losing a great ‘keeper like Blackman.

13:48BEREN CROSS
Coyle situation

We will make the analysis according to what Victor Orta proposes. AS a matter f fact, the only player we lost for the season is Jamal Blackman.

And the players we have, I’m very happy with and the players Victor Orta brought to the club. The contribution of the players from the academy is very important.

I don’t see the need to bring any other player in now. If it’s a player better than the one we have I would agree with the fact he comes, but I know how expensive that could be.

13:45BEREN CROSS
Easier to trust players if they work with you a long time?

When you assimilate the style of play the only difference, regarding the style of play, is when you buy a great player. The great player can go into any team without any difficulty. These kinds of players are not very common and very expensive and the clubs don’t want to sell these kinds of players. When you buy these players you are shown to be doing something during the transfer window. When you have an injury, you buy a player, but actually the goal is to buy a player who can improve the level of the team.

13:43BEREN CROSS
Managers go to transfers with injuries - you take a different approach - why?

Ayling will be back this month. Berardi and Cooper it will be at the end of January or beginning of February. Dallas and Pearce will be back in the following weeks. Bamford and Brown are available now(!). When a new player comes he doesn’t have the same advantage as the ones who are present. He has to adapt to the team, the style of work, the city, the club.

For the second part of the season, when you buy a player it has an impact on the club finances because the big players are not easily available. Apart from the situation where the team needs someone, the possibility of having a player is clear, we won’t buy anyone.

I prefer instead of buying to improve the quality of the work because the team usually reflects the quality of the players’ individualities, but it’s also linked to the training they receive and you also can improve a team when you improve the equipment.

13:38BEREN CROSS
Coach for a long time - this many injuries ever before?

Yes, in some moments. The particularity of these kind of injuries, a high level of them are due to traumatic issues, not muscular issues. Either it’s the bone or the articulation. With these there is not much you can do.

Today we can manage and control the level of work, the intensity of the work. With that you can decrease the level of injuries, this is regarding the muscular injuries. The bone injuries, there is nothing you can do.

13:36BEREN CROSS
Greatest pleasure seeing youths come in?

I am happy for them. I am happy for the academy as it is an important part of the club. We are too much demanding with the youngsters. The preparation of a youngster is more flexible than the prep of an experienced player.

The fact we very demanding with them and this allows them to be part of the first team is a very positive situation. The experienced players have a knowledge when it is about choosing, among the youths, the one they want to have in the first team.

For me, the support the youths get from the experienced players is very positive. They have, the youths, need to have the approval of the experienced players to fit well in the first team.

13:34BEREN CROSS
How much of a test is it?

Honestly, I think Ayling couldn’t play, Dallas played, now Dallas can’t and Shackleton will play.

This is thanks to the work the academy did for the first team. We solved the absences in one way or another. Of course we are aware of the kind of player we are losing.

The solutions we are finding, they are allowing us to stay optimistic. The youngsters among the first team, from 18 to 23, the youngsters contribute a lot o the resolution of our needs.

13:31BEREN CROSS
Injuries first - feel cursed?

I am sure I have done something wrong because it is punishing me.

13:30BEREN CROSS
Bielsa's here

First question coming up...

13:18BEREN CROSS
What to expect from Bielsa

Well, we will definitely here of his plans for replacing Dallas and Cooper, but we’ll be sure to ask him about the latest on the January transfer window and those reports Freddie Woodman was approached at Newcastle United recently.

[Promotion 2010]

Før Bolton borte:


Follow every question and answer from the head coach below.


13:25BEREN CROSS
All over

That’s it from Bielsa.

13:25BEREN CROSS
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.

13:22BEREN CROSS
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.

13:18BEREN CROSS
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.

13:13BEREN CROSS
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.

13:11BEREN CROSS
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.

13:10BEREN CROSS
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.

13:09BEREN CROSS
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.

13:07BEREN CROSS
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.

13:05BEREN CROSS
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.

13:04BEREN CROSS
Changes for Bolton?

I haven’t decided the starting XI yet.

13:04BEREN CROSS
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.

BEREN CROSS
Welcome

Good afternoon from Thorp Arch. We’ll be hearing from Marcelo Bielsa at around 1pm and we will have full, live updates for you right here. You won’t miss a beat.

[Promotion 2010]

Før Aston Villa borte:

Stay tuned and follow every question and answer from Bielsa below.


13:27BEREN CROSS
All over

That’s it from Bielsa.

13:27BEREN CROSS
Cult figure - kids' costumes, horse names - does he know?

What do you want me to tell you?

[Is he aware of his status?]

Affection is the maximum aspiration for a human being, when you receive affection it’s something you are very thankful for. We have to be very careful when we see the reasons for this affection.

In this case I don’t deserve the recognition I am getting. If I give you this answer I feel ill at ease and if I don’t answer to you you wouldn’t accept it. I have the obligation to tell you.

13:25BEREN CROSS
Bielsa Rhapsody

I am thankful. It’s very important, for me, the feeling for the club. They give me an importance honestly I don’t deserve.

13:24BEREN CROSS
Ayling back

May start this weekend.

13:22BEREN CROSS
Brown update

He has a problem that will take three or four weeks to solve. I’m disappointed and sad this happened. It’s very common, frequent players who didn’t play for a long time have more problems. I see he is strong mentally with a lot of enthusiasm.

13:21BEREN CROSS
Saiz opinion

I gave my opinion by the time I gave him as a player. He played 80 per cent of the competition. He left the club being a starter. He missed, I don’t remember, four or five games, and when he left our midfield was Forshaw, Klich and Saiz. I have to be very careful. He was a player that had a lot of value for me.

I can’t say it doesn’t matter he left because you would tell me ‘why, then he played 80 per cent of the games.’ This is my first point. Second point is I didn’t ask Samu Saiz to leave. I never talked about him, regarding his desire to leave the club. In the club there are people I trust very much who evaluated the situation. They took the decision they thought was the right one. I don’t agree and I don’t disagree with the decision taken.

What I can’t tell is I asked Saiz to leave, I made it easier and it doesn’t matter because we have a group of 18 players and he was one of the 18 players. When you put limitations to the number of players you can’t say it doesn’t matter if one of them goes. Of course, we are in conversations to find a solution he has left. We assume we can’t rely on him anymore and we must find a solution. As I want to be ?? - it matters to me what people think of my job. I can’t say I made it easier for Saiz to leave and I can’t say it doesn’t matter he left and I have never talked to Samu about his departure.

Let’s remember he left the team being a starter in the team. I don’t have to underline this, but if you start or are in the 18 it’s the same thing because if you take the stats you have four or five always missing.

At the same time, honestly, I trust absolutely the persons who take these decisions in the club I don’t take. These arguments I’m giving you, those who ntake these decisions, took them into account, but taking into account arguments doesn’t mean you impose the arguments.

For me, it’s easier not to deal with this situation because it’s difficult to solve. What I can’t tell is I made it easier or I don’t care if he left or not. I say that because we have a responsibility to the people who make opinions on our decisions. I can’t say he left and I don’t care. I talked a lot about this, but I only said three things. I didn’t make it easier for Samu Saiz to leave, a head coach can’t say he doesn’t care when this player played 80 per cent of the games and he was a starter and one of the 18 players, and it was difficult situation to solve. I have absolute trust in those who made the decision. I am sure they know my arguments and with optimism we think we can find a solution to his absence.

There is no excuse to look forward to the future with the same optimism as before. I spent 10 minutes telling you this, but I didn’t say these last five things.

13:10BEREN CROSS
Expected greater challenge in imposing style?

This experience is similar to the previous ones I had as a head coach. You know we have a sentence that says you have to play according to the qualities of the players you have. I have never had to be the head coach of a group that prevented me from developing my ideas. That’s why I have some doubts regarding this concept. Players are a condition for the style. The role of the head coach is to convince and you can’t convince if you don’t believe in what you are saying. That’s why it’s very hard for a head coach to change his manner of conceiving the game, it’s more credible to think you can develop your ideas regardless of the features of the players. Let me moderate my comment. You don’t have players, probably, that prevent a head coach from developing his ideas. Maybe the weakest teams of a Championship, don’t have the quality of the other teams, but if we take the average, we can draw this kind of opinion.

13:07BEREN CROSS
Halfway point - reflections

The players have, almost all of them, have Championship experience. The process of adaptation is only for the youngsters because the new players like Bamford, Douglas and Forshaw come from the Championship.

Honestly, my intention was very natural because I consider when you have noble opponents with good intentions, when you have referees without considering they can make mistakes and take quick decisions, impartial referees, when you have an impeccable organisation, when you have high quality pitches and when you have all these ingredients, all competitions are similar, the only challenge is to propose your style.

That’s why I haven’t had any difficulties to adapt.

13:04BEREN CROSS
Eleven points from a losing position - what has changed for that stat this season?

To be able to make differences and comparison I would have to know what happened in the previous seasons. What I see is we have a group of players who are very capable, involved in the project - with the institution, involved with the public. I corrected the word project because this group of players would follow any kind of project.

The identification of the players with the team, with the city and with the fans is more important than the project. There is a mix between the team and professionalism. They are professionals, so they can do their job seriously. They have a dose of amateur because of the affection they have with what they are doing. It’s not only they do their job, it’s the feelings towards what they are doing.

In ways, it’s never good to analyse a group when they are at the top level. The good thing is we can say exactly what we just said in a moment of adversity.

13:00BEREN CROSS
Fifteen-point gap would be significant for Villa though

The other day I was told when Middlesbrough got promoted they had a 12-point difference and they lost it. I’ve just been told this otherwise I would say you can’t lose 15 points, but the team that got promoted lost 12 points.

12:59BEREN CROSS
Villa a serious rival at the top?

The important thing for this competition is who is getting promoted and who is struggling to get promoted. As it is a long competition, and as you have many possibilities because you have six teams able to go up, any conclusion will be a premature one.

I see every time I’m asked the same question in a different way, but unfortunately I can’t give you a different answer. Imagine if I had to give you an answer with a level of certainty in the answer. For any lucid observer it would be an act of irresponsibility. We only played half of the games. If you ask me if Villa has players to get promoted, my answer is yes. Do they have the structure to go up? Yes. Do they have a brilliant head coach? Of course. You have more than six teams with good players, good head coach and good structure.

We are sure among all these teams with the capacity for promotion, they won’t give the answer observers expect. We can’t draw conclusions now, we have to wait until the end. That’s why it’s very difficult to give a serious answer.

12:55BEREN CROSS
Need to replace Saiz?

The answer I just gave includes the answer to your question. If player arrives he has to have a better level than the player we already have. We also have to consider his adaptation to the competition and his new team. We have many hypotheses on that, so I can’t give you a clear answer.

The clear facts are we have less players than six months ago. If a player arrives it would mean he is better than the players we already have.

12:53BEREN CROSS
January plans

The possibility of strengthening the team is hypothetical, it’s not concrete or clear. There are some clear facts, For example, we have less players than at the beginning of the season. To add players to the team increasing the level of the team is not easy. If we find players better than those who left it will be a good addition to the team.

It’s only a possibility, for now.

12:52BEREN CROSS
First Christmas in England - what will it look like for you and players?

It’s a tradition in England. It’s something common. It’s something exceptional for other countries, but common here. When you play two games per week in two weeks it’s similar to other moments in the competition.

The fact this happens during Christmas and New Year period, it will be more demanding regarding professionalism, but it’s not exaggerated. It belongs to the folklore of English football and it belongs to the football culture of this country.

12:50BEREN CROSS
Christmas approach - rotation?

We’ll see the affects on each player and take decisions after that. We’ll take into account the fatigue.

12:49BEREN CROSS
Five wins - Villa biggest test?

It’s the last rival we haven’t played against. It’s a team with a very significant offensive strength. They are good in the collective play and they are good with their individual players. They also have many good players. If we take into account these aspects, they have very similar aspects to West Bromwich.

BEREN CROSS
Good afternoon

Welcome to a dreary Thorp Arch as we await Marcelo Bielsa and Salim Lamrani.

He is expected from 12.45pm.

[Cherry]

Bielsa er en kompleks , rutinert rev.
Vi har hatt lite motgang, mye skader - men ikke lengre motvind... spent på hva det kan få ut av El Loco!

Trist å høre om Izzy , nye uker ute... ikke bra.

[Promotion 2010]

Før QPR i FA cupen:


13:44
That's all from Marcelo

Tyler Roberts up next.

13:43
Any FA Cup memories? Ardiles and Villa for example?

Good question.

Because you expose me to see what I try to say [laughs].

I’m going to tell you the truth. You know that English football is very popular around the world. YOu know that in England people love their traditions so we have a mix of 2 things.

Everybody wants to watch what you’ve been building throughout the centuries. It’s not a democratic (?) conclusion. I don’t have in mind all the specific moments of English football. My memories recalls Revie, Bobby Charlton. This striker with long hair, short, not very tall, very important number 9 for English football.

<Keegan?>

Yes, Keegan!

I take the name of a former American president and say he was a number 9!

13:39
Why do you trust Victor? What does he bring to his teams?

I trust him because I like the players I have at my disposal. The first time I saw Victor in my life was 5 months ago. It’s not like I’m his friend and I want to say good things about him.

I was telling the players today I have a lot of hope of the game on Sunday. I am looking forward to seeing the team that is going to start, I’m sure they will make us happy, winning. Because if you play well and you don’t win, it doesn’t make any sense and if you win but don’t play well it doesn’t last long.

13:37
Concerned about rivals signing players this month?

Victor Orta built this team.

Of course I gave my opinion on it but the creator of this team is Victor Orta. This team has a privallaged position in the Championship. Clearly, he was not mistaken. I trust but not because it’s rational trust. I don’t trust just because we work in the same club. I trust his work. And also I trust the support that the president gives to Victor’s decisions. When the club takes decisions, the decisions are mine.

THat’s why we have to understand the mechanics. When I say this team was built by Victor ORta, but if this team doesn’t work, I will be responsible. Why do I tell you that? Because when they propose things and I accept, it’s my decision. So I trust Victor and the only parameter is we bring a player only if he adds value to the team, not to give an image of bringing in players. Because many times we take decisions as a response to fans’ demands. We have to listen to the fans demands and we have to give answers according to what is being asked and what does the fan ask? To make this team better and it’s not an easy thing to do, especially during the winter. But even if no-one comes we will have the resources to finish the season.

13:33
No inhibition with naming your starting XI so early?

It’s not convenient to give two days before the game the starting XI because between now and Sunday many things could happen. That’s why I don’t usually, because it could change. At this moment all of our opponents know more about is than we do about them. It’s the same for us. And we don’t do it because it’s efficient. We do it because we want to increase the precautions.

When I started to be a head coach we had 3 staff, now we have 15, five times more. It hasn’t made the game better, but there is more work for our profession. That’s why for me to name it or not, it’s not very important.

But I wanted to give it today because the general opinion of my decisions is important to me. I wanted to explain case by case I did not disrespect the competition because the destanataries of the competitions are the fans and they have a link with the shirt and we can’t betray them.

13:30
What about Bamford and Brown? Bamford ready for Derby?

Izzy Brown is fit. But he hasn’t played in the last year.

Usually a process for a player like him is to play 4 or 5 games with the U23s before playing in the Championship. That’s why if everything goes well, by mid-February he will be in a position to be in the first team. Because first he has to reach his fitness level. And then he would have to be in competition with Pablo, Roberts, Roofe etc who play in the same position.

Bamford is well. He suffered an injury similar to the one before but not so serious. And we have to take precautions with that. That’s why we won’t accelerate the terms of recovery for Bamford. You have two ways of managing injuries of the players.

The first one is when you take into account the needs of the team or the second one is where you take into account the health of the player and for me I always put first the health of the player and then second the interest of the team. But to explain it clearly, if Roofe doesn’t play and if Patrick Bamford is available, it’s a possibility. But Tyler Roberts is a good alternative to both and we will try to have Harrison as an alternative. These are the ideas, they are not absences that generate problems without solutions. The fact we’ve played many games in a short period makes the other teams have the same unavoidable problems.

I don’t ignore the reality, but it’s a relaity that is a normal one because it’s a horizontal problem because they all have the same one.

13:24
You said Phillips had an injury - is he not suspended? Was that lost in translation?

Yes, he has a three game suspension.

Ayling needs to play because he feels he has not reached 100% of his performance. With Phillips suspended and Liam Cooper will play with the U23 before the CHampionship.

13:23
Dallas and Berardi injuries

Gaetano Berardi is well now. We’ll see during the month of January when we can put him inside the team. The process is always the same, like Liam Cooper.

The idea is that he plays with the U23 and then with the first team.

The process of recovery that the medical staff and fitness coach are doing have been always very efficient because the injured player when they come back to the first-team their level of performance is that good that you can’t see they’ve been injured before.

And usually it’s something very difficult to reach. You get this from the medical staff.

That’s why the contribution of the fitness staff has a lot for us.

As you see we’ve had many injuries.

Dallas started to train today. The problem with him is that as it’s a bone we have to wait until it heals and we have to be very careful with the help of their injured players.

13:20
Has there been any interest in your players? How important to keep the team together?

I don’t know.

13:20
Transfer window is open - what's the latest on a goalkeeper?

I don’t think that many players will come in.

And I couldn’t tell you if actually there’s a player who will come or not. If the club can get players who are better than the ones we have to come and in the position where we suffered some injuries, for example Samu Saiz left, Pablo now plays as a playmaker and we need a winger.

The injury of Jamal Blackman has not been covered by another player. These are the two positions that were solved at the start of the competition and now we’re trying to find another one.

We can also say that at the beginning of the season Jack Clarke was not a possibility, but now he is.

If players come, it will be better. And if nobody comes we will finish the season with the players we have and we trust all of the players we have.

From what I know the position of the club is that if we bring a player in, it must improve the club.

13:17
How long will Douglas be out for?

It’s a muscular injury. The fact that I’m taking into consideration is that he could finish the game. If you have a serious injury you cannot. Sometimes this kind of explanation is more an expression of hope than medical analysis. And as always we will be very careful with the help of our players because we still have five months of competition still to play and we are prepared to solve this absence.

We have Davis who can play as a full-back. Pearce can play also, he is available for this game. Alioski also played several minutes as a full-back. We would have preferred to have Douglas with us but we have solutions for his absence.

13:14
Any injury news?

I’m going to tell you my idea for this game.

Farrell will start. Shackleton will play as right-back. He’s an important player. Halme will play.

Because Jansson will train normally from Monday on.

Ayling will play too because he needs to play, because Phillips is injured (?). Cooper will play with under-23 on Monday. Davis will play too. Because Douglas is injured and it’s a player who is going to be missing for a while. It’s a muscular injury. Not that serious because he could finish the game against Nottingham. He didn’t come out of the game because he was injured.

Adam Forshaw will play as No 4, Baker as 8. Klich has played 36 games, he played all the games we have had and all the international games. I don’t think there is someone in the CHampionship who has played more than him. I think for him to rest is an obligation.

For Pablo it’s also an obligation to rest. Tyler Roberts will play.

And for the three offensive players, Harrison will play as No 9, Clarke on the right and Alioski on the left.

As Patrick Bamford is not present I’m interested in seeing Harrison as a No 9. In the time he played in this position he scored a goal.

The fact that he scored a goal doesn’t mean anything but it’s a possibility we would like to develop.

And it’s also convenient for Kemar Roofe not to play this game.

This is the scenario for today. I’m giving all these details because I don’t want people to think I’m not respecting the competition.

I have many hope for this starting XI. We’ve been working with these players, Halme, Shackleton, Davis for many weeks and it’s a good moment for them to start this game.

As you see for the first time I gave you more information than you asked for.

13:08
There are certain competitions that state you have to play certain players?

I understand.

In my point of view it doesn’t mean that someone having a different position will be a wrong one.

I don’t need to be obliged to respect the game, each game we play.

Before starting the season I know what is the calendar of the team. So we draw plans to play all the competitions. I never underestimate an official competition.

It’s among the compromises of the team. The FA Cup has a history, I don’t have to make any summary of it and of course I will respect this competition. Either if the rules oblige me to respect the competition or not, I will respect it.

13:06
Is it the coach's absolute right to pick who he wants in this competition?

What do you mean absolute right? Who could I share this with?

13:05
How much will you respect the competition?

The evaluation of each football player allows you to build the team.

I’m going to give you some arguments I use to build the team.

We have players that are not usually starters but they deserve to be starters. So I take these players into account for the competition.

You also have players who are starters but they need to play too.

You also have players who prefer to play rather than rest.

These arguments are the ones I take into account to build the starting XI.

13:03
Your first look at the FA Cup...

It’s a known competition of English football.

And for those who have been watching English football, they know about the FA Cup, they know what it’s about.

Every episode of football this country proposes, I have many expediencies about.

13:02
He's here...

Lets see what he has to say

Up for discussion today...

It’s been a while since we’ve been at Thorp Arch owing to the festive period, so there should be plenty to talk about.

Injuries will likely be top topic of discussion, so expect a decent update on the likes of Liam Cooper, Stuart Dallas, Gaetano Berardi and Patrick Bamford.

It’s also the transfer window now, so that will likely come up

[Asbjørn]

Joe Mewis
@joemewis

On the way back from a very entertaining Bielsa press conference. Him confusing Ronald Reagan with Kevin Keegan is an early highlight of 2019 #lufc