En del nytt i denne pressekonferansen:
Waiting for Bielsa
Expecting a new translator today too. Salim Lamrani is away and Carlos Corberan, who is having a very good week, has stepped into the breach.
He's here
For a short time, Salim was here helping us. Then one of the winning coaches here on the staff to help us.
Big defeat last time - any concerns after dropping out of the top two?
Every game is going to be key from this moment.
How have the players reacted since the match?
The focus was preparing the game.
Goalkeeper sent off - solution?
We have full confidence in the participation of the ‘keeper. Of course after the evolution we are going towards this evolution after the game
Good to play for NI?
Very positive.
Injuries - Roofe?
Roofe is not going to be fit for Millwall, but he will be ready for the next game after that.
Jansson and Forshaw?
Both players are ready for Millwall.
Racism - your experiences?
It’s like any type of discrimination to anyone, it’s very sad for the people.
Noticed an improvement in recent years?
Now other people are seeing these facts it is more evident.
Carlos and the under-23s - how proud and pleased?
I am very happy about it, for the players, for Carlos especially because he worked to develop these players.
Klich - what suits your play from him?
The merits are now too please about the improvement in the side. Mateusz from last year continued in the club. Victor Orta selected him to be in the squad. Klich worked hard to be a part of the squad,. The previous week before the season started he was insisting trying to move out of the club because he didn’t have space in the team.
This moment the club sold Ronaldo and Forshaw was injured. Baker was with us. Klich was the fourth option for Bielsa and became the first option. With time he was a very good player. He plays in a more difficult position in football. You have to do a lot of things. A mixed midfielder, sometimes right, sometimes left, he has to close down and attack close. He has to know how to attack and defend in the middle.
Not many players can do this, Klich can. He’s in Poland’s team. He is doing everything here now because Victor brought him here. He won his own space in the squad. In the pre-season I used Klich as a centre-back, I didn’t have the right interpretation about Klich.
With this example we are watching a lot of what we do generally for everyone.
Klich wanted to leave?
Yes.
Forshaw was the best player in pre-season. Ronaldo was a talented young player in the club. Baker was the new solution for this position. In this moment we played against Las Palmas, Klich played, then I was thinking Klich was the best. Before that, I thought about moving Klich out because he would be fourth choice.
To have one player as a fourth option in one position is not the best thing because then you are keeping the player and he will not play. Unbelievable his behaviour on the pitch. When something is positive I sometimes say it is better than it is, but there are few players like Klich making so many things in the right way. A lot of players attack and defend like him, make movements like him, they can play both sides too, more in the middle or sides, of all these we have a lot of players, but bind them in the same player is so difficult.
Millwall style?
Difficult to face. They have very clear styles. They came from two important games. It’s going to be a hard game, they will use counter-attacks.
Peacock-Farrell reaction since being dropped?
We can see the improvement in the player. You can win confidence during training. He feel he is going to play the game with success.
What impact has Casilla made?
Another thing we have to solve in goal is the effect of the last loss of the team. We lose playing here at home against the two teams in front of us. It’s very important. Something I have said a lot of times, if we analyse only the result we shouldn’t talk about football.
If we talk about football we have to talk about what we produce and the merits, so the analysis of the last game, in producing things it merits a lot. You can say it was very positive. After we cannot forget about the result. For us, the support of the fans is key, but we have to deserve this support, we have to earn it. In the first half of last game the fans made the team feel together with them.
When we starting conceding efforts in the second half, the fans have a memory linking with the difficulty they are suffering from the last few years with the team. We can understand this. The fans showed these doubts from these memories. We felt that in the second half.
We depend a lot on the support of the fans. We have the responsibility to have this feeling with us. I hope in the next game we have the same atmosphere of the previous game. When we went to the pitch and felt the support in the first 35 minutes we created a good five chances.
The team built these chances because they were brilliant for the fans watching. The link between the team and the fans increased our chances. Sometimes, when we have doubts the supporters are feeling this. This is what we have to avoid.
We have to take care and control every detail. We have to keep our fans with us, close to us. We have to avoid the parts we cannot control. Some analysis you cannot do, but how we build our options, and how the opponent build options, in the last game we created double the chances of the opponent.
Seventy per cent of the time we had the ball. This is important. If you analyse how many collaborations the opponent gave us and what we gave them, you can see the opponent needed our help. Our chances didn’t depend on the opponent team.
This is to make analysis, but at the end we lost the game. We have to change the reality of losing at home. We have scored the second most goals and double the chances of every other team in the league. We have had 250 chances to score, the others have been half of this. Top teams score one in three chances, poor teams one goal in five chances, but in the lower part they created 100 chances. We created 250, so the offensive play is the best we have and if we improve our efficiency or had more luck, maybe we have 10 points or more, but this is making analysis.
The real thing is the results. To correct, to improve we have to make this analysis. This evaluation with you is what we are telling the team.
Do you need to remind the players of all these good things?
It’s important they don’t feel disappointed in one game like that one. What you can criticise is this disappointed feeling. Knowing we have 24 points to play for is positive. We didn’t lose any of our optimism. Our obligation is to play well to win the games. Try to do the things we can in football.
Before the games you can have one feeling and another after.
Any psychological advantage for Blades?
Always I feel uncomfortable looking at the table to analyse others. I am making this analysis, but I don’t want to take merit away from the other team. At the end, they came to Elland Road and won an important game. It’s difficult to think their win gives them an advantage. The thing which creates an optimistic feeling for me is every game we leave forgetting the next games we are going to play. Before any game we have to ask if we are in good conditions to win the game, then you find this answer while watching. The last message was a positive one from the team. Maybe the first 35 minutes against Sheff Utd were the best this year.
Considering what we produced and the quality of the opposition, this was good.
That's all from Bielsa
Plenty more to come this afternoon from the boss.