Da slutter Bielsa å gi laget på forhånd...
Han kom med en del 'home truths' i denne pressern, både når det gjaldt set pieces, (ulovlige) sperretrekk og om når VAR griper inn/ikke griper inn.
Set-pieces issue - how difficult to address on training ground when there are so many games at this point of the season?We conceded four goals from set-pieces and the circumstances which highlight this problem is that it happened in two consecutive games. It happened against number 21 from West Ham, number 15 from Chelsea and also with the number four from Liverpool and the fourth one was number 28 at West Ham who had a significant height advantage over the player.
The duels that we have lost that have generated the goals, the responsibility is taken up by the best header we have in the team. It’s normal, natural that our best header of the ball comes up against the best of the PL, it’s normal that they lose these duels.
If we compare our efficiency when with our set-pieces in an attacking sense, the data is very similar. We’ve managed to score a similar amount of goals as the ones we’ve suffered.
THat’s to say that the other teams don’t defend much better than us in this sense.
Afterwards there is another important point - we usually have two very good headers of the ball which is our two centre-backs. In the games where we haven’t had Koch or Llorente other players like Ayling or Phillips have had to assume this responsibility. There are a lot of questions that are answered with a lot of conviction. When they ask me how do you resolve the problems with defensive set-pieces, it’s a lot more linked to the things I have just mentioned than the training that can be done.
Set-pieces again - are you confident you can find a solution internally or will you have to go to the transfer market?If you heard what I said previously the conclusions on which you base your question are not the same. My conclusions are that we’ve conceded four goals. Of those four goals three have been scored by three of the PLs best headers of the ball. The other one Soucek had a 15cm advantage over who was marking him.
I think of course we have to evolve and this that you propose the training will resolve it is a truth, but it is a truth at a medium or half-way. Finally, aerial game has three big aspects. It’s always an aspect which is one against another and there are two components there which is the height and how good they are in the air. In that sense you can lose or win. You can be shorter or taller and be a better header than the opponent. The other aspect is if there is a dispute with the ball and this is to do with the movement. If both players arrive at the same time. That’s to say whether they leave at the same time or if one is faster with his movement and it also has to do with experience with how cheeky or how subtle you can be in these moments.
In this sense a journalist asked me the other day if I thought my team was naive. After the gameweek is over I show our players all the actions in which VAR intervenes. A lot are linked into what we are talking about. Of course our teams suffers a lot of blocks, which are sometimes penalised and sometimes not. We don’t use this resource because it’s an infraction but of course we have to adapt to these circumstances. To respect the rules is not being naive. It’s acting how we are indicated to act. So all these processes are something we are trying to improve and find a solution for. But this requirement, this question that you are asking me comes from conceding set-pieces in two games in a row, not because we have conceded an exaggerated amount of goals in this manner.
So, if you were to ask me if I had to improve one defensive aspect or this one, I would try to improve other ones which generate more difficulties for us that set-pieces, which doesn’t mean we don’t have this problem.
https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/marcelo-bielsa-press-conference-live-19452805