Match Thread Leeds United v Everton - Preview, Match Report and MotM Poll

[Ring master]

It's an early one tomorrow it seems,11.30am if no error

 

[Joey66]

Can’t see us getting a result here. Think they’ll be more ‘up for it’ than us. 2-1 loss.

We have won twice in the league there since the 1950s scorers Dave Hickson & a young Wayne Rooney it's s right bogey ground in the league as bad as the pit .....
I went there with our holy trinity sides v Dirty Leeds ......We never got any points..........
So we are due a win ..'........

 

[Ring master]

Some of the Marcelo Bielsa P/C​

​

Coming off the back of a fine win, but a couple of injury concerns with Rodrigo, Raphinha and Patrick Bamford taking knocks. Can you update us on the injury situation for Everton?​

Rodrigo’s having a scan at the moment to evaluate his condition. He had an action where both his feet were very wide apart. Potentially that excessive stretch could have caused a muscular injury. The other two cases are less worrying.

It's deadline day today. You said you thought there would be no incoming, no outgoings, can you confirm that will be the case today?​

Up until now, yes, that’s the case.

What about Pablo Hernandez? Is he likely to stay?​

Up until now I can’t tell you anything different to what I’ve told you previously.

In general, how important has squad stability been for you this season? You probably won't do much business this window, but you finished the game with 11 players who have been with you in the Championship. How important has that been for you this season, the stability of squad?​

To be able to keep players for three years running allows you to stimulate the habits throughout this time and allow you to teach them others things as they will already have some habits incorporated. The stability is also linked to how many new players we have and how long it takes them to adapt. The stability is also linked to how many players you have available through injury for every single game.

Patrick Bamford got his goal, was praised for his all-round performance with the England manager watching. Would it be good for him, an England call-up? Would exposure to international football help him take the next step as a player?​

This question has only one answer which I have given previously. I don’t want to be seen to be giving suggestions to Southgate, the manager of the England team, over his job.

Can I just got back to Raphinha and Bamford? When you say you're not as worried about their injuries, are you confident that they'll be available for you on Wednesday against Everton?​

No, it means two days prior to a game you can’t be sure that any player is going to be available for a game. The only thing to add is that the problem Rodrigo has to overcome to be available on Wednesday is bigger. The problems that Raphinha and Bamford have to overcome are more simple.

You've talked about stability and having the squad. Part of that squad to an extent has been Oliver Casey. He is one player talked up about possibly going on loan. You do have injuries in that area, how comfortable would you be about him going on loan to another club?​

It’s difficult to refer to potential outgoings. The answer to the question that you’re asking, the club would need to know what the possibilities of Olly Casey being away from Leeds, if it’s to a club where he can compete at a good level for the rest of the season. To compare that with the similar options in the under-23s which Olly Casey is vying for. And there is the returns of Berardi, Llorente and Koch.

This is quite a subjective thing. I know your side wins a lot of tackles, but has your side become a little bit more aggressive, in a controlled way, in the last few games? Is that beginning to show that the physicality is shining through a bit more?​

The possession, which is a fundamental part of the game, is not only having the ball for a longer period than your opponent, you have to see what the team who has the ball is doing with the ball during the time they have it. It’s not the same having the ball in your own half, in the opponent's half or the opponent's box. The pressure to recover the ball, there is also different ways to consider. In a study of the five biggest leagues in Europe, the team who invests the most time pressuring the opponent is Leeds. But that’s not praise or something to single out. It’s one thing to press and another thing is to press, recover the ball and find yourself in a position where the opponent is disorganised. The observation that you make is true, us being conscious of the fact that we press so much. What we are trying to do is to make sure this effort that we are producing bears fruit.

Back to Bamford - it's 11 Premier League goals with only three players having scored more than him this season. Where do you think he ranks amongst other strikers in this division? Is he perhaps under-rated still?​

I am not at this position to make comparisons. The one I know well is Patrick. My job is to know how good he is. So there will be other people who are more capable of making this comparison, the people who are in charge of the outgoings and incoming of the team, the press and the national team. What I can comment is that it’s important to look at the type of goals the strikers are scoring. All the goals are important, all the goals are valuable, but not all the goals are the same. Don’t define those who score them in the same way.

There are strikers who score or shoot, moves or attacks that are pretty much already finalised. In the construction of the attack there is a lot more difficultly than in the shot. An example: players who score goals from rebounds, or they pick up loose balls. They define situations which don’t require a lot of action. There is other types of action where the goalscorer needs more about them. The goal won’t be produced otherwise. The proportion of the importance of the person scoring the goal is higher. Bamford has scored many goals which are difficult to score. Apart from that, there are many players who just link themselves in the game when there is an opportunity to score. That’s to say their sole involvement is trying finalising the move, and they are not too involved in the construction. They put their energy, their sole focus on receiving the final pass and they don’t add anything to the creation of the attacks. What they add to the creation of the attack is only trying to finalising it. Patrick is a player who works a lot. He participates in the creation. He’s a very hard-working striker also to try recover the ball so that we can attack more and more. Many times when he wins the ball back we can go on the attack.. Simply making a description higher up. Any player who scores many goals is very good. The way Bamford scores his goals is the way I just described and it's more difficult to do.

As for Everton, it's one point from the last two games. What have you made of them since you played them back in November?​

It’s difficult to evaluate a team only on what they have achieved in their last few games, even if those last two games are the last ones. While those are the results, during the game there are many things that happen. In those two games they had segments of games where they have shown why they are protagonists in the league this year. They are a team with very big players, very good players with good behaviour. While they suffer the problems that we all suffer, sometimes they have absences of players, they are one of the protagonists in the league and the way they play is very creative.

Is playing against better players in the Premier League making your players better? Are they any noticible examples you could give us?​

To compete is always to be superior to the one we have in front. As human beings, we tend to do what’s enough to win. On some occasions, it’s necessary to do the maximum. Sufficient and necessity means the maximum. And on some occasions it’s enough to do less.

I don’t remember anything in the Championship being easy, but obviously, in the Premier Leauge everything is difficult. In the Championship, we had to make efforts to be better than the opponent. In the Premier League, we have to be better than ourselves and we have to avoid the opponent being as good. In the Championship, almost all of the moments in the game allowed us to construct moments in the game. Here, the efforts are more split in trying to be better, but also trying to stop the opponent. Anyway, it’s a big opportunity when you come up against a superior opponent, a competition which is globally more difficult. The normal thing is to dedicate yourselves to the opponents not being as good. The difficult thing is doing this whilst trying to maintain your own creative evolution.

It's difficult to judge three of your new signings this season because of injuries and not having enough opportunities, but is it fair to say Raphinha's price tag is proving good value for Leeds? I know you were surprised that you were able to obtain him for that fee.​

This question on value in the market is more for Victor [Orta], who is the one that saw him and managed to acquire him for us. He’s a forward with the level to play in the Premier League. I prefer to participate in arguments on what he can do with performances rather than his market value. I understand the need to link his performances with increased value and it’s legitimate that you are interested in trying to know this, but I don’t feel very able to participate in these subjects.

When a team moves from division to division and you're promoted with many players who haven't played at the his level before, can a head coach be certain about how they will cope or is it more a case of gut feeling and hope?​

The construction of the team for the Premier League was something me and Victor did in conjunction. With Angus and the president we designed the economical way that they can help build the team. I always have tried to have 18 starting players and four young players with the ability to be in the team.

I never conserve a player if I don’t think he’s going to be an option in one or two positions. For example, I would like to have conserved Barry Douglas, but we already had three players in this position. I know some coaches would like that back-up but in this case we allowed him to go. I prefer to run the risk that one player will be missing, rather than conserve a player which I don’t feel will have an important role. Bear in mind that we can’t lose sight of the fact that Leeds invested a lot during in the summer.

Do you find it easy therefore to gauge the ability of a player to improve, given that so many players have been a success this season and last season?​

Players improve, they drop down, and they improve again. You’re attributing a capacity which I don’t think I have. I’m joined with the player in trying to get the best out of him so that he can show his capabilities. Many virtues that players don’t use because it’s more comfortable not to use them. To leave the state of comfort and to get out of the comfort and go above and beyond is not linked to a manager, but it's liked to the ambition of a player.

I’m going to give you an example from 40 years ago. I spent 10 years in the formation phase of football accompanying Jorge Griffa, who was an expert in this. In the club where I come from, Newell’s Old Boys, the formation and foundation of players was the most important thing. There were always young players with incredible ambitions. There was always young players who never managed to show their capabilities due to a lack of ambition. There, we worked five or six coaches and every time that a coach had that player that didn’t shine, every time another of the coaches would say, ‘don’t worry, next yea I will take the best out of him’. The player would go through the five coaches that accompanied Griffa, the player wouldn’t triumph and the conclusion, what was it?

The conclusion was it’s not how good the coach was, it’s the ambition of the player and how much he wants it. Coaches don’t make great players. The ambition, the character, the determination of a player is what allows them to be great players. I was thinking about this subject the other day, because we all had an idea who we looked up to when we were young. We can say I wanted to be a footballer because of this player or I stayed in football because of this player.

So what makes a player into a player? Their imitation that they establish with a player that they admire, but a player is not a professional player. It’ svery similar, but the professional competes. There’s a lot of development in the technical and physical qualities that is very good. But there’s few other resources to establish a better mindset and to increase the ambition of a player. There's a difference between playing, knowing how to play, that's to say taking decisions, and to compete, which is a statement of mind. The most competitive players get the best out of themselves. They show everything that they bring. This explanation of the story shows that the attribute, this gift of knowing the potential of a player is not just. I gave this long explanation which tires me out so you dont think it's false modesty.

We're expecting a new pitch at Elland Road on Wednesday - are you and the grounds people happy with how it's bedded in and how the surface will play on Wednesday evening?​

How it’s going to be, I don’t know. But It doesn’t matter too much, the important thing is to belong to an institution that worries so much about the needs of the team.

 

[Efcjake]

Josh King to score 5.

 

[macdog]

 

[TheBigIguana]

4-4-2

Go solid at the back and try and frustrate them and nick a goal.

Godfrey back in at left back, Digne left MF.
Holgate right back, Iwobi or Richy in front of him.

Dacoure in the middle with probably Gomes for me as he’s not Davies.

DCL up top with Rodriguez playing behind him.

To me that is exactly how to not play Leeds. They're reckless. If you have 9 behind the ball they'll have 9 in attack. I just don't think playing a style where we don't carry a threat to score ourselves will work out well.

 

[Seathestars]

Dreading an absolute rout here, they’re full of energy and fizz. I believe they’re on PEDs like those at monster mansion.
Everton have done me, that Newcastle performance has destroyed my enthusiasm and now we play the Yorkshire Geordie kopites.

Newcastle, Leeds, RS, the axis of gobshitery

 

[Rooney_Tunes]

Just had a look at the table... 6 points off Leicester with two games in hand Allen and Gbamin back and we have Josh King... We still have Sigurdson and Pickford unfortunately but despite that Top 4 is still a possibility here.

 

[KaiserEFC]

We get absolutely webbed here and that good run we had counts for nothing. The Everton way.

That said whenever we think we’re going to lose we tend to do alright so who knows

 

[n01efc]

Isn’t Bamford a doubt, in which case we win!

 

[Rooney_Tunes]

Is Allan back for tomorrow?

 

[Wrighty]

Got to go with a flat back 8 or we haven't got a chance.

 

[Dublin blue 75]

Is Allan back for tomorrow?

50 / 50 as per Carlo at the Newcastle presser for this weeks game said he

 

[Northeastblue]

Not sure my mental health will allow me to watch this.

 

[Amokachi1995]

I live in Leeds so will get plenty of stuck if they do the double over us.

They are not that great and were there for the taking in the home match. Just recently they lost 3 on the bounce including Crawley and Brighton.

Just need to be at it and not be passive like the Newcastle match.