Jesse, six changes today but let's talk about the game, what went wrong for you and how did it go wrong?
Well, I think we had a really good start that was a big focus is that we wanted to get to lead, we wanted to bring our fans into the game. Then when we get the lead, if we can maintain the lead and be stable and the disappointment on a set-piece especially for Mitrovic to get free that that we find new ways to hurt ourselves but then we put the game in balance again and it's a half where if we get out at 1-0 and we're really pushing the game, if we can get two then we can be a little bit more in control.
The second half, I thought I think the start is okay, the game is in the balance and then you see they’re a team with confidence right now and they find ways to win and we find ways that when we have chances we can't quite convert and we find ways to lose. So we're a little bit in the balance on our confidence and then we're trying to still work on how to be a little bit more stable and clear with exactly tactically what we want to look like.
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When you get into good areas, you lose possession. You seem to be very vulnerable at the moment in terms of the counter. How do you stop that?
Well, part of it is we're so anxious to play forward so quickly, that the game starts to open up and it's tough for us to control the opponent in those transition moments because the game is so open. We don't want it to look like that all the time.
We want to be able to still put the opponent back in their half and then start to find ways and pin them back a little bit more and then work on some of our possession and some of our interchanges so that we can be effective in the last third. Then we can also be more effective and making sure that they don't get out in transition.
Sometimes we're anxious to find the goal, to make the play and then the game opens up and then it gets more difficult.
The word used by Angus Kinnear was inspiration. How do you inspire them now you’re in the bottom three and you’ve got two points from 24?
It's painful right now and I take responsibility. I have to find ways to organise us to keep the confidence high and the belief high and keep pushing the good things that we're achieving and find ways to lock down some of the ways that we're vulnerable.
It's not inspiration as much as it's still discipline, concentration, confidence and belief, to now know that we're on the right path and find a way again, what I've said is stop the bleeding. That's where we're at.
The fans have shouted at the board, they’ve shouted at you, they’ve shouted at everything. The rhetoric has been that they’re behind you. Have you had more assurances tonight that you will still be here for the next game?
Listen, again, I understand the frustration from the fans. We are equally frustrated and more so. We are doing everything we can and we are together. We are unified.
The players have been great and I know it hasn't been easy for them or us but we believe in them. We believe in them. I have to find ways to help them get better. The board and I are unified completely.
Have you had discussions?
Yeah, we've had clear discussions that we're together in this.
Jesse, why do you believe that you're still the man and why should fans believe that?
Well, I think what you see is in our good moments that we can be quite good and that we can be aggressive and we can play attractive football. We can play aggressive football and we can play I think the kind of football that represents what this community is and what this club is, with intensity with running, with power and entertainment.
Then in our weak moments, we look naive and vulnerable and too weak defensively. I take responsibility, I have to find ways and solutions for us to get results so that we can gain a little bit more momentum back and start to get our season on track. It felt like there were moments like that was going to happen tonight.
Even at 1-1, it seemed like this was the time that we could really kick-start our season and say all right now we're going go from here and control our own fate, but we couldn't make it happen.
Obviously, Patrick and Rodrigo are sharing the workload. Goals, plural, aren't really coming from either, is it costing you that you didn't get that number nine in the summer?
We worked hard together to put together a good transfer window and in a lot of ways we did great on it. I'm not going to start playing hindsight and I'm certainly not going to put throw anyone under the bus. I'm looking directly at myself. I'm trying to do my job in this club the best that I can and that's to coach this team and make them better.
Eight attempts to find that elusive win with new ideas each time, do you feel like you have the ideas still to find that win in these next three matches before the break?
Yeah. If we were getting killed in matches, and clearly not the team that was worse. I think we would have more worry that the direction of what we're doing is not good enough. It's not like that.
It's every game is in the balance and we're right there in every game and we just have now in this eight games found a way to give it away unnecessarily often when actually if we can find a way to turn that and capitalise on our moments, I believe the momentum can change quickly.
So we have to we have to make sure that message is clear within our within our team and in our club and we have to be ready right now to dig in and do whatever it takes.
Do you want to see more movement from the attackers? I noticed when Koch and Cooper had the ball, they were looking forward and people were like statues...
I felt that in the first half, how we start to organise our ball possession that we initially had good phases and then we wanted to quickly play the killer pass are the most threatening pass when sometimes it wasn't necessary that we could find more build up and start to unbalance them and pin them in a little bit more.
Then second half, Luis got a little bit tired. He put in a big shift the whole week and so he wasn't as active and we weren't as active to get him the ball. That led to us not being able to break down the opponent as much and there were some times where it was a little bit stagnant and not enough interchanges and connections and in combinations to break the opponent down.
That being said, we created some good chances. Right and at 1-0 if we can find a way to survive that that corner kick and then maybe keep pushing the game the way we were, it can be different but right now that's not the case.
At the end of last season, if to draw a line under what happened and the near miss, how and why are you in the same amount of trouble this season?
I mean, again, in rebuilding the team, we were able to use the situation of selling Kalvin and Raphinha to bolster the team. But we knew it was going to be like a new project with a lot of new players.
We like the additions we've made and in the moment, adjusting to what the Premier League, we had a really good start and then we had some things happen against us and then the momentum got stalled and right now there's anxiety and pressure. So we've got to find a way to break that and then capitalise and grind out a result so that we can start to gather momentum again and continue our development.
Have you and the players spoken specifically about what's coming from the crowd or the reaction on Thursday?
What we talked more about is that we know how special playing at Elland Road is and that we want to put performances and even match plans together here that have like a 12-man factor and I thought the beginning of the match was fantastic. Even the whole first half we were pushing even at 1-1. I felt the energy of the crowd and of course everybody's like ‘come on make the play, make the play’, and then it goes against us and then obviously the disappointment and frustration from everyone starts to mount. So we've got to find a way to stay strong and keep pushing.
You spoke the other week about being braver with your young, attacking players. How do you feel about the right now? Are you worried about putting them into this pressure situation or do you just not feel that they're ready to have the impact you need?
Yeah, I mean, I think that Joffy comes in and makes a point for himself. I've had this discussion a lot with the staff like, how to use Joffy, put him on the pitch more, get him involved more, because we know he's that one of the things he can do is he can make plays. So he comes in and does that.
Cry started on Thursday and we brought him in again today because we believe he has a big future. Even a lot of the players, you know, Brenden and Luis and Tyler and Rasmus and some of the guys we brought in, they're all young, too, and they need to develop into the Premier League experienced players that we know they can become.
So it's difficult to explain why we can't capitalise and we give certain things away but I'm not finger pointing, I'm looking directly at myself. I'm taking responsibility. I'm trying to push them to understand how to get better and we have to demand that now for next game. We have to do everything we can again to try to figure out how to get the win.
Always when the team is losing, fans will point to the players who aren’t playing and suggest they can make a difference. What do you think about Gnonto and where he is in his readiness?
Yeah, he played 45 for the 21s and we considered putting him on the roster here but right now it's been a little bit him or Joffy and he comes in and makes a case for himself, but we really like Willy. He's also very young and then we've got we've got to figure out how to make the right decisions on line-ups and subs and everything. Again, I think the players are investing everything, I take responsibility.
Jesse can you really succeed as a manager once the fans have turned against you?
Well, it's our job. It's my job to help the team turn results so that the fans turn their opinion. I think given everything the fans were very supportive today. I know there's frustration but the energy they had at the beginning of the match was of optimism and belief. We've got to find a way again to use that and to honour it.
It was the total opposite at the end though…
Yeah, of course, because they're frustrated at the fact that we can't find results.
We take your point that this is a very intimidating place, or can be when things are going well, but the simple fact is you have many games here this year. Do you think the sort of atmosphere that we're talking about is beginning to affect the players and there's a sort of anxiety from the players once things don't go perfectly for you?
I think that again, if you look at the way we started the match and the way that the fans were in the match, it was perfect. It was perfect. And we've got to find a way to use that to be a real weapon for us.
We haven't gotten to all the points at home, but we've played pretty well at home and we've got to continue to believe that our fans are the difference and to keep performing at a level so that we bring them in the match and help them believe in what we're doing.
You kind of talked about preparing with the fans in mind, does that mean a quick start, trying to make sure that there’s energy in the crowd, how does that manifest and bring that into your preparation?
Yeah, I mean, we like to play aggressive football. We'd like to be aggressive in pressing and winning balls and we'd like to create moments where the fans can feel like we're in a lot of attacking moments and we're in transition and we're creating chances or we're creating goals.
In our best moments, we do that quite well but we're not converting enough in those moments. And so, again, if you take the first until it's 1-1, the way we're playing the way we're on top of the match, the chances that we're creating, the pressure we're putting on the opponent, we've got to sustain that and then find ways to build on it and build even bigger leads.
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