Graham Potter said it was a fair point, how do you reflect on a dramatic game?
The start with the chance that Joffy (Joe Gelhardt) has that hit Coops (Liam Cooper) in the face is a little bit of how things feel right now, that we have to fight for everything and nothing comes easy. In the first half I didn’t feel we were good enough in any phase of the game and then we went down.
Once we went down in the first half we started to bring ourselves into the match more and we were a little bit more compact and then in the second half I actually felt that we pushed pretty well and we were a little bit unlucky not to come away with more.
I asked myself in the first half why we weren’t good enough, clear enough and sharp enough but the situation and the stress has a lot to do with it, trying to manage that with the group and physically manage things so that they are able to go again and that’s what it will take from this week to be ready for next week.
Read more: Leeds United players lacked belief at half-time but served up 'massive moment' in this season
The atmosphere really cranked up at one point, the crowd were singing Marcelo Bielsa’s name and having a go at the board. How did you manage that situation?
I didn’t hear any of that. I was focused on the match. I thought our fans pushed us really well and helped us get the win and that’s what we need.
Tactically were you pleased with how the second half played out?
I thought we were able to be more compact at certain moments and not let them spread the field so much. We were able, with the ball, to then push them and get in their end and create more chances.
We have to be better on offensive set-pieces and when we have these situations when we’re putting pressure on them, find ways to be more clinical and to have better service and last plays to find more goals.
In terms of a piece of football, how brilliant was Gelhardt at the end?
It was a very special play, really incredible. Joffy has that ability and he grew into the game more and more. Obviously where we are, we need him and it’s great to see him have a confident performance, especially as the game goes on. He made a massive, massive play for us.
Was your mindset just to get it to the last day, whatever it takes?
Yeah, we’re alive now regardless for the last day. We have to fight for every point and any point gets us a little bit closer and shifts a little bit of the momentum.
We know Burnley has a match in hand and we know Everton now has two matches in hand with three left. We need some help and we need to be ready next weekend to do whatever it takes.
Injury wise and emotionally, you’ve got all that to manage this week as well, is that going to be tough or will you have a decent set of players available in terms of fitness for next week?
We were on empty and with where we are with the roster, between suspension and injury, a lot of guys played a lot of matches over the last week and three matches. They gave everything they had, one of the things I say is, ‘do that and when you’re done, put your hand up and it’s next guy in’, that’s what it was today. The resolve from the group, the mentality to fight for everything is still what makes this group special.
It may be the last game for some players at Elland Road, do you have to manage that as well?
No, I think everybody is focused on the task at hand and doing whatever it takes to keep us in the league.
Klich came off but Rodrigo looked spent, what was the decision making there?
I wanted to put Sam Greenwood in for set-pieces and have him play a little bit more in the six against the ball but with the ball have one more attacker on the field. Even the goal comes from Sam being in an attacking position and helps lead to Joffy being in that space, I think it worked out.
Does that put pressure on Burnley now?
They have a match in hand, but if you look at the table they need to get a result. They have two matches to get a result and then we’ll see how Thursday goes and we will be ready on Sunday to do whatever it takes to get a result.
How special was that moment for you?
It was important and I was thinking about how to arrange things and hopefully push to get the next one and find the win. It was good for our fans to feel that and good for the team to have that experience and use that as momentum going into the last match.
What will the message be this week going into the last game and the Burnley match?
We’ll all watch that match but the message will be we have to recover mentally and physically and we’ll put together a match plan that we think can go down to Brentford and have success. We have to do everything we can and invest everything we can in every way to make sure we’re ready for that.
The formation was different from the outset today, what was the thinking there?
We played 4-2-3-1 but we allowed Rapha to be a little bit wider at times and we played sometimes with the three build-up. We rotated a little bit different with and against the ball.
When you made all your subs and it was still 1-0, what was your thought process?
I want the players when they look to me on the bench to show that I believe that we’re going to do this. Even when they came for water at different moments, it was just trying to positive and say, ‘keep going, it’s going to come’, ‘keep pushing, keep pushing’.
In those moments you have to believe, you have to have an aggressive mindset that you’re going to find a way to make the difference and we did. That part has been fantastic since I’ve been here.
What was the message at half-time, there was a clear improvement?
Compactness against the ball, eliminating them running into the space in our box on our flanks and playing cut back crosses, to try to adjust some of our pressing to win more balls and get ourselves into the attacking part of the field.
I could still see the looks on some of their faces at half-time that we weren’t 100 per cent believing that we could do it. The last thing I said, when I looked in all their eyes, was ‘we can have no doubts, we need to make a couple of adjustments but we have to have zero doubts and push’. In the end, I think they did that really well and they emptied their tanks and invested so much to get us to that point, which could end up being a massive moment for us.
We needed to seize an important moment and I think we did and now we give ourselves a chance going into the last match.
