This weekend, Leeds United host Eddie Howe's Newcastle United at Elland Road. The Magpies have tasted victory just once in the Premier League this season and were eliminated from the FA Cup at the Third Round by League One Cambridge United earlier this month.
The Whites have won twice as many league games in consecutive weeks as the north east club have managed throughout the 2021/22 Premier League campaign, and currently sit ten points better off in the table, following victories over Burnley and West Ham United.
Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa has briefed the media on his side's new injuries, returning players, as well as his thoughts on last weekend's victory over West Ham and the upcoming challenge of Newcastle.
Here is every word the manager had to say on Thursday afternoon.
Back-to-back wins in the league when the squad is so heavily depleted - how much satisfaction does it give you as a coach that you've been able to overcome such adversity?
The difficulties sometimes are interpreted as obstacles, but sometimes it's a situation to fortify the strength of the group. Up until now in the season we've been constantly challenged, and weve tried to improve the quality of our responses in the face of adversity.
Do you feel the rules regarding postponements have been abused by some clubs - and are you surprised that more clubs haven't given youth a chance?
I don't think so. But it's not important what I think because the important thing is to trust those who administer the rules in that sense, because there are rules that define whether a game can or cannot be suspended. And the conditions you have to demonstrate for the game to be suspended, and because I trust in those who administer these decisions and so I trust that all the games that were suspended met the criteria for them to be suspended. The question is not, do the clubs take advantage of the rules, but the question is those who evaluate are good or bad, because for a club to take advantage there has to be an evaluation that is wrong or mistaken because the rules have to be sufficient and clear.
Will you have any players back for the Newcastle game? In particular how are Patrick Bamford and Adam Forshaw?
Forshaw and Firpo have muscular injuries. Bamford has a new injury at the bottom of his foot. He's overcome his muscular problems but now he has a problem at the bottom of his foot.
The Firpo and Forshaw issues, are they hamstring related?
Yes.
Are you pushing to have the postponed Aston Villa game rearranged for what would be the FA Cup Fourth Round weekend?
I don't have the capacity to pick when the games are rearranged. They're not decisions that I make.
Would it be preferable to get it played sooner rather than later in your opinion, as a coach?
Whatever the authorities say. Coaches don't have the opportunity to decide when games are played. That does allow for speculation.
Reported this week Leeds are interested in Brenden Aaronson - if he were to come, why would he be suitable for the way you play and what do you know of him?
I prefer to speak about a player when it's not a hypothetical possibility but when he's actually our player.
Things are changing at Newcastle, how different a proposition are they now?
With respect to the players they've brought in, they are positions that are very specific: right full-back and centre-forward, so a centre-forward who comes to replace the player they usually play in that position. They're both classic centre-forwards, even if they have different characteristics, they both play as centre-forwards. And the same with their right full-back, he plays at different heights down the right-hand side. Those two signings from my point of view and only with the rush to answer your question, because it is very difficult to interpret the opponents and the coach, also because it's inconvenient, but from my point of view they don't alter the way they play. But they are individuals who will enrich a squad.
On the injury front - is this the worst spell of injuries you've encountered during your managerial career?
Not with so many players. What is very intriguing or not so much how many injuries, but players that are injured are all players who play in similar positions. In some way we've always found solutions, it's likely for the game on the weekend we're going to count on Tyler Roberts and Gelhardt, and Rodrigo Moreno. So the players out of the squad in that position are going to be Patrick [Bamford] and Greenwood. Progressively we've been resolving the situations that present themselves. And the same, the injuries to Cooper, Koch, Diego Llorente, Pascal, we've been resolving them with the solution of Ayling as centre-back and Koch as a defensive mid when he has been healthy or Forshaw as a defensive mid. But it's also true that all the clubs have problems with counting on their players.
How do you view the relegation battle? Are Leeds still in it or not?
We have to see how many points are in play, see what games the other teams have. You have to go see the succession of results, the tendencies positive or negative of each team so after half of the season has gone past, to discard any evolution or involution of each team it's not convenient especially in a league which is so difficult.
Is this the best you've seen Raphinha play in a Leeds United shirt?
No, he's had many games where he's shone. Many actions where he has unbalanced in a lot of games. To say that this was his best game in a Leeds shirt, I don't have it so clear. He is a player that is easy to remember, his goals, his assists, his dribbles and his good performances.
What do you think of Eddie Howe's start as Newcastle manager from afar?
He's found a system, he's found a habitual group of players and an XI which repeats itself regularly and he's evened the team out in all of the games. They've been close to all of their opponents in all of the games they've played. And this all talks positively about the job he is doing.
You've complemented the work of Victor Orta many times - what's the relationship between you and he and what's a good Director of Football worth to a football club?
Moreover than my opinion, there's evidence of growth of Leeds United since Victor Orta's been here. The teams are produced through their individualities, and in that sense he's picked well. I think he's found the adequate players that adapt to the way of playing of Leeds, the majority of them are young, and the players that have arrived here, they are usually worth more after they have been here. That means that he picked players with margin of growth for the potential to be better. He's a person who knows the market very well with regards to young players from different countries, he's picked young players who are very good. Just to name a few: Pascal, Gelhardt, Hjelde - all of these things we don't need me to describe them becasue I'm describing things you can see in reality.
What do you imagine the experience of being involved in a Premier League squad will have been like for a 15 y/o like Archie Gray? What do you see in him?
What's happened to him has been premature. I don't think it's good for a player of his age to occupy the space he has and these opportunities. If I could have avoided it I would have done it, the players we have to put them in positions where they can assume the possibilities that arise and obviously Gray is not prepared to compete in the Premier League. But the reality took him to be there deservedly. Every time I form a group for the squad I always pick the best of those available - of course he's a player full of virtues and that despite being so young he can compete. Clearly his process has been altered to get to be a player of the elite. He has the resources to achieve it, he will achieve it, he's very very strong mentally. He has the conditions and qualities to play in any sector of the pitch and apart from that he's a player who is very very intelligent. I ignore what his life is usually but given how he behaves on a day-to-day basis, I can see his education is well controlled.
Many great days under your leadership, Sunday falls into that special category - have you seen a brightness in your players this week?
The next game is always the next thing on our minds. But it is true that a victory like that always improves the mood. To prepare a game with a tranquillity of a victory is better than doing it without. But the most important thing is always the next game. To have won the last game doesnt' give you any guarantees in the next one and to lose the next one is to take away some of the shine of the previous victory so we always try to lean on what happened beforehand but always looking forward to the next.
In the coming international break you will only lose Raphinha - how big an opportunity will that be for you and your players to prepare for the final stretch of the season?
The players who have rest at mid-season makes the percentage of injuries a lot less so the rest is the path and preparation in the life of a footballer, and I have the feeling that the high dosage of rest is the most important thing at this stage of the season.
Apart from Llorente, are there no more players coming back into the squad this weekend?
Llorente and probably Tyler Roberts and Gelhardt. We maintain the presence of Rodrigo who played 30 minutes last week.
Marcelo what does it say about you and Leeds that you've given debuts to eight teenage players to get games played when teams with bigger squads have gone with postponements?
What you're saying is poorly described. We've asked for games to be suspended when the rules gave us the opportunity to have those games suspended. We haven't asked to suspend games when we haven't had the reality that would allow that to happen. It's not that I'm rejecting your praise, the total opposite, I like to be valued. But in this case your evaluation doesn't match up with the reality, but it is true that we have used younger players to integrate our teams. To have young players who are part of the formation every weekend has its value because the group is completed and integrated with young players who are in development and if the club had decided not to count on them the club should have signed four, five, six players who are older and have a bigger background. But it also corresponds to say that it also values the work that we've done, the real important thing is to manage to create Premier League players. For example, Pascal is a Premier League player and his origin is identical to those players you're making reference to so that is a triumph of the work of the youth teams because he's a player who has converted himself into a Premier League player where he started in the immediate team below the first-team so what I think shouldn't be judged and what's going to be registered as a contribution to the club it's how many of the players are with the team accompany the team, convert themselves into habitual players within the team.
For example if Gelhardt and Hjelde are one of the options for the position they play for many years, that would mean they have converted themselves into Premier League players but that's still in development, that still hasn't been confirmed. They're taking steps.
How important was the unity from the fans during the difficult patch earlier this season?
It was very important. There's a phrase that says that a team needs to be loved in order to win, not they are loved because they won. All of the teams that are loved is because they won, but it's very important to be loved to be able to win. That demands a loyalty and unconditionality throughout the games to come back from a negative tendency and to develop the play of the team and from that sense the fans of Leeds showed a massive generosity.
