Well done, Rene, what was your assessment?
Yeah, I think in general the performance was good, but we could have done better. We're not as consistent over 90 minutes as we want it to be. We always had some situations where we allowed the opposition to come into our defensive third, things that we don't want to do.
We had phases at the start of the second half, at the end of the second half, in the middle of the first half, where we played more like what we wanted to do to push them into their half and keep them there, and just be dominant in every phase of the game.
Was that always going to be the case with so many changes?
Yes, but we still trust the whole squad. I think we have a really good squad to compete with every opponent and also within the squad to compete for the starting XI. I think that it was a good performance, but again, we can improve on other things.
Read more: Leeds United winners and losers as Liam Cooper returns and Luis Sinisterra makes impression
Talk to us about Luis Sinisterra…
He's a great player, he's a great guy. We're very happy that he was able to reward himself for just his way back from the injury, the way he trains, the way he behaves. He's a great presence in the locker room. He's a great player, there's a lot of come from him, but he still has to continue working.
You always see sometimes he's not as present in the game as he could be and again, he shows glimpses of a very, very high potential and we’re happy with the performance.
Is he the sort of player that's knocking on your doors and wants to be in as often as he can?
Yeah, obviously, but again, the whole squad is trying to compete and we're very happy that we're having to face these decisions in the next week.
What about Mateusz Klich as well, I imagine it’s been a frustrating start to the season. He’s not been involved as much as he has previously but then to put in a display like that tonight…
We had a lot of talks with him and he's very committed. He's, again, the locker room in general is very, very good. He's one of these guys that gives a team of personality in every training and in these games, and we trust him. He came on against Wolves and Southampton. He's, just a very, very good player and he also showed it today over 90 minutes. I thought he did exceptionally well, the way he defends and supports our build-up. I think he just shows his qualities.
How important was it for the younger player to get competitive game time?
Yeah, I think it's a privilege to play this game in front of such an amazing atmosphere in the stadium, it's a cup, it's Yorkshire derby. I think for them, not only to get minutes, but also to be able to compete against such an opponent and the circumstances. So I thought it's really good for them that they were able to play 90 minutes.
And they can support the first-team now at the weekend?
That's the goal. We wanted to show our trust in the squad, but we also want them to compete. We want them to make us have very hard decisions for the starting XI and also to develop to become a regular summer starting XI one day for Leeds.
Is the cup a good vehicle to keep a big squad happy?
Yeah, obviously we want to compete in every competition and I think that if the cup we have the chance to use the depth of our squad. We will for sure, always rotate depending on tactical circumstances and just training performances and today was no different.
How have you found working with Jesse?
With Jesse it's very interesting to work because he's on top of all these things. I have to admit that I really like it here, I’ve settled in quite well just, not just Jesse but the whole atmosphere of the club. So obviously a good start to the season helps with that, but in general I have to say that it's just very high level here working with Jesse but also the others.
There was a lot of changes tonight but why was Kristoffer left out and what was the thinking behind bringing Rodrigo on that late in the game?
Kristoffer is just that he had an injury the last weeks, he was not fully fit. Otherwise, he obviously would have been included.
With Rodrigo we just thought that obviously you want to perform at the highest level, no matter the score, no matter the circumstances, so we bought in a player who we thought that we will give us a bit of calmness, fresh legs up front to press and just a quality in transition and build up to stay sharp to keep the opponent pinned back and that's what he did.
You’ve got quite a track record from other clubs but what sort of ideas have you tried to instil?
I'm obviously relatively fresh so it's more of observing, looking at how things are done and just sharing my thoughts, my experiences with the staff, with Jesse. I think the quality is a very pleasant surprise that it's so high in every department of the club and it's just me trying to be a small part of it, giving some experiences of things that we did can be very, very different aspects.
Sometimes you have an idea for a specific drill because you maybe did it already, sometimes it's maybe a small tweak here and there but in general, I like to call it the service provider for the club for the players and for the for the rest of the coaching staff and especially the head coach.
Did Liam Cooper get what he needed from tonight’s game and where’s Patrick Bamford’s fitness level?
Yeah, Patrick is developing well. We'll see when exactly it's coming back. With the groin you never know exactly how much pressure you can put on it. So it's more or less checking every few days how far he is developing, how well is he developing his injury so it's not clear just so when exactly we'll be back.
Yeah, with Liam Cooper, we were very happy that you were able to include him. It was constant communication with him, when and how long he will be able to play and I thought the 45 minutes were perfect for him.
Was that performance from Sinisterra enough to put him in the reckoning for a Premier League start?
Obviously we have other players at our disposal too, who played really well the last games, so he's for sure in the competition. I think that we have a really good squad and very good roster in terms of the depth and it will be hard for him if the others keep it up like it did so far.
You’ve spent time in Germany, how does the atmosphere compare?
That's a question that I already get asked a few times here. What I really like about the atmosphere are the feeling that in the stadium the fans are very honest. If you're outrunning and outfighting the opponent, they will excuse a few mistakes, they will support the team no matter what if you fulfil these things, and that's what we want to do.
Even if we were maybe not able to outplay the opponent, it we outrun and outfight, they always support us and that's one thing that I really enjoy you think the atmosphere is great. It for sure competes with the best atmosphere I've seen so far in my career.
What qualities do you like in Luis in particular and what does he bring that other don’t?
I think for an attacking player, he's very complete, he's strong, he can hold up the ball, he’s fast, he's smart, he can dribble and he can still find a shot or the last pass. I think just in terms of what he brings to an attack, he has a big variety of tools. Very high quality player when you talk with him he's very smart, he understands a lot of things quickly and now it's a matter of improving the decision making, adapting to the teammates and the league after this injury, and obviously becoming better in some things regarding position and defence.
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