Bielsa Press Conference: Pre-Birmingham

Hello

And welcome to Thorp Arch - we're in position to hear from Marcelo Bielsa this afternoon who will be updating us on all the latest ahead of this weekend's clash with Birmingham City.


Marcelo is here

Let's see what he has to say...


Team news?

Pablo is going to be inside the group. Shackleton, Forshaw and Cooper we are going to wait a little bit more until the next week.


Cooper - ahead of schedule?

Out of all three Cooper will be the last one to come back to training and Shackleton will be the first. He will start to train, Cooper will be one more week.


How have the two weeks been?

We were working in the last 15 days to compensate without football for a weekend. We were controlling all of the details about our game, strategy and the tactical parts. We analyse what we have to develop and correct. With this in mind we planned the week, which is what we have done.


How proud are you to be here for the centenary?

I am the manager here during the centenary. I am very proud of this. In life I respect the history and tradition. Football is my speciality even more. Now that I know what happened in the past, honestly it is very attractive. It's about the respect for the history, don't forget to tell the new generation of people.


Can your players take any inspiration from the legends?

I think that all the message that arrived to the feeling of the players are important. If those messages are from legends that left there mark it is even more.


Does it feel like a fresh start this weekend after the break?

We always think after the defeat because we don't want to repeat the game. You can analyse a defeat in two different ways. You can forget the defeat, and try to think in the next match hoping to win. There is another way which is to try an analyse this to not repeat it. We have done the second one, we try to understand why this happened.


Pablo back - a lift?

Pablo always has a big impact on our team.


Birmingham City - what are you expecting?

I will say again what I have said before. Always in the Championship are difficult matches. This team has changed its style a little bit. They have a little bit more of possession, they added players to the team. We think it is going to be a difficult.


Nketiah - hat-trick for England? Important?

"It's very important. Nketiah is always a player who is involved. He's a player who at the moment isn't between the 11 starting players. We haven't been efficient. It's natural that one striker who scores goals is a claim for the people..."

"Bamford was recognised by the supporters before the last game (Millwall). If Nketiah fails here, it will be my fault..."


That's everything

Marcelo has finished up today... take a look back at what he had to say below.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/latest-leeds-united-news/leeds-united-v-birmingham-city-recap-marcelo-bielsa-provides-injury-update-and-talks-eddie-nketiah-816458