Here we go
Marcelo takes his seat.
"Excuse me" he says, for it starting late!
On Forshaw
"It is something that the club have been informed of, it's a six month process with him. And it is a medical detail so I prefer if the club talks about this and not me because it's not my speciality, the only thing I can say is that our medical staff did everything to try and help the player and they are doing everything to try and solve the situation. I know he has to take surgery, I think that his mood is maybe going to be a bit nervous."
Team news
No news about injuries, all the players that played against Brentford are in good condition to play
On Bristol City
It's a team that is in the top of the table as well, they deserve to be there, in a good position in the table, they incorporated four players that are in the 11 starters, even one of those a substitute, a player who left the club. It's a difficult opponent and we have to mention that they are in a good position in the table.
On White unstrapping the 'keeper's gloves to distract him
I ignore all that, I don't know. I didn't see it
Changes for the weekend?
The question is linked with any player in particular?
Casilla is going to play, and Bamford as well.
Would you have liked cover for Forshaw?
I would like to count on him, we resolve this situation with Phillips and Klich but when you plan one season with 18 players it's not the same when you have to count with less players. But if we are thinking of bringing in another player we have to think about bringing in a better player and better means in every sense, not just in skills, resources, if not one player who is able to compete right now. And we can't bring in one player like that, paying a lot of money.
On Poveda
It's a different situation, Poveda is a player who gets his physical fitness quicker, he is a light player with a lot of dangerous resources. He plays one position where those specific things are very important, he plays as a winger and he has to defend as a full back and in this sense he doesn't need any adaptation for that.
Is Gotts injured?
Yes.
He has a muscular injury from five weeks.
How can the club look after Forshaw?
The support the club gave to him, is difficult to do better, everything that we could do for him was everything and a big institution from all of us, from the club and the medical staff as well because they took care of him 100 per cent every day.
On the under-18s
I know about every player in this match, we congratulate the Academy director and through him all the players and the staff of the under 18s and the club has in this group of players insurance for the future
Why has Poveda been missing?
I always organise the subs with two midfielders, two defenders and two strikers, a defender one from the centre and one from the sides. Midfielder one defensive and one offensive and the two strikers, one centre forward and one who can play in the sides. If we have a good condition to this I respect those things, if not I adapt. And I always choose the players that for this match are in the best conditions.
[...]
https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/leeds-united-v-bristol-city-press-conference-recap-marcelo-bielsa-explains-decision-stick-kiko-casilla-1556659
Bielsa Press Conference: Pre-Bristol
posted on 13/2/20
Deep breath.
[...]
What is it about Casilla that makes you stand by him?
I don't support Kiko, I have supported him. If supporting Kiko is supporting the team I can supporting. If I am supporting Kiko but it damages the group and the team I am not going to support him. When one manager takes a decision about one position that is very important he analyses a lot of situations. It is not just about having one player in his position that can play there. We have Meslier, honestly a long time I didn't see a young player like him with resources like him and you also verify this against Arsenal. But it is not just to know that we have a good player like Meslier on the bench that makes you take decision to move the keeper that is very very important. I want to add another thing, I don't ignore the mistakes that Kiko made, they are evident, and also it's true that the consequence of the mistakes are linked with the results of the team. But he gives a lot of importance in that Kiko in the matches where he made mistakes he kept confidence himself and continued giving the right answer in every situation. Other keepers for example when they fail in individual play, in the next situation when they are behind the posts, when they give a bad pass when they try to play long, other keeps when they make mistakes they lose the confidence of their team mates and after you have team mates and players that realise when the keeper made the mistake they don't give him the ball any more. Kiko kept the confidence in himself, he keeps the confidence of his team mates, of course he lost the confidence that his expressed in the press and media, that is something we know, and the opinion in the press, we know who writes and that point is a professional giving this opinion. They are prepared to give an opinion, but after you have other media like Twitter that doesn't offer this possibility, we know who writes this but we don't know if they are prepared to give an opinion. It is natural that any person can give an opinion and it's good that it is like that, all the opinions we can listen and evaluate but we can listen to all the opinions but we cannot evaluate because we analyse the quality of the people who write because it is not the same the opinion of a professional or people with our background, it is a different dimension. In the times we are living in now, the only fact of one opinion being public and a lot of people having the same thoughts makes this opinion that has an impact that we should consider this particular thing in this time right now. Always the opinion has value if it was supported for information. You, for your profession, you know that the opinion of one professional is more important than one of someone who doesn't make research so everybody can give an opinion but we have to give the right value to one opinion or to another opinion.
posted on 13/2/20
More from Marcelo
In this moment we are having bad results, I try to make difference between an explanation, a justification and an excuse, three different ways of describing it. Here I have ten information, ten comparative informations that are very important that everybody can access the information and of course we are more forced to give this information because we are paid for working this. This information describes the last match of Leeds in one very important way. Obviously I don't want to give away information or transmit analysis or transmit information or research about our job football is a game but we can analyse it and football doesn't become football without scientific analysis.
Another question on Casilla - how important that he doesn't play conservatively and plays with confidence and ambition?
Imagine that I have already explained this question taking five minutes and we know that I took 25 minutes to answer about Augustin, if I answer your question, after we are going to read in the press that I talk twice about the thing I already said and know that you are asking the same question as before. I understand perfectly that maybe you want to listen to the answer in a different way and I will briefly add another thing because I have to respect that the team is above everything. Some times when you offer support to the player of one of the club, one of the family, sometimes someone in one moment is weak for the rest of the players like an insurance when the rest of the players maybe had a bad moment. There are a lot of opinions also around our team that we need psychological support, I think the opposite, it's not that I ignore the psychology. I try to create conclusions, talking with professionals, not doing the job of them, what I say is that when someone is in a bad moment we need to try and block this unsafe feeling to try and help them in this moment. When one or two siblings make a mistake, the sibling who doesn’t make a mistake has two possibilities - that he doesn't make the same mistake as his brother or he improves his own resources because he knows in the case of the parents supporting the brother, he knows he will receive the support of his parents. You can solve in two ways, the first is to not face the situation, the second is you have to acquire confidence, when you have to face a problem you are in good condition to solve this problem, that is linked in groups and individually as well, I tell you that knowing which are the conclusions. When you explain a lot one situation, the people who listen take two ways. If I reject who is explaining the situation, in my own country I am a player rejected so when I explain something everybody talks about this like I am selling a product, for this reason I feel ashamed to explain what I think because I feel like what I explain is only going to be useful to confirm that I am selling a product so there is another way to avoid this - win every match. But I don't win every match, I know perfectly that you only receive the support if you win and as almost every manager is a loser, they feel alone.
That's it from Marcelo!
posted on 13/2/20
Cheers Sol
posted on 13/2/20
I’m sure a lot is lost in translation!
I still don’t understand why Bielsa keeps playing Casilla. Surely he has given him his support on several occasions now (Casilla has made so many errors recently) so, imo, this support isn’t working as Casilla continues to make errors costing the team valuable points.
I really think he should be dropped for at least one game and see how the team performs with Meslier in goal.
posted on 13/2/20
It may be his last match for a while if he is banned next week.
posted on 13/2/20
Cheers Sol
You have to admire MB for his loyalty and support, as MaidinLeeds says theres probably a lot lost in translation but Marcelo sees Casilla in training we don't, so whether you think his loyalty is misguided or not MB sees Kiko Casilla as having the qualities to do the job asked of him ............ Do it Kiko..........Prove us wrong and MB right
posted on 13/2/20
So he’s going to ignore the Twitterati because they don’t understand football. Unlike professional journalists and people in the game.
Fair enough - he’s just called fans clueless. He may have a point.
So, what about all the people in the game who’ve been calling kiko a liability?
Whatever It’s reassuring to know that because he still keeps trying to play out from the back that we can overlook game costing mistakes.
C’mon NB If meslier has all these ‘resources’ pick him and let’s see them.
posted on 13/2/20
comment by Hepworth Peacock (U21961)
posted 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
It may be his last match for a while if he is banned next week.
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He need a long break from Leeds !
posted on 13/2/20
I think this is the first time ever I have wanted a charge against a Leeds player to be proved correct! Usually I am really anxious and wanting the player to be found innocent so that he can be back in the team playing. Not this time. I hope the FA do us a favour (it will be the first time, mind).
posted on 14/2/20
comment by MaidinLeeds (U2464)
posted 10 hours, 6 minutes ago
I think this is the first time ever I have wanted a charge against a Leeds player to be proved correct! Usually I am really anxious and wanting the player to be found innocent so that he can be back in the team playing. Not this time. I hope the FA do us a favour (it will be the first time, mind).
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Maidin, despicable view - if you'd rather our player or any player to be proved to be a racist just because you have an issue with a players form then you should have a long, hard look in the mirror.