MB Pre Chelsea

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Cjay
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Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:01 pm

MB Pre Chelsea

Post by Cjay »

First of all, can I ask you what the team news is for this weekend and how did Kalvin Phillips and Rodrigo come through playing on Monday night?

They are both good.

Thomas Tuchel is now in charge of Chelsea, have you seen a noticeable difference in the way they play since he's become manager?

They are in a positive dynamic in terms of results and they have a confidence in how they manage the ball.

Can I ask for your thoughts on Raphinha? He has rightly been praised for his form since joining Leeds which has led to some interest from other clubs, but I notice this week he gave an interview which saw him praise you, said he likes working with you and you bring out the best in him. How much does it mean to you that you have players here showing you the same loyalty that you show them?


I appreciate a lot Raphinha's position, but his reality is more to do with his own merits.


Look ahead to Chelsea - how do you go about breaking a team like that down that are solid at the back and have the talent and firepower to score goals at the other end?

We have to try to defend well and attack better than they do.

How are Pablo Hernandez and Pascal Struijk, who missed out with injury? Are they in your plans this weekend?

No, neither will be able to play.

You said Pascal's was a minor knock - has it got worse or will this just be fore this weekend?

The response I must give is that the progress of his evolution will show us when he can return to competition. Given the injury Pascal has, it is not a serious injury because various of our players, including himself, have played with this injury. This is why I say this is not serious. While he is not needed urgently, I prefer that he has more time to recover completely and definitely.

Will Robin Koch make an appearance for the under-23s on Monday against Newcastle?

We think he will. I would like to think so, but I don't want to confirm because I don't want to say something which then turns out to be an error.


You made a change on your bench with your goalkeepers and it wasn't through injury. Elia Caprile came on, obviously Casilla came out. What is Caprile doing that he wasn't going before to put him on the bench, or is it a case that Casilla is not doing something that he should be doing?

I received notice from the institution that said Caprile that was given a place on the bench due to his performances. This is not a conclusion that I have said. When I make a decision for the presence or absence of a player, I don't explain the motives. What I do say is the truth. If it's because of injury, then I say it's because of injury. In the case of Casilla and Caprile, of course I value Caprile. I also know the difference between one and the other. What I said to explain Casila's absence, was that he was not injured and I decided that he would not participate. I think what I said is true and sufficient.

It's inevitable that players leave clubs at the end of a season, whether they are out of contract or are not needed anymore, so their futures may be uncertain. So how do you keep those players motivated until the end of the season, when they don't know their future, come the summer?

What I think is to play a game in the Premier League is a dream for the majority of players in the world. That same thing for coaches. We dream of managing a game or a season or a period of time in this league. I don't think additional motivation is needed. To celebrate playing a game in the Premier League, in this case in the shirt of Leeds United. I understand where your question is coming from, but the answer that I give you represents the thoughts of all the players.

You said after your last defeat to Chelsea that defeats are always an opportunity to learn something - so what did you learn in that game in December and in the recent couple of games you have been defeated in as well?

The game against Chelsea, in this moment, I analysed it and I gave my conclusions. If I'm to be sincere, if I was to answer that question I would give you a formal answer rather than a sincere one. With respect to the last two defeats, I also explained what I thought in the moment. I thought they were avoidable defeats, that we were beaten by teams who weren't superior to us on the field. But to concur what you deserve into results is the job of a manager in general.

In the game against Aston Villa we created one chance in the second half in which dominated the whole half, so the critic that we had over our own game was to convert the possession into danger. In the second game, we created seven goal-scoring opportunities in the second half and we didn't convert any. The critic is that we need to be efficient and capitalise on the danger we create. So the focus on our offensive game has different ways of being observed. In general lines, our offensive performances are positive because we create danger. The opposite happens in the defensive half. All of our individual players from defensive midfielder down have good performances. But despite this, we concede a lot of goals. In the three aspects I tell you: possession danger, danger efficiency and good individual performances and defensive output; they are all within the things I manage and I haven't managed to resolve. Especially with he subject of receiving so many goals.

'Can I just clarify that you said you received a notification or a suggestion that Caprile should be on the bench?

Via notification from who?

It sounded as if you talked about the institution. You received a notification from the institution - is that what was said? Can I just clarify that?

What I said is that, our press office informed me that there were a lot of questions asked about Casilla's absence and Caprile's involvement. They also said that they had responded that my decision had to do with the fact Caprile had been performing very well in training. After they told me that, no they did not say this. I obviously believe in all the versions they tell me because they are all of good intentions, but what I do say, only I explain the decisions that I make. And the arguments that I make to decide are not to communicate them, but just communicate the decision. Evidently, I must have expressed myself incorrectly for you to have understood the club had indicated to me that I should have included Caprile, which the club did not do, of course. The respect they reserve for each and everyone's tasks here is complete.

How pleased were you to see Kemar Roofe pick up a league title and how closely do you follow the career of your former players?

I follow how each player that has passed through here is doing. I'm very happy that Roofe is able to win the Premier League in Scotland. I regret that he was not able to participate in the last few games due to a muscular problem.

Today is your 1,000th day in charge of Leeds United - when you came in in June 2018 did you anticipate being here this long? Did you think it would go this well when you first arrived?

I always think that I'm going to stay forever in all the jobs that I take and I go from day-to-day thinking that I'm going to be here the rest of my life.

At the same time, it's a profession that usually has interruptions. It is far more common that a manager is fired than he stays in a place for a very long time.



Aside from the injuries we know about are there any new problems since the West Ham game? We obviously know about Jamie, Adam, Robin, Pascal, Pablo - is everybody else ok?

No, Shackleton is available now. Koch also, Berardi also. The players who are not available are Forshaw, Pablo and Pascal.

Can we expect to see Caprile on the bench for an extended run? Or is it just temporary?

For some time, I have anticipated this squad because I have received this recommendation

Mateusz Klich - you've explained that it's very difficult for a player to keep on top form throughout the season, but has his form affected by being asked to play in different roles? Have his physical figures dropped?

For Klich, in the first half of the game that have been played so far, he had his best performances, but his physical numbers were not ideal. In the second half of the season that he has played, his physical values improved with regards to what he's able to do, but his performances have been more sporadic. All the players have better or worse performances, better or worse physical performances and more or less progression in each game. This Premier League is difficult to be able to play good in all three aspects of physical, mental and football-wise throughout the whole season. I've always said Klich is a complete player that can play all three positions in midfield. Even if he's a midfielder who defends alongside the defensive midfielder and attacks alongside the offensive midfielder. Most recently he has played more defensively. They are very few players with these characteristics and even if he has an ideal position, I give value a lot to the fact that he has played as a defensive midfielder and an offensive midfielder. This allows us to resolve momentary circumstances throughout the game. This happens with many of our players, like Dallas and Ayling. But there are not many of our players in our squad who have not played in many positions.

You've said that it's more usual for a manager to be fired than stay in a job for a long time, but do you not feel with the success you've had at Leeds that you could not stay here as many seasons as you want now?

I don't think I have triumphed in this job.I think the word triumph is something which evades me. To have been promoted, it was very difficult not to have achieved this because the level of the team deserved it. Once we are in the Premier League, if we had come to the Premier League and been in the positions of 10th, 9th, 8th, 7th or 6th, or five to ten, to have achieved this would have been a valuable achievement, but we're not in these positions. We haven't been regularly in these positions. I don't think anyone can describe it as a successful [period]. I don't think there are many managers in football who have the legitimacy to be able to stay in a job as long as they like. There may be more coaches with more merit than I have. I can asprie to that sensation you suggest, but it's not my case, sincerely, it's not my case.

A huge number of your former players have gone on to be coaches or managers and I just wondered why you think this is the case? And how proud does it make you to leave that kind of legacy?

I think that you have to look at this in the right way to say that you transcend and influence these coaches. To look closely at Pochettino. He says he doesn't think he represents my ideas, something which is true. He has his own ideas, which from my point of view are better than mine. That indicates to have managed a coach who is successful does not represent, does not mean you have influenced his career as a coach. People like Martino, who is a great coach worldwide, he has also manifested himself in a similar way to Pochettino. Mauricio who is a player, someone who I admire a lot and worked closely with, he has always left it clear, even to myself, that he does not practice my ideas.

Those who leave a legacy generate the desire in the other coaches to reproduce a style and to incorporate a method. And I guarantee you that I observe it, nor the method or the style that I propose is the motive for someone to initiate.

And I always put the case of Guardiola. There will be others. For example, you saw the build-up phase from the goalkeeper to the defenders. It's habitual now. From my knowledge, which perhaps is insufficient, this is born from Guardiola. This for me is transmitting a legacy. There's another thing that transmits the importance of what Guardiola has done to express the managers that have influenced. Guardiola has generated a system to neutralise his style of play. He admits such superiority to the teams that he manages that the opponents think that the best way to avoid being defeated or to lose by a small number of goals is to start the recovery of the ball ten metres from their own box. This is a phrase to the model of the style because the justification of all his colleagues that we can't play like Guardiola because we don't have his players, so this is admissable. I don't agree with this, but I accept it. That he has built a squad, created a style to avoid that his style prospers. That is a big, big praise for a coach, for a manager. Apart from that, the style that people adopt to avoid the style that he proposes has only one objective, to lose by a few amount of goals. That is a real praise to the style of a manager.


You've lost five of the last seven games. I know you've said that you're satisfied with performances, but how much of a concern is that run of results?

It's a question without any content that you ask me. Very difficult to answer. Apart from answering something empty. Because any team that loses five from the last seven, the response is, of course, I am very worried, which is what I should say to you.

From the last seven, we lost five, so I'm very worried and to say 'next question'. Normally those who have stats available are not able to evaluate what's happened because you have to analyse the five defeats, not say that we've lost five games. And I do this every time we win and also every time we lose. If you have some details and you ask me a question based on those performances, then I can give you an answer. But if you say from seven games we've lost five, then the answer is of course I'm worried.
Signed

King Cjay

Fountain of all knowledge and wisdom
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