Aston Villa v Leeds United: Every word Marcelo Bielsa said in his pre-match press conference

When Ayling wasn’t here, Dallas played. When Llorente wasn’t here, Ayling played. When Cooper wasn’t here, Pascal played. When Junior wasn’t here, Dallas played. When Klich wasn’t here, Forshaw played. When Phillips wasn’t here, Pascal Klich or Forshaw played. When Raphinha wasn’t here, Klich played. Harrison hasn’t been out. When Bamford hasn’t been here, James or Tyler played. Gelhardt have been the youngsters who have had consistent minutes, and Shackleton has been an option. Of course I wish we didn’t have the problems that we have had. But the team also found the solutions. So of course, the results are poor. Because the results are poor, everything is made bigger. And with respect to the injuries, any analysis that is made, I don’t want to have an opinion, because when you are going through a sporting moment that is negative, everything that you say is read as an excuse because the circle is very clear. Every time there is more games, to earn more money, the excuse to earn more money is that we need a lot of money to play the players because the players want to earn more money or the coaches want to earn more money. That is not the reason. Of course, everybody wants to earn more. But this is a way to limit this veracity of wanting to earn more. Every time there’s more games, the way the scheduling is completed. It’s impossible to schedule within that scenario. Of course the pandemic has multiplied the effect of this problem. There is only one solution which has not been attempted. That we earn less a product of this situation. To play less, to earn less, to make it clear how we will play less to earn less. Obviously is being denaturalised with more injuries and these situations. But never the reasons of why these problems are generated, nor the solutions. How is it possible that the scheduling puts the competitions in the same place? Of course they’re going to have to reschedule. Between all the federations, FIFA, UEFA, it is impossible for it not to be overboard. Now I also want to say something. Our injuries have not been due to an excess of games. Ayling injured his knee, missing eight games. Pascal, his foot, six games. Bamford, ankle and his foot, 14 games. Koch, hip, sixteen games. Rodrigo, foot, five games. Phillips, Cooper, Shackleton, muscular problems have been very few. Llorente and Firpo, and Bamford - within those injuries that he had - so we have had three muscular injuries. But obviously the problems that you are making reference to, in this moment there is an infinite amount of data. That has to do with the fact that the rest and recovery is not sufficient and is produced due to an excess of games. The excess of games should be treated as well. With regards to the teams that are able to have two teams and the teams that are only able to have one. That is not our case. Because we don’t have a problem with an excess of games. In all these things that I have said, everything that I have said in this conference nothing has justified that is a product of things that I should manage better.

Everything that I have had to say, I have already said. You asked me about the case of Summerville, which I don’t know how the permission was obtained. I had no other option but to answer on that particular case which is reflected on the information that you have guys. I cannot make the cases public that have not been made public. The case of Summerville, in no way did I make that public. I don’t know who it is that makes these things public, or with what intentions they do it. What I do know is what I have to resolve. You ask me if Summerville had offers to leave, which you already know. Whether he had offers, and who he had offers from, and all I can tell you is what I had to resolve. The only thing I do know, is that if he didn’t leave, it wasn’t because I forced him or forced the club to keep him. I clearly said to him, ‘if you want to leave, then the best thing to do is for you to leave’, and I would say that to any player. Be very careful with how you interpret what I say, because it’s the most natural thing in the world. A person wants to evolve - they consider that the place where they are won’t allow them to evolve like another place would, and they plant the problem. That happens in all situations of labour. Constant. And there’s nothing wrong with it. Not the desire of someone not continuing, nor my position of ‘if you don’t want to be here, then what sense is there in staying?’ and of course, with all of this being public, it’s not good for anyone, not for me, nor for Summerville, nor for Leeds. But you have to see and understand or know the football world to know who made it public and what are they looking for when they make this public. I’m not accusing anyone or demanding any behaviour is wrong. This is what I’m saying. It happens at every club, constantly. And as it’s made public, I have the responsibility to tell the truth. What I can’t do is answer you who the other ten are, because the last thing I want is for this to be commented on.

He spoke with me and told me that he wanted to leave. I told him that there weren’t any problems with him leaving. The reason why I said this to him is that as a player he has a pretty frequent participation in the first team, not necessarily coming on, but he is a player that was contemplated frequently and he asked to leave. For me that reason, that motive is sufficient. Any player that tells me that they want to leave, I would answer, ‘no problem, I’m not opposed to you leaving. What is the reason?’ That is because he wants to leave. I don’t analyse whether it’s fair or not, whether it corresponds or not. Simply not wanting to be here is sufficient. Now, that’s a sporting position. After the club has a different outlook on it, because the players sign contracts and they acquire obligations. The obligations sum up to economic. I don’t have the power to decide contractual or economic problems. In the case of Summerville, there were ten players in a similar situation and all of the subjects, I treated them in the same way, as it can’t be any other way. When a player signs a contract, he is saying that he wants to belong. And I think it’s absolutely legitimate that he doesn’t want to belong any more. It’s a possibility, it’s a right, and it’s right that it’s that way. I have a limit in the power of my decision. So all of the players that are within the club know that if they want to leave, I’m not going to stand in their way. But because I don’t stand in their way, it doesn’t mean that I decide. I only have part of the decision.

As I’m used to it, not using arguments to justify the adverse moments. I’ll give you an example. I never want to appear demanding or diverting aspects that I don’t have to manage, the reasons for the defeat. In the last game, it seemed that I criticised what the opponent did to reduce the playing time. I didn’t make any criticism, I only said that the problem existed and that there’s resources to resolve it and I’m not the one in charge of doing that. So in the face of that problem in particular, the media has a position that they have already taken up - trying to manage that the ones we lost, the demands, due to the situation, and if you were to do it, the next step is that you justify the defeats with things outside of your responsibility. What you don’t do is to position the problem in its real dimension. What I said was that the time that was consumed to not playing was what had motivated the question. You see that in the games there is added time, prior to the 45th minute, when you include the game, the substitutions, the injuries, in the last game against Newcastle, apart from those minutes, prior to those justified for substitutes, injuries, significant things, that between sixteen and eighteen minutes played less - nine in each half - are not within what’s added usually after an added time. Did we lose the game because of that? Of course not. We lost the game because we dominated the game but we could not finish it off. That’s the only thing that is in my responsibility, and it’s the only thing that I look at. Now, if you ask me if the time was consumed so that the game couldn’t be played, the one who asked the question is able to manage the data and see what happens. So in this case, I tell you the data, because the problem existed, but it’s not an explanation or a justification of the defeat.

He hasn’t played for 15 games now. How can I not worry?

I always try to do what corresponds, I don’t know what the objective of the question is, as I always try to do what corresponds. If you’re asking if an identical thing happens, I would do what corresponds. As the question doesn’t go anywhere, I doubt in responding, but yes I would do exactly the same.

In that moment, I did what I thought corresponded.

As a player with prestige, his past speaks for itself. He’s playing in a Premier League team like Aston Villa, a team in growth, and he’s back in the Brazilian international team.

Yes Shackleton, Forshaw and Cresswell are all healthy now. The four players that we still don’t count on are: Firpo, who should be available for this weekend, probably because his injury involved his tendon, we may be cautious with his return. Phillips and Cooper who, by the beginning of March, should be fully recovered. And Bamford, who has an injury where we cannot predict when he will return because it depends on the pain going away so that he can start jogging again. Since the injury started, the pain hasn’t gone away. Of course, he is going through the necessary demanding treatments for the injury that he has.

I described it as important that the club were able to keep all their best players. And that doesn’t deserve more recognition than I have already just given it. The equilibrium of the economy of a club needs to be established for the future good health of the club. For the club not selling such important players, trying to make an investment of £20 million, obviously emits a signal. When you judge the options of a team of incorporating players in the winter transfer window, it is also very useful to see what condition or operations come into the club - who they bought, how much they spent, how much other players worth incoporating cost, the players who arrive on loan - in what conditions do they arrive? - the signings need an immediate success, whether they are for right now or for the long term future of incoporating into the team. To give an example, the club had to replace Bamford, how much will they invest? The winner costs £30 or £40 million. How much does a centre forward that scores goals cost? Even if you suffer a lot of absences, some significant ones, most significant ones are those of Bamford or Koch who have been absent for around 15 games. The absence of Phillips, Pascal and Forshaw, the absense of Bamford, Rodrigo, Tyler, James - all of this would have a different outlook if we had won the game against Newcastle and it’s good that so much importance was given to the game against Newcastle, because it was a fundamental game. We know that being demanding, that being ambitious, and not being satisifed with what we have is fundamental. We also understand that sometimes the patient runs out. And that the game against Newcastle generated a lot of disappointment in everybody and you can’t demand patience. And that I have the obligation to answer to the demands or claims that have been said about the errors.

I described it as important that the club were able to keep all their best players. And that doesn’t deserve more recognition than I have already just given it. The equilibrium of the economy of a club needs to be established for the future good health of the club. For the club not selling such important players, trying to make an investment of £20 million, obviously emits a signal. When you judge the options of a team of incorporating players in the winter transfer window, it is also very useful to see what condition or operations come into the club - who they bought, how much they spent, how much other players worth incoporating cost, the players who arrive on loan - in what conditions do they arrive? - the signings need an immediate success, whether they are for right now or for the long term future of incoporating into the team. To give an example, the club had to replace Bamford, how much will they invest? The winner costs £30 or £40 million. How much does a centre forward that scores goals cost? Even if you suffer a lot of absences, some significant ones, most significant ones are those of Bamford or Koch who have been absent for around 15 games. The absence of Phillips, Pascal and Forshaw, the absense of Bamford, Rodrigo, Tyler, James - all of this would have a different outlook if we had won the game against Newcastle and it’s good that so much importance was given to the game against Newcastle, because it was a fundamental game. We know that being demanding, that being ambitious, and not being satisifed with what we have is fundamental. We also understand that sometimes the patient runs out. And that the game against Newcastle generated a lot of disappointment in everybody and you can’t demand patience. And that I have the obligation to answer to the demands or claims that have been said about the errors.

We managed to score six goals prior to the game against Newcastle. In the game against Newcastle, we didn’t manage to score. The player who played the least was Gelhardt. And the ones who have had the minutes in the centre-forward person have been James, Rodrigo and Tyler. Evidently in the last game, what we were missing was the finishing off of chances. The problem existed. First for James, after I opted for Tyler Roberts and Rodrigo Moreno, and after I opted for Gelhardt, Tyler Roberts and Rodrigo. The moment in which we created the least danger was when we played three central attackers through the middle part of our game. What’s been demanded from my point of view, the demand is totally justified, is that we didn’t win such an important game, that it was accessible. The demand has to be argumented. The view is put on Gelhardt, which is the option that I didn’t utilise - or that I used for the least amount of time. Obviously, I have a lot of arguments. Fifteen days prior to the game against Newcastle, Gelhardt had an injury in his ankle. A day prior to the game against Newcastle, something that is not at all frequent, I organised a small football training session to verify that, without fifteen days of football activity, whether Gelhardt could participate in the game the following day. That’s something that made me think that the Gelhardt situation had to be managed carefully. But the reason why he was the last one to come on, was that I considered that of the four options I had available - James, Tyler Roberts and Rodrigo Moreno - in that moment, I positioned those three in front of his presence. James in his national team plays as a centre forward with another player alongside him. Rodrigo and Tyler are original centre forwards. I insist that that was the decision I took most to make - of Gelhardt coming on. The decisions that you make, you are able to verify them, but the ones that you don’t make always win because they are hypothetical. What I did, that’s the decision I made - then it’s judged. It’s judged negatively because I didn’t get what was necessary. The decision I didn’t make - of Gelhardt coming on - can’t be verified so the demand comes from this. Without considering arguments like the ones I’ve just mentioned, after the first half that the team played, nothing had to be modified. You don’t modify a team that plays well. The start of the second half, even if we had fewer chances, we still dominated and got forward. From the chance creation being lower, I took the decision for Tyler Roberts coming on, to attack down the centre, Tyler and Rodrigo. And finally, after their go, I decided to play with three centre forwards on the pitch. And I insist that’s the moment where we created the least danger. It’s logical that they claim or demand something. They’re demanding or claiming something because I didn’t do it and, because what I didn’t do can’t be verified, the critic wins.

In Scotland, he had a brilliant step. And what he has managed thus far at Aston Villa has been good as he has managed to put his stamp on his team very quickly.

Cooper and Phillips are in the final stages of their recovery from their operations. Firpo is in the final stage of his recovery and he will be available next weekend, or the following one. And Bamford hasn’t improved. He continues with the problem with the bottom of his foot and hasn’t started jogging, so his situation continues the same way.

It’s very valuable that we were able to keep the players that were wanted by other teams. That in itself has importance. With respect to no signings coming in, the possibility to improve the squad wasn’t there. The club made the necessary efforts and they also showed a willingness to contribute, a willingness to invest more money, so as a result I can only value everything that has been done.

Marcelo Bielsa takes his seat.