Javi Gracia's Leeds United press conference transcript in full: injury silence, tactics, Potter and facing Chelsea
and live on Freeview channel 276
Leeds make the journey to West London for the second time in five days as they prepare to take on Graham Potter’s ailing Blues at Stamford Bridge. Unlike Tuesday night’s FA Cup exit to Fulham, this time Leeds return to league action coming off the back of a long-awaited Premier League win last weekend at home to Southampton.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have failed to score in five of their last six matches, losing each of their last three in all competitions as pressure intensifies on former Brighton boss Potter. A report in the Telegraph earlier this week stated that Potter’s job could be under threat if the home side do not earn a result against Leeds.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdGracia’s men have shown signs of improvement since the Spaniard took charge but the 52-year-old acknowledged there is still work to be done, particularly in terms of the team’s finishing which was wayward on Tuesday night at Craven Cottage.
The Leeds head coach will be joining the media from 1pm. Follow all the updates and everything he has to say right here.
Javi Gracia press conference LIVE
Gracia on bettering Fulham result
I think it depends on many things, the quality, luck, composure, the calmness to finish, many things. What you have to do is at the end to finish well and it’s true we have a young team and we have to improve. The only way you can improve is to have more chances and live that experience. We need the goals. It’s true in the last game we had 16 shots and 12 of them were inside the box and then the other team with only six and three into the box, they score two goals. The stats are clear, but football is not stats. We have to work on it, it depends on us.
Gracia on injuries
You are really concerned about injured players but they are in the best hands to recover as soon as possible. I don’t like to speak about injured players. To be honest, some of the players I don’t know if they will be ready or not.
Gracia on Rutter
It’s an option [to start]. A real option to play with two players up front. In this case in the last game I am happy with the way Georginio played. What I’m not so happy is with the goal disallowed. In my opinion, really soft. That circumstance can change the game. Before they scored we had one clear chance with Weston and a clear pass for Summerville. That’s why I’m pretty disappointed. Speaking about next game, I think it’s a good option for us to play with two players up front, with Georgi, Bamford, with all the attackers in the club.
Gracia on Chelsea
The confidence we have is in the work we are doing, not about the rivals. As I say before I respect a lot the team, what we expect is a very demanding game and we have to be ready for that
Gracia on focusing minds on Premier League
I think all my players are focused on the next game, knowing the importance. It’s true we are coming from FA Cup game where we got a defeat but in my opinion this game was good for us as well because we did many things well. Many options during the game to change the dynamic. We were a little bit unlucky. We didn’t finish with composure. I’m happy with the way we competed, always. Now, we are focused on the next game against Chelsea knowing it will be a very tough game.
Just as well...
Fulham were drawn against Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter-finals last night, which means it would have been yet another fixture against Leeds’ arch-rivals had Gracia’s men progressed against Marco Silva’s side the other night. And of course, it would have been away from home.
Thanks, Arsenal
A resounding 4-0 win over Everton for the Gunners last night, keeping the Toffees in the bottom three having played a game more than Leeds. Over to you, lads.