Leeds United v Bournemouth: McDermott looks for Leeds to set aside their hurt

BRIAN McDERMOTT has confirmed that he made an enquiry to bring striker Luciano Becchio back to Leeds United, only for Norwich City manager Chris Hughton to block his request.
Brian McDermottBrian McDermott
Brian McDermott

But McDermott has hinted the situation could change.

The United boss, whose side will attempt to end a run of four straight defeats at home to Bournemouth this evening, was also rebuffed when enquiring about two Arsenal players – including Gunners’ teenage winger Serge Gnabry – and no loan arrivals are expected ahead of tonight’s game with the Cherries.

McDermott said: “I made an enquiry to Chris Hughton regarding Becchio and he wasn’t available. Will it change? Things do.

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“I made an enquiry for a couple of players at Arsenal as well – Gnabry, who scored their first goal on Saturday, was one of them. I wouldn’t think they would let him out now.”

McDermott will look to the players currently at his disposal against Bournemouth, who have lost on all five previous visits to Elland Road, and is calling on them to be bold this evening.

If United lose again, it will represent their worst run of results since December 2008, which culminated in Gary McAllister being sacked by the club.

There is, however, no suggestion that McDermott is on shaky ground, with the only pressure on the Whites manager being that which he and his coaching staff are placing on themselves to get results.

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After a sleepless night on Saturday following a desperately disappointing second-half performance in the 2-0 reverse at Millwall, McDermott is looking for a reaction from his players tonight, with United having dropped to 15th place in the table.

Just over a fortnight ago they moved up to sixth after a 1-0 success at Bolton, but successive league losses to Reading, Burnley and Millwall have seen them plummet down the table.

While fine margins saw United lose out to the Royals and Clarets, the loss at the New Den was a different story, with Leeds producing an anaemic performance in the second half which McDermott labelled as the worst in his time at the club.

McDermott said: “It hurts and, believe me, if you think I had a good night’s sleep after Millwall, then that’s not the case. It hurts and I want to win and these players and fans do.

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“The players were disappointed and gutted on the bus on the way home on Saturday. Losing four games on the run isn’t nice. There’s been a lot of travelling, but there’s no excuse.

“We need to get up the pitch and get in behind teams more. That’s one of the fundamentals as we’ve looked pretty solid and have the sixth best defensive record in the league. We need to be solid, but also be brave on the ball more.

“We have to make sure we have the desire, determination and work-rate. If we have got that, the fans will stay with you here.

“If it looks like we haven’t got that, that’s when you have got a problem, I understand that.

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“Sometimes you won’t play well, but as long as the fans see you running around and doing everything you can for the shirt, they will be okay. I’m convinced about that, these fans are good fans. They know football.”

While the losing streak is a disappointment to McDermott, he is steadfastly keeping things in perspective, just as he was loathe to get carried away after the victory at the Reebok Stadium back on September 14.

It is the same philosophy he displayed at former club Reading, although McDermott has acknowledged that confidence has taken a bit of a knock at Leeds after a quartet of defeats, which included their Capital One Cup exit at Newcastle United.

He said: “Looking back at the games I’ve been involved in (at Leeds) – I think it’s 16 – we have won eight and we have not had too many performances like we had in the second half.

“The important thing now is to find a way to get a result.

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“We need to get the confidence levels up. Two weeks ago, we were fifth or sixth in the league and we’d just won at Bolton. That’s how fast things can change in football.

“You never get carried away when you have won a game and don’t when you have lost a couple. You can’t afford to do that and must stay on a level. That’s really important.

“I have had a run twice that was worse than this. It was 13 games when I was first a manager (in non-league) – eight draws, five defeats – and the secretary of the club at the time came to me after game 13 and said, ‘Do you know that’s a record?’ So that was nice and I said, ‘Thanks for that’.

“I also had five games on the spin for Reading where we got beaten and, before that, I was caretaker and had five games without a win. I have also had 15 wins out of 16 games and eight wins out of eight.”

Last six games: Leeds LLLLWL; Bournemouth LDWLWL.

Last time: Leeds 2 Bournemouth 0; March 8, 2008; League One.

Referee: P Gibbs (West Midlands).