Leeds United v Crystal Palace - Marcelo Bielsa press conference every word, Kalvin Phillips, Patrick Bamford, Luke Ayling and Conor Gallagher

Good morning! Marcelo Bielsa is holding his earliest ever Leeds United pre-match press conference today, 8am for the pre-Palace media duties. Let’s get a coffee on and full coverage to follow here. Luke Ayling is set to play for the under-23s at Man City tonight (7pm) whilst Patrick Bamford and Robin Koch were said to be in the final stages of their recoveries too. Updates on that trio - and the need for a return to form after the Brighton display - will be top of the agenda, oh, and facing Palace’s Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher, who Leeds tried to sign in the summer. A fine player.

Members of the media are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and gathered via Zoom, Marcelo will be with us shortly.

Marcelo takes his seat

“The wins are always a necessity and of course in this case also, we are considering every game successively and we hope it is a point of support to start a recovery.”

“With respect to the injuries, Bamford and Ayling are going to play for the under-23s today and the recovery of Koch is on the programme as scheduled. And with respect to Kalvin, he is available for the game tomorrow and as I said in my declarations after the game against Brighton, Pascal and Shackleton coming on were all to do with improving how the team was playing. I don’t link it to his individual performance, whether it was high or low, I am referring to the players that came off - Kalvin and Junior - but it was to look for a more efficient collective organisation, with different characteristics for the execution of the same function.”

“He has changed the style of the team without too many signings. It is a team that is solvent, with a careful management of the ball and with clear positive results.”

“No I don’t think he is below his level. Of course, every game has its characteristics, its themes, and there are times when the characteristic of the game and in the mind of the coach, in this case mine, is to imagine a different option for the same function but I don’t see Kalvin with any substantial difference.”

“Junior is a player that is growing as he puts minutes together. His performances have been improving until he had an interruption due to injury and now he is progressively recovering his best form as it happened like so at the beginning of the season. The last game was a difficult game for us down the right sector of the opponent, he suffered a caution early on and that conditions the player with the freedom that he has to go and win the ball and the co-ordination down the left did not give him the back up that he would usually have.”

“I think that the natural feeling of the fan is to want to get what is in play. So when a team doesn’t get what the fans thinks that their team is capable of they manifest their unsatisfaction but I can’t talk about the reality of Brighton because I don’t know it and it doesn’t correspond for me to analyse it. I am just making a projection to the fan in general and that doesn’t coincide with the attitude that the Leeds fans have towards us because in the adversity is when they show most their support and that’s when they have the most comprehension.”

“Obviously the function of a coach is for their team to play as he desires and it’s admirable how deeply he has been able to install his ideas at Crystal Palace.”