Leeds United vs Nottingham Forest: Live Javi Gracia press conference ahead of crucial week at Elland Road

I love it and I love it when I listen in Elland Road. It’s something different, it’s something I think helps our players to play better. I’m sure in the next games, the supporters will be with us. We need them. I don’t have doubt about the atmosphere we have in Elland Road. They are always with us. Now we have to focus on trying to do things well and the rest things are coming.

I think we are where we deserve in this moment. The table puts you in your place. If you want to improve your position you have to be better. We try to do it, to improve in every game, improve our situation.

I think we have to live the games like are coming. We try of course to be focused on the game, the things we have to do, but we have to feel the support of our fans. We always have the unconditional support from them but in these games it’s crucial

I don’t have any doubt about that [sticking to tactical discipline]. You can see in other games, vs Brighton it was difficult to keep that discipline. To keep our shape, do movements we don’t want to do, it wasn’t easy and we were really disciplined. The players are going to do the plan.

Me, I didn’t complain when I don’t have some players because I have others. They are waiting to show what they can do, for me it’s important, of course I have to choose - picking 11 players, maybe it’s the most difficult part of my job, but it’s my responsibility. I know how important all the players off the bench are. Many times they make the difference, and they have to feel it. I try to give that importance. You know the way my players celebrate every goal, it’s really amazing. It’s something they really feel. That’s because I feel proud of the players I have and what they’re doing

What I feel from my arrival here is all the squad is in one direction. I don’t know what they did in the past, I don’t know what is going to happen in the future but in the present what’s important for me is all the players are really together and all of them want to achieve the collective objective

Patrick is a clear number nine and all the strikers we have can play with him. With Rodrigo as a 9, as a double number nine, we have different options. In my opinion, it’s really important the quality of the players, the attitude - they have to play wherever you want. ‘Rasmus you have to play as a midfielder’ they don’t say anything, they say they can do it. That’s what’s important, the quality and the attitude to do what you want to do.

I suppose my experience tells me when I have to be more hard, to handle the team in one way or another. I try to be clear and honest with them, to say to them always the truth. I think it’s the best way to help them and at the same time to achieve the objectives. I try to be clear and strict with them at the same time, a good relationship, to take from them their best

We don’t have time [to switch off]. We are coming from the international break, the players that stayed here with me had two-and-a-half days off. This is the most important time of the season, ten games left, it’s very fast. We have to be ready to give our best. There’s not time for other things.

Rodrigo’s situation, he is trying to make a big effort to help the team, maybe he is not in the best condition but he tries to help the team. The same way the rest of the players, all of them have a clear collective objective: to remain in the Premier League. All the players try to help, in different ways - some in the starting XI, some 30 minutes off the bench, some five minutes but they all have the same mentality. ‘Marching On Together’ it’s something I can feel it everyday here.

I had to keep an eye on the next games and the games my players played before with the national teams. I had to think about many things to take decisions in that game. The line-up I chose was thinking that players, that formation was the best to play against Arsenal in that moment and I will do the same in the next game. We play again on Sunday and a busy month of April.

I try to enjoy everyday, not just football but life. When you feel the responsibility of people around you, all of them trust your job, trust we’ll get the target at the end, you feel that responsibility. Until you don’t get it, you don’t stop.

I expect a more offensive game for us than the last one. When we play against Arsenal, at the end it was 33 per cent possession for us. Of course we have to know the way to manage that percentage of possession, to try to be offensive, to be brave. I think we did that, five shots on target, Arsenal had six. We competed well. It’s true we are playing against the top team but we competed well. Now playing at home I expect a different game, a more offensive game with more possession and most important: a better result

Now, they have different options. If we speak about players, because they signed new players. You can see their last line-up and you compare with the game before, they do many changes, many shapes. In the last game, I think they played well, they have in my opinion quality players and it’s a team that defeated us a short time ago. We have to be aware of that. We have to do something different and something better to try to beat them.

You see all the games and you want to know everything about other teams but I try to be honest with you: we don’t waste our time thinking about other teams, situations. We have our situation, we are living our days in this moment, suffering a difficult situation, but at the same time with the confidence we’re doing many things very well.

We are playing at home and we know how important it is to play with the support of our fans, to give an extra effort. It’s a chance to take a big amount of points.

About injured players I prefer not say anything. You know our situation is not good with injured players, all the medical staff are working really hard to recover as soon as possible. In two, three days, things don’t change a lot. Maybe we have some different options tomorrow but we have to prepare the game with the players we have.

When the game finished all of us were disappointed with the result. I think we did many things well, much better in the first half when the game was more equal and we had some chances to score, we didn’t suffer a lot, we defended well. We found a balance against these teams. After conceding the penalty and early goal in the second half, the game changed and was more difficult for us. The players kept going and doing the right things until the end. I was happy with the attitude of all my players