Southampton v Leeds United - Every word from Marcelo Bielsa press conference on team news, Raphinha availability and Newcastle United takeover

“It is an impossible to be able to give you. It is very interesting what you ask me and I can give you two responses that can generate antagonistic responses that football is a state of your mood but that tiredness muscular affects your performance and it puts the players at risk of injury. Both things are true.”

The international break, as it can't be another way, generates unbalances in the teams. The coaches - what we are looking for is to administer the group so that the performance is equal and around the same level. So for every team, half of the team or two thirds of the team’s players are going with their national teams. So compared to those who are left, it increases the minutes of those who go away and play and it decreases the rest of those who go away so after you have to balance that and you can’t balance going upwards, you have to balance going downwards so to describe this interruption as beneficial wouldn’t be fair but it also does not jeopardise. What you try to do is to harmonise this but it is very difficult to think of growth apart from the individual growth of each player because the players who have two weeks of pause they can improve, in a lot of aspects but individual ones. It is very difficult to form a team or a line of a team to develop collective aspects but that doesn’t apply to our reality because I have been here for plenty of years now and I have had plenty of time but I am sure there are teams who have difficulties and what we have to value enormously is the desire of the players to represent their countries because the players who play with their national teams they don't play for the money, they play for the colours of their countries.

“I don’t think it depends on Patrick. We can construct our offensive game in a collective manner. Of course, having a player that converts the chances increases the possibility of getting more goals. If you ask me if it worries me than I would say yes, that I would like it if we created more chances at goal and if we increased the efficiency. Both things have a margin for improvement and of course if Patrick was here we would enjoy the contribution that he makes. But in a parallel way we are also ready to be at the same level in the games that he is not there.”

“He has been playing as a full back, there hasn’t been a lot of games. It is very difficult to play games from the start in the Premier League but those who achieve it, immediately enter into a new challenge which is to play various games. There is a lot of players who have managed to play in the Premier League and there are a lot of players who have played in the Premier League but not as many who have played various games in the Premier League in proportion to those who play and Shackleton is in a process whether that be as a full back or as a midfielder that is just starting.”

“He is available.”

“It’s always good to see your players within the best players of that age group, and even more so in the case of Cresswell and Gelhardt who can play in one age group above but play in the age group above. And in this case those who played at Chesterfield played against an Italian team which is a strong team. I saw the players of Leeds at the same level as the rest of the opponents of that age group.”

He is fully available.

It is the best league in the world, the best players are here, there are a group of great coaches here also. Even if the world has a lot of good players that don't play here, here there are a lot of good players playing. The organisation of the competition is unique, I think that what the public signifies for the English spectacle is a contribution to the spectacle that doesn't happen in any other part of the world in such a high proportion. Everything that I have just said, everyone says it, I am not saying anything new. There is something more of great importance, within all of this globalised scenario that the English football has managed - an expression of its players that the they have not had in a long time, in quality and quantity and in results and all of that expression is needed by an English coach, a great English coach and what I say doesn't really have any weight because it is all confirmed by the achievements. So how could you improve such a structure? Of course there are things to improve, I also don't have it clear whether the level this year is better or worse than last year. It is sincerely very difficult to notice those changes when they are not noted."

The situation surrounding the acquisition of Newcastle, the analysis around the acquisition of Newcastle, hasn’t got any novelties. Everything that you can signal out, and I am not saying in favour because there are some positive things but all the negative things that are being said, they have two big ways of being observed. First of all that they have already happened and they are happening right now and second of all that there are rules that are established to avoid the damaging consequences that an operation of this type can have. That is to say that my opinion, has no importance. When we are talking about something that repeats itself and we are talking about something that the negative consequences, that there are rules that prevent these negative consequences. So what should be analysed, the media that illustrate to the public and those who administer to the industry that protect it, what should be analysed is what I just said, what is allowed and what is prevented, what is prevented is actually prevented and if the rules that prevent the negative consequences are being applied so you have answers to everything I have just said ands you have answers that are not discussable. because any response that you have will be linked to the rules that are above all of these questions. As a result, I consider that it makes no sense to manifest because you should have an opinion - I think - that fist of all corresponds. This not a case where I correspond and give my opinion and second of all when there is a space in the rules to make a contribution from my optic for the design of the rules, but none of this is happening. There is rules and realities that are already implemented, from there on it makes no sense for me to have an opinion.”

“When you describe a game in the Premier League there is always a level of difficulty that is present in all of them. The games are always very difficult, there are some games that are a little bit more than difficult. It is impossible to say before the game, but what we are absolutely sure of is that Southampton is going to be a very, very difficult opponent to overcome. You can interpret that as a declaration that is very formal, or you can evaluate what type of opponent Southampton is and how they solved some difficult games that they have already played, for example against Manchester City and you see that what I am commenting on has a lot of basis of reality. Apart from that, it is very difficult for someone to think that we can interpret a game as accessible before having played it.”