Supporters have lost faith, says Marcelo Bielsa, but his Leeds United believe 'more than ever' before Nottingham Forest clash

The Whites head coach was in defiant mood in his press conference to preview tomorrow’s trip to fourth-placed Nottingham Forest, which precedes Tuesday’s away game at fifth-placed Brentford.

After a lengthy explanation of why new signing Jean-Kevin Augustin cannot simply walk into the Leeds team, having played only three full 90-minute matches in eight months, Bielsa moved on to his team’s undented levels of self belief, which contrasts with what he says is a loss of faith from the fanbase.

“There are no expectations, there are doubts,” he said. “The supporters are not believing any more in our team. Every team that loses three matches in a row, you have this doubt.

“But we believe in our team.

“Now people are asking for anything, [like] a person is in the sea and he’s drowning.

“We believe more than ever in ourselves.”

Bielsa, whose side sit second in the division and three points clear of the play-off places, is determined to win back the faith of any who have lost it and he’s adamant the doubt won’t spread to Thorp Arch.

“If the supporters have lost faith in the team we have to recover the confidence that we lost,” he said.

“We have to recover the confidence that the supporter does not have now.

“We need the confidence of the supporter and if we don’t desereve it, we are trying to recover it.

“What we are not going to do is give up and not trust in ourselves, because we deserve to keep the trust in our side.”

Leeds have lost three of their last four Championship games going into the Forest clash and it is those losses Bielsa says have caused the fans’ crisis of faith. He reassured Whites supporters that he knows what their problems are and what the answers to those probems are too.

“It doesn’t matter [that] most of the matches that we’ve lost has meant people don’t trust more in our team, we are forced to analyse what we make of things,” he said.

“We take conclusions on what we need to correct. No doubt we’re doing this work and we know perfectly well the problems and which are the solutions that can maybe resolve those problems.

“I prefer to take the responsibility for the mistakes than put the responsibility on another.”