West Ham v Leeds United: Marcelo Bielsa press conference every word on injuries, Cody Drameh exit, murderball, Raphinha and Adam Forshaw talks

“The future depends on them taking advantage of the opportunities that they receive and when they have opportunities they have to show that they are at the level of the Premier League. For example, Pascal made himself a Premier League player by taking advantage of the opportunities and that’s what it’s about. The time that we spend developing young players is very, very, very big. It’s not only the people that work directly with the under 23s that do an admirable job, they are here all day but all the technical staff in the first team that we see every game that they play and everything that happens and comment it to the players . But evidently there is an error in how we interpret our work. If not, the players wouldn't leave or they would be grateful when they left what’s been done for them.”

“Very happy. When Bamford was injured against Newcastle, the injury was towards the end of the game and I asked Bamford to finish what was left of the game because we needed him and he did so and he collaborated with the team. Perhaps me asking him, that aggravated his injury. Rodrigo played for a long time with a knock which eventually forced him to stop and Dallas is a player that plays every week with something that another player would probably rule him out, Ayling the same, he always has difficulties in his knee that he has to overcome. And then after there are injuries like the one to Gelhardt which is ligament damage and there is no way for you to play and the same with Greenwood - if the joint in your knee is damaged you can’t play - or with Shackleton’s one where if your tendon is hurt you then you can’t play. With Cooper and Phillips it’s the structure of the fibre. Normally all the players have shown great character towards the injuries and all of the players have shortened their time of recovery. And there is also a dosage of luck in this. For example, Bamford’s injury is caused by an un-coordinated movement when he scored that goal and in the celebration he aggravates that small injury into something important. And so I think that perhaps the excess of character is what has jeopardised us.”

“We have to see how the rules interpret the situations that happen, the rules as they are applied to every player without distinction of their position. When a striker makes a movement moving a defender away, normally it is not a foul but when a defender moves a striker away using their arms for example it is a foul so it is clear even though the rule involves all the players, in practice, I’m not saying that it is bad or that it’s good, I am saying that this is what happens. The same action, If a defender does it against a forward it is a foul but if it’s the opposite way round it’s not a foul. In the game against Burnley there was also a lot of actions of that type. Why do I describe this situation? As to tell how it is in reality. It’s not bad, nor is it good, simply we have to learn to adapt to a reality that you can see clearly. There is a lot of actions that you need to learn how to value in terms of how they are in practice. In the set pieces for example, when an opponent obstructs the movement of a defender for them to lose their marker, there’s an infinite amount of those actions and those action are not sanctioned but if that same thing happens outside of the box, a player puts himself in the way of someone else outside of the box it is normally called a foul and the same thing happens wen you put yourself in the way of the goalkeeper, where he wants to go. When a goalkeeper wants to go somewhere and an opponent is positioned where he is going to get himself in his path, intentionally, to avoid him from moving, that’s how obstruction is described but the goalkeepers suffer this constantly and they never blow this. This what I am saying, it’s not that I say it, anyone who wants to verify it there are a hundred actions to show what I am talking about. So I think that you have to adapt and not badly interpret these situations but to try to understand what the criteria is and VAR has the possibility to verify all of this and because I believe in good intentions and professionalism, what is evident is interpreted in a different manner to what the rules say, what corresponds is to adapt to this variant of that certain situation which is what we try to do.”

"It is probably that Pascal, Rodrigo and Bamford are options to return."

“No, disappointing no. Having said that, a lot of the young players who accompany the first team have made a desire to go elsewhere too, Evidently, what I propose to them is not what they desire so I do not criticise and don’t condemn it and it doesn’t disappoint me but clearly I calculated things wrongly because what I consider a great opportunity, there are very few teams or none who have had so many youngsters in their squad in the Premier League but those who are benefiting from that position, they prefer to abandon the club looking for another type of competition. Evidently, what I imagined as a great chance and possibility, they don’t. But all of that in football at the moment is impossible to decipher but the reasons that are taken and that are made is that footballers are the ones who have the least opinions in the management of their careers. But perhaps I overvalue the fact that you are in a 20 man squad in the best league in the world.”

“No, I didn’t think he needed to play games elsewhere. He was a player that was very necessary with all the absences that we have but he preferred to go and play outside of Leeds. In a situation where the opportunities for the youngsters has increased clearly and in this case Drameh would prefer to experiment outside of our team, I consider that position valid and I don’t think it makes sense to oppose him. What I imagined as a great opportunity, he imagined it in a different way and it is more important what he thinks than what I think. And I don’t think it is convenient to impose in a situation where a player wants to belong or doesn’t want to belong.”

“No he hasn’t had a setback, he is still evolving, his recovery still hasn’t been finalised.”

“It’s a fight that they deserve, the one that they are taking forward. Its’ a team that has variants for each position and they have adapted to the absences that they have had, they are a team of power offensively and with a very solid structure.”

Marcelo takes his seat.

Members of the press are gathered via Zoom and ready to go.