Every word Marcelo Bielsa said on limp Leeds United performance, Raphinha, Phillips and injuries - Leeds Live 16/10/21

Leeds United struggled to contain the high press of Southampton during a tense game on the south coast

ByJoe Donnohue

Leeds United were put to the test without blue-chip trio Patrick Bamford, Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha against Southampton on Saturday afternoon.

The Whites have coped without Bamford since the England striker picked up an injury away to Newcastle United last month, but in Phillips' and Raphinha's absence at St Mary's Stadium, the team's deficiencies were laid bare.

Southampton outfought Leeds in the first half, registering 12 attempts at goal, to United's one which came on the stroke of half time from 30 yards.

Shortly after the restart, it was Armando Broja who scored the game's only goal at the end of an incisive Saints counter-attack.

Leeds did not register a single shot on target in the match - a dismal afternoon for all those of a United persuasion. It was something of a failed experiment for the 66-year-old head coach, whose team seemingly could not build moves without Raphinha and Phillips.

Marcelo Bielsa was questioned on his team selection, and the injury timelines for a number of first-team players in his post-match press conference.

Here's every word the head coach had to say on the south coast:

Seemed to be a really un-Leeds like performance today. How would you explain it?

The defeat was fair. It was justified in the first half, even if they scored in the second. We didn't play well evidently. It was difficult for us to prevent their playing out being fluid. It was difficult for us to recover the ball in the middle of the pitch and we didn't prevent them from their possession becoming promising attacks. Evidently our game didn't look like the one we usually play. You make a reference to a lack of energy, perhaps we weren't as powerful as the opponent but I don't have the impression that we didn't run to try and revert the difference. Especially if you see the second half, it's not that we played well but in the first half we were overcome and in the second half we couldn't overcome them - so it was different to what happened in the first half. The differences in the first half were more marked out than in the second. Normally when a team loses energy, that is quick to evidence as the game develops. But I did see some differences in potency and power in some parts of the pitch.

How big a factor were the absentees today?

It's not common that a team loses six players, I can't not admit it but sincerely we started the game with 11 players that participate normally. I'm referring to Pascal starting, it's not a new player starting; Shackleton the same, Tyler the same. It's not like we started the game with players who don't play usually. I don't link the quality of our game to the absence of our players.

Raphinha, Phillips, Firpo - why weren't they involved today?

Raphinha we had decided that he was going to fly after his game, without knowing how many minutes he was going to play on the Friday [Brazil v Uruguay]. In the end he played 70 minutes, flew 15 hours and today at midday he wasn't in conditions to take on board even a part of the game. Given that he wasn't in conditions to respond, we didn't risk because it's possible in circumstances like this, injuries can occur. In the case of Phillips, in the two weeks after the Watford game, he was working with an injury that was bothering him, that was a muscular problem in his calf. During those days, for a while now he's had a problem in his hip and those two joined together, and even if he was close to being able to play the game, the conditions weren't the necessary ones for him to play. Firpo had a muscular problem on Thursday prior to the game. Of the absent players, the only player that had a muscular problem is Firpo. The rest of them [are not muscular] like Ayling with his knee, Phillips and Koch with his knee and Bamford's ankle, and Raphinha due to the accumulation of the games and the flight, he wasn't able to play.

Why was it such a struggle to get forward and create chances?

I tried to explain why with the prior responses. It was difficult for us to recover the ball in the opponent's half which is an element that helps us. It was difficult for us to recover the ball when the opponent gave the first pass from their half to our half, which is also a way to find the opponent out of position, which facilitates the attack. The attacks of the opponent's always finished in our box and for that reason our play always started from really far back. We had chances to facilitate our playing out, Tyler and Rodrigo had opportunities to receive the ball but we went wide too much. We didn't manage to get the ball through them, through Meslier, Pascal or Klich so the ball always came out wide from our defence and from there it is difficult to give passes that make our attack simple. I know that this explanation is very theoretical but it's what I saw.

What was your message at half-time, did you consider making changes in personnel?

The message was to describe these problems and to propose a way in which we could solve them and I thought I had to insist with the players that started the game. In the second half the differences were shortened, it's not that we dominated but we stopped being dominated and in one of the few moments we managed an even game, they managed to score so I insist without playing well, the differences in the first half were what justified the victories of the opponent.

Have you noticed the team playing any worse when playing with a back four or a back three?

To play with a back three or a back four has one justification: if the opponent plays with two centre-forwards we always try to defend with one player [spare]. Throughout the game, those centre-forwards change heights, and throughout a lot of moments in those games, Llorente and Cooper are behind Pascal who pushes up a bit. The quality of the game is not linked to the distribution of how we play.

Did you feel Joe Gelhardt had the time to make a difference today on his Premier League debut?

To consider if a player's had enough time to show his abilities, you need a lot more minutes than what he played today or what he's played up until now.