MARCELO BIELSA: THE FAIR RESULT WOULD HAVE BEEN A DRAW - Leedsunited.com 11/12/21
Marcelo Bielsa gave his thoughts to the media after seeing his side lose in the final seconds, away at Chelsea in the Premier League.
The Whites went into a first half lead through Raphinha,
only to then go behind in the game.
Joe Gelhardt came off the bench to level proceedings late on
for Leeds, but Chelsea won the match in stoppage time after Jorginho netted his
second penalty of the game.
“I think the fair result would have been a draw,” Bielsa
explained.
“Both teams played a beautiful game. For us to manage that
they didn’t play well was very difficult, and to create danger against them,
also.
“But, in a balanced way, we managed to achieve both things,
which wasn’t enough for us to be better than them but we also could not be
worse than them.
“I never give an opinion [on the penalties], whatever the
referee decides is fine with me.”
Asked about the absences in his side due to injuries, Bielsa
was keen to stress that he felt the players who came into the team performed
well, as well as praising Gelhardt on his first Premier League goal.
He said: “The absences, we resolved them.
“With an added difficulty that we were missing four players
in the same sector of the pitch, Robin Koch, Kalvin Phillips, Pascal Struijk
and Liam Cooper. The other two absentees were from the centre of the
attack.
“The absence of Pascal was produced yesterday. A movement
made two bones in his foot collide and that produced a pain that didn’t allow
him to play today.
“But I think Adam Forshaw, Deigo Llorente and Luke Ayling
resolved that situation very well. The same with Tyler Roberts, Gelhardt and
Dan James.
“He’s [Gelhardt] a player that’s an opportunist. He’s always
close to the goal and to have achieved that at this level, it’s not just any
goal because it is a goal that generated a leveller that was deserved.
“I think it has value that he scored it.”
