Marcelo Bielsa has no plans to make adjustments as Leeds suspensions loom - Independent 13/12/21
Bielsa also has a host of injury problems to contend with ahead of the clash with Manchester City
Mark Staniforth
Marcelo Bielsa has shrugged off his side’s mounting
disciplinary issues and says he will not alter his message despite seven Leeds
United players teetering on the brink of suspension ahead of Tuesday night’s
trip to Manchester City
Mandatory suspensions are the last thing Bielsa needs as his
squad continues to struggle with an injury crisis from which there appears to
be no immediate respite, with all those who missed Saturday’s draw at Chelsea
remaining sidelined.
But with five more players booked at Stamford Bridge more
yellow cards against Pep Guardiola’s men could further hamper Bielsa’s hopes of
wrenching his side out of the relegation dogfight during the busy festive
period.
Bielsa said: “There is no need for any added recommendation
to the one we usually make – just to avoid actions that will get you booked.
“That recommendation is never conditioned to the amount of
bookings a player is on, because even if they weren’t close to a suspension, we
don’t want them to produce excessive actions.
“I don’t think that we are a violent team and I don’t think
we are defending worse and for that reason there is more hits. We always try
not to be booked, whether we’re on the limit of yellows or not.”
Kalvin Phillips, Patrick Bamford, Liam Cooper, Robin Koch,
Rodrigo and Pascal Struijk are all still out for the trip to City, with Bielsa
coy on reports that England star Phillips is set to undergo surgery, either on
his injured hamstring or a long-standing shoulder problem.
“I can’t clarify anything on Kalvin at the moment,” added
Bielsa. “There is no news on whether he is going to be operated on. At the
moment I have no precise news over his hamstring tendon or his shoulder.”
Bielsa admitted the injuries to Struijk and Rodrigo in
particular were ones he had never seen before, with both issues stemming from
colliding bones in the players’ foot and heel respectively.
“The injury Pascal has is unusual,” said Bielsa. “An
explosive moment made two bones in his feet collide together and that doesn’t
generate an injury but has the effect of a knock on his bone and that generates
pain.
“Until that pain disappears it’s going to prevent him from
playing. In my whole career I’ve never seen an injury like that.
“The same as Rodrigo’s injury, an injury in his heel, which
only disappears if the pain disappears, which I also haven’t seen in many
years. The specialists who treat it say there’s very few cases like this.”