Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa faced the press after Saturday's significant 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Elland Road.
This is the full transcript of his press conference, held in Howard's under the West Stand.
Congratulations, Marcelo. Congratulations, Carlos [Corberan], once again. Where does that rank in terms of performance this season? Was that one of the best?
We did a good game today because we defended well and attacked well too. We created 10 chances to score the goal, but we could only score one goal. When you are winning with only one goal of difference you have to be focused on the game until the end because they created one chance in the last minute of the game, so you have to be worried, be focused until the end of the game.
Was it particularly pleasing because you had to do it with the loss of your captain so close to kick-off as well?
It was an uncomfortable situation to lose [Liam] Cooper today, but [Gaetano] Berardi adapted to the game very fast. He is one player you can trust, he’s a stable player. I am very happy for him because he deserved this situation, being an important player for the team.
Marcelo, you’ll know the scores, you’ll know the table now. You’re three points clear with four games to go. Do you think this was crucial today, to win?
Twelve points to play yet and we only have three points difference with them. Then we have to make analysis of this difference, thinking about what the numbers say.
Finally from me, Liam Cooper, was it a serious injury?
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We don’t think so. He feels a pain in a strange muscle, in a muscle players don’t normally suffer injuries, but with this pain he couldn’t play the game. I highly value the fact Cooper did everything he could to play the game and at the same it’s important to have the experience to say he couldn’t play the game.
Sheffield Wednesday have two very good strikers in Steven Fletcher and Gary Hooper, how pleased were you with the way your defence stopped them seeing much of the ball today?
The work in defence today was a good job, good work. We didn’t suffer a lot of danger from them. We were reacting well to all of the different skills of the strikers the opponent has: number 20, number 19, number 14, number 45, 17 too. We gave a positive answer to all the situations.
How comfortable do you feel, then, with the league table? Does it feel significant, the three-point gap now or do you still feel it’s too tight?
It’s not a big difference, of course.
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How pleased are you for Jack Harrison, Marcelo, to get an important goal today?
I am happy for him because Jack Harrison is a player who deserves the goal because he always tries to be close to the goal, making moments to score, but usually he’s not scoring. I’m happy about the fact he has scored the goal today.
Kemar Roofe and Adam Forshaw looked very good off the bench today, are you considering maybe bringing them into the side some time soon?
Berardi, Roofe, Dallas and Forshaw played very naturally, they didn’t change the style of the game or the type of the game the team were doing today.
Marcelo, you had so many chances before scoring, did you always feel the goal was going to come? Were you confident you would get the goal?
We need to create a lot of chances to score the goal. For me, it’s important to create danger close to the opponent’s goal. Then my objective is to increase the level of efficiency because it’s something that helps us to win the games.
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