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Joe Mewis

Tyler Roberts, injuries, Patrick Bamford - Marcelo Bielsa full transcript following West Brom victory

Leeds United returned to the top of the Championship table on Tuesday evening following a hard-fought win over West Bromwich Albion.

Gjanni Alioski's first-half goal was enough to see Marcelo Bielsa's side claim all three points, but not until the Whites put in an almighty defensive shift in the second half.

Here is every question and answer in full from the Leeds United head coach's post-match press conference.

Congratulations on the win. Energy, desire, fight, skill - could ask for anymore from you team tonight?

It was a big, big effort from the team. Always we tried to manage the match, but at the end of the match, the creative play from them was very difficult for us to defend. We put all our energy into defence and after we put all the energy there it was difficult to put energy into attack as well.

I want to take advantage to express something because I am worried about the decision I had to take for the substitution of Tyler Roberts. Because for one player it is very hard to assimilate that he has played 25 minutes and accept he will come off again. The change was not for his performance because he worked a lot. Because after the 15 minutes, the shape of the match turned and changed. I was forced to make a change and put on a more defensive player in the middle of the pitch and he is more creative.

Bielsa replaced Tyler Roberts 20 minutes after bringing him on (Rich Linley/CameraSport)

I made a mistake because I didn’t read well what was going to happen in the match. Klich defended less than Shackleton. Roberts defended less than Klich and what was the need of the match is more energy difference and I didn’t have a better option than this decision that I took.I thought that was the only way to keep the match. The need of Tyler in the pitch was to have more presence in attack. After the match, we forced him to defend more and he had less contact with the ball. I am giving this explanation to explain little bit why I took this decision.

You also had to make other changes - Liam Cooper was injured and was Jamie Shackleton also injured?

No, we don’t have a diagnostic for those injuries, but if they had to leave the pitch they are not simple injuries. Cooper is a player with a good level in his performance. But Shackleton was playing a great match. I would like to have keep him there for the 90 minutes because he was playing very well.

How good was Patrick Bamford's performance tonight?

Great spirit to compete today.

There was an allegation of racist abuse against one of your players today - what is your reaction to that?

First of all, we reject any act or action of racism or discrimination. We reject it. I could not give an opinion about this because it is going to be investigated by the authorities. That is the only thing I can say.

Before the game you expected them to be the most difficult team to defend against - what are your thoughts on West Brom now?

You always ask criteria to analyse the matches we are going to play. In the first half we did a little bit better than them and in the second half they were a little better than us. What they produced in the last 20 minutes was good. It’s not normal to see such production in attack as they did in the last part of the match.

Is it very satisfying for you, known for a team who have so much possession, to defend for so well for so long?

The team in the last part of the match showed few mistakes in defence. The substitution of Berardi was positive. Harrison and Costa have supported a lot the two full-backs. It was difficult for West Brom to beat Berardi, Phillips and White. And Klich, Bamford and Dallas, they ran all the match.

Visit our dedicated Leeds United page for the latest news, views and analysis from Elland Road.

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