MARCELO BIELSA: MY TEAM TOOK RISKS

MARCELO BIELSA: MY TEAM TOOK RISKS

Head coach on Stoke City win.

Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa refused to get carried away following Sunday’s victory over Stoke City.

The Whites produced a fine performance to defeat the Potters 3-1 at Elland Road in the opening game of the 2018/19 campaign.

Speaking to the media after the victory, Bielsa felt there were both positive and negative elements to his sides display.

“It was a game with high intensity, our players were very ambitious and they did a great physical effort,” said Bielsa.

“In some moments the team played like I wanted them to and in other moments they didn’t.

“The productivity of the players was high and our offensive actions were very good in some moments and we had the hope and ambition to win.

“In some moments we gave the ball to Stoke, played too close to our goal and at times we couldn’t maintain the differences in the game.

“It is a dynamic team, an offensive team and a team that dares to play, my team took risks when moving the ball- these are the positive aspects, but we lacked a little bit of experience at the end of the game.

“Our team has to improve and get better, at the end of the game we didn’t link the defence and the attack by playing on the ground, we didn’t move the ball as well as we wanted and we couldn’t get the ball back in Stoke’s half, so they are all aspects that we need to correct.”

Bielsa also had praise for the crowd of over 34,000 that attended Sunday’s fixture.

He said: “The atmosphere was even bigger than what I thought, the fans were connected to the messages of the team in every second of the game.

“I would like to thank the fans for their support and I hope that our football will create a positive reaction from the supporters.”

MARCELO BIELSA | "OUR PLAYERS WERE VERY AMBITIOUS"

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