Coach Bielsa needs to talk about Kalvin
‘NO PLAYER UNTOUCHABLE’
MARCELO Bielsa says he has not fallen out with Kalvin Phillips but insists the Leeds idol is not “untouchable”.
Leeds supporters fear that the pair have had a spat because Bielsa hauled Phillips off at half-time in Saturday’s goalless draw against Brighton.
Bielsa made the controversial change because he felt that Pascal Struijk would do better in the centrehalf role he had given the England midfielder and says no player is too big to be taken off.
“It’s very difficult to imagine that a player can never come out, can never be substituted from a team,” said Leeds manager Bielsa, inset below.
“The logic of football shows that in any game, any player can come off.
“It simply cannot be that a coach is conditioned that one player can’t come off and if he does, it’s thought of as being something.
“The explanation I gave is that I thought that Pascal was better suited in the second half to the defensive position I imagined than Phillips.
“That does not mean I was correct, I just did what I thought was best.
“In no way does that mean there is a difficulty with anyone.
“It’s never a good thing for a player or a team to think that the positions are unmovable and that the hierarchies in the team cannot be altered ever.
“That’s not only bad for the player who is untouchable, it’s bad for those who want to alter the positions in the team.
“It would be bad for Kalvin to think he would never be substituted or any other players in the team to think the hierarchies could not be changed. The position of the team is that you compete with the opponents and also the players in your team.”
Bielsa says Phillips is available for tonight’s clash with Crystal Palace at Elland Road, when Leeds will look for only their third league win of the season, and insists he does not feel he is playing badly.
“No, I don’t think he’s below his level,” the coach said.
“Of course, every game has its characteristics, its themes.
“There are times when the characteristics of the game in the mind of the coach is to imagine a different option for the same function.
“I don’t link that to his individual performance in the game, whether it was high or low. “It was merely to look for a more efficient collective organisation with different characteristics for the execution of the same function. “I don’t see Kalvin with any substantial difference.”