Down and Kalvin’s OUT ‘No planning for the drop – I’m too busy!’
BECKFORD FIRES RELEGATION WARNING
KALVIN PHILLIPS will stay at Leeds United next season – but not if the club loses its survival fight.
The future of the west Yorkshire club’s main asset is a hot topic with Jesse Marsch’s side set for the latest instalment of its battle to avoid the drop at the Emirates today.
And former Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford says Phillips will continue his Elland Road love affair if Premier League safety is secured – but that the prospect of a season in the Championship will not appeal.
He said: “For me, Kalvin’s future comes down to whether Leeds are in the Premier League next season.
“As long as they are, I can’t see a reason for him to leave – just yet.
“He’s in the national team, playing in the Premier League for a team he loves and for a team where he is loved.
“Let’s be fair, this is only his second season at this level and he has not completed a full campaign, through injury. Financially, he’s on a decent deal and I understand there are discussions to extend that.
“Ultimately, there will come a point where he has a decision to make, particularly if he wants to play Champions League football.
“But if he is progressing and Leeds are, then I think he will stay for one more season at least.
“That will give the club time to grow and possibly make plans because how would Leeds cope with that loss?
“He’s a natural-born leader.
His communication levels are excellent, but he also gives that experience of playing in those holding midfield positions.
“His levels of intelligence are so high. That allows the players alongside him – in those wide areas – to have creative freedom.”
Beckford, 38, remains a cult hero at
Elland Road – and not just for scoring a famous winner over old foes Manchester United at Old Trafford in the FA Cup, but for the five years he spent spearheading the club’s attack.
He remains upbeat about the chances of avoiding the drop, mainly because of improvements at the back, which, despite last week’s drubbing by Manchester City, have been marked.
“Jesse has made defensive changes which have had an effect,” he said.
“He’s stopped the man-to-man marking, which, when it worked – both from a fans’ perspective and the neutrals’ perspective – was just brilliant.
“However, when you are playing against people who are worth upwards of £50million, then the level changes and they understand how to break teams down, relatively quickly and relatively easily.
“Jesse has come in and got the defence in a solid bank of four. Kalvin is holding just in front, which gives it more solidity and makes it
difficult to break down. Aside from that, I don’t think he’s made too many changes. He’s not had to.
“One of the main things that coaches and managers want to change when they arrive at a club is a player’s level of fitness.
“With Marcelo Bielsa’s (below) Leeds United, they were the fittest team in the Premier League, so that wasn’t on his agenda.
“What will be interesting is when Leeds United has a fully fit squad again.
“Obviously, Kalvin has been missing, as has Patrick Bamford, who is a vital cog in the club’s wheel. You only have to look at the goals Leeds have been missing. It’s a huge loss.
“And he offers so much more than goals. His movement creates space for others. But with both of them back to fitness, the whole picture suddenly changes. If they do survive, Jesse will have them back next season.
“And, in the Under-23s, there are Sam Greenwood and Joe Gelhardt as well. They are both knocking on the door, they are real prospects.
“If the club can stay up, there could be exciting times ahead.”
JESSE MARSCH has insisted he is not planning for the possibility of Leeds United suffering relegation this season.
The Yorkshire club sit one place and two points above the Premier League drop zone ahead of this afternoon’s visit to Champions League-chasing Arsenal.
But, having played a game more than 18th-placed Everton, they are
no longer in total charge of their own destiny.
Still, Marsch is not yet drawing up plans for the worst-case scenario, with his focus instead on making sure that does not come to pass.
He said: “I’m not planning for anything other than the next match and staying in this league.
“There is a singular focus – and that’s the best phrase I can use – a singular focus on the job in hand.
“I don’t sense anything other than that total focus from the players.
“I’ve had some conversations to say, ‘Let’s make sure that we are all reinforcing that this singular focus is exactly the discipline that we must have right now’.
“But it hasn’t actually needed that reinforcement because our eyes are locked in. There is no flippancy or distraction of any kind.
“We know that it’s going to take all our intellectual, emotional and physical energy to achieve our goal.”
The American coach (above), who succeeded the popular Marcelo Bielsa in the hot seat in February, also revealed that he is giving up on a few nights’ sleep as he plots a route to safety. Asked whether he has been able to shut out his work at night, Marsch replied: “I’m trying, I’m trying.
“I end up watching a lot of video and trying to make sure that we analyse our opponents and that I get very clear on what I want the game to look like.
“My wife has probably seen my face buried in the computer too much, but that’s what it takes right now.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help our guys, but I’m really happy to be here. If I had 100 more times to make this decision to come to Leeds, I would make it a 100 times.
“This has been a real pleasure, despite the situation!”
With Burnley also involved in what is likely to be a three-way scrap to avoid the drop, Marsch is convinced the final relegation spot will only be decided on the last day of the season.
He continued: “I expected it, eight games ago, to go to the final day for us at Brentford.
“The league is so competitive, and so tight, that it was hard to imagine a situation where it wasn’t going to come down to the wire for us and for a lot of other teams.
“But again it’s really just about our work and the thing I appreciated after the Manchester
City defeat is that I think the fans recognise that it was not a four-nil match.
“That was truly amazing for me to experience.”
“Even though we knew that, given some other results, it was a situation that none of us wanted to be in, the reality is that we have got to stick together, remain positive, and push forward together.
“I want the fans to feel like they are part of our club and our team – and that they are right next to us along the way.”