Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa has said that he will pick players who haven’t had much game-time in the FA Cup clash against QPR, and confirmed all 11 starters.
Bielsa was talking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the game on Sunday.
He said, “The evaluation of each football player allows you to build the team.
“You have players that are not usually starters that deserve to be starters, so I take these players into account.”
He added that he would “respect” the competition and that he’s not taking it lightly.
He then confirmed that Bailey Peacock-Farrell would start, along with Jamie Shackleton, Aapo Halme and Luke Ayling.
Tyler Roberts, Adam Forshaw, Lewis Baker, Jack Clarke, Ezgjan Alisoki and Jack Harrison will also start.
He also confirmed that Leif Davis would play.
Journalist Lee Sobot quoted Marcelo Bielsa from the press conference on his personal Twitter account.
Bielsa on juggling league and FA Cup: "The evaluation of each football player allows you to build the team. You have players that are not usually starters that deserve to be starters so I take these players into account." #lufc
— Lee Sobot (@LeeSobotYEP) January 4, 2019
Bielsa on team news: "Farrell will start, Shackleton will play as a right back, he is an important player, Halme will play because Jansson will train normally from Monday on. Bill Ayling will play too because he needs to play." #lufc
— Lee Sobot (@LeeSobotYEP) January 4, 2019
Bielsa: "Pablo too will have a rest. Tyler Roberts will play and for the three offensive players Harrison, Clarke and Alioski will play. Bamford is not present I am interested in seeing Harrison as a number nine. When he played there he scored a goal." #lufc
— Lee Sobot (@LeeSobotYEP) January 4, 2019
Bielsa: "Adam will play as a no 4, Baker will play as a no 8, Klich has played so far all our games and he also played all the international games – I don't think someone in the Champ played for minutes and a rest is is obligation." #lufc
— Lee Sobot (@LeeSobotYEP) January 4, 2019
OPINION
This is exactly the news that Leeds fans were waiting for. All the big players are going to be rested and players like Jack Clarke will finally get a chance to shine. It shows how good the Leeds Under-23s are that you can look at these 10 players and still think they’ve got a really good chance of beating QPR no-matter who they put out. Bielsa was quick to say that he respected the FA Cup and we don’t think you could ever accuse him of disrespect. This team is just the only sensible team that Bielsa can put out, given injuries and the depth of his squad. We can’t wait to see how they get on on Sunday. It’s unusual to release all of the details about your team two days ahead of a game, but Bielsa said that he wanted to do this so he wasn’t accused of disrespecting fans. We didn’t think we could love him any more, but he keeps proving us wrong.