Frustration has been rife in Leeds United’s dressing room this season as the players stew on the disappointment they know they are causing their fans. Rodrigo has reflected on the pain the squad has felt in leaving the club second from bottom of the Premier League, despite the unstinting support they have seen from the terraces.
The players are all too aware of the sell-outs Leeds take home and away, snapping up every available opportunity to see their beloved side take to the field. Rodrigo knows the feeling all too well.
This season’s top scorer was on the frontline of last term’s slide into crisis before that late relief at Brentford. He says the team can only hope the fans will stand by them and come through a sticky situation they know have the talent to overcome.
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“[Southampton is a] super important game,” he told LeedsLive. “From now until the end, all the games will be massively important. All the points will be massively important.
“That's the moment things will be decided for everyone. We all know people are disappointed with our season.
“We are disappointed, as well, with ourselves. We know we represent a big fan base. We play [at] home and with 35[,000 fans at] every game.
“We go away and if they have 10,000 tickets, we have 10,000 fans. If they have 12[,000], we have 12[,000].
“For us, it is really frustrating as well to know we are, in certain points, disappointing people, but we need them. We know how hard it is for the opponents to play in Elland Road and how important the support is for us.
“The mentality now is we have to be together until the end of the season. I'm really confident we have enough capacity to be able to overcome this situation and finish the season with the main goal we all want.”
Now is not the time for United’s players to turn on one another. Rodrigo’s made it clear fingers must not be pointed at each other in the dressing room.
The Spain international reflects on the togetherness and unity among the players, honed and hardened in the fires of 2020’s promotion. Experience has taught Rodrigo all about challenging campaigns.
“The only possible way to overcome this situation is to keep ourselves as a team, don't try to do things by ourselves,” he said. “The strongest thing from this team is the group mentality we have here, which those guys created since promotion.
“We kept this during the last two-and-a-half seasons we are in the Premier League. As more experienced players, we understand sometimes this is part of football.
“Sometimes you work well, you do everything you have to do and things just don't happen in a positive way, you know? We can't be desperate now.
“We can't try to point the finger at the other guys [in the dressing room]. We have to stay together, face this difficult moment as the solid group we are and I'm completely sure we have capacity enough to overcome the situation and to finish well this season.”
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