'One in ten' - Stoke City boss bemoans impossible Leeds United task amid 'out of our league' admission
Stoke City head coach Narcis Pelach said Leeds United are out of the Potters' league following their 2-0 defeat by the Whites on Boxing Day.
Stoke were beaten on home turf by Daniel Farke's side with the game played through spells of thick, rolling fog on Thursday evening.
Pelach is under pressure to turn things around at the bet365 Stadium and has come in for scrutiny from the club's supporters for the failure to win any of Stoke's last nine games.
The Spaniard spoke about the difficulty of facing a team like Leeds after the fixture on Boxing Day, suggesting his team are simply did not possess the quality of their opponents.
"We have to put this to bed quick, the Leeds United one, because at the end of the day, [they are] a team that is out of our league, and this is a reality. You are going to win one in 10 against them," Pelach said at full-time.
"You need to be resilient against these type of teams, because they make you defend a lot, they have a lot of possession, and then if you press them high and you go late, they beat the press, and then they have an open goal. But then if you sit, it's just that you are not trying. You need to try, or you need to decide, as a coach, what is less worse, against these type of teams, if you want to press them high and take the risk that they attack you in a vertical [way] and fast attacks, which is very dangerous because they have very, very fast players that they can decide the action very well in bigger spaces, or you want to sit and wait and make it awkward for them in a tighter space.
"For us, Leeds is one of the best, if not the best. So, then when you want to go through a game-plan and think what is best for you, you analyse the opponent and you decide When you press them high and they beat the press, they are very dangerous for you. There are teams without the speed up front that maybe it's good to press because then if they beat you, they don't have that speed that kills you, with Leeds it's not the case.
"If they beat the press, they go forward with pace and quality. So then sometimes it's better to wait and don't expose yourself into bigger spaces against players that just need two yards, like Daniel James, for example, [who] is very fast," the 36-year-old added, analysing his team's approach.
Pelach also admitted Potters captain Ben Gibson had been unwell in the lead up to kick-off but chose to play, despite throwing up during the warm-up. Gibson was subsequently brought off at half-time, unable to carry on for the second half.