Leeds United's potential psychological spark as Javi Gracia’s Whites seek Groundhog Day escape

Chelsea was another of those games where the opposition clearly had some incredibly talented individuals but were struggling so it was reasonable to think that our best version would get something out of the game. Even in the first 25 minutes, although Chelsea looked good, they lacked that cutting edge. It was a difficult start but I thought we grew into the game rather well and once again, at the end of 90 minutes you're left thinking about what might have been.

We do a lot of things well but we haven't got an end product and that's very frustrating because of the good things some of the boys are doing. There has to be a goal at the end of it and there has to be a result and frustratingly that's just not happening.

We are playing with more width, we are allowed more licence to get forward whether it be from full-back or midfield. Defensively we still look very solid, we're still working hard but we're not flying in, high up the pitch willy nilly, we're picking our time and other times we just sit back and allow the opposition to have the ball. There are different tactics he's introducing and we don't seem to be getting stuck down a rabbit hole, but at the same time, however we play and whatever tactics he uses, we have to put the ball in the back of the net and unfortunately for Javi Gracia that is what he can't do. He can put players in positions and get them delivering crosses but he has to allow the lads to do the playing and the scoring. But they're not doing that.

We need a spark and we're searching for who that's going to be. Rodrigo could be vital. When he first came he showed some flashes here and there but was quite inconsistent and we always thought he wasn't our out-and-out goalscorer. This season his play has been very good and he's scored the bulk of our goals, so he has become vitally important. It will be good from a psychological point of view to get him, our top goalscorer, back on the pitch but it's not just down to one player. There are plenty of players in the team and in the squad who need to come up with solutions. It's easy to look at a striker, the number nine playing through the middle, but you need to look at the wide players, the midfielders, the full-backs, the centre-backs from set-pieces, everyone is there to score or to assist goals.

The table shows how badly we need them now. It's way too close for comfort at the bottom. We were in this situation last season and thought that it wouldn't happen again with the experience that we had. No one wanted to go through that again, let alone the players and the fans but here we are. We're in the same position. The whys and wherefores certainly need to come later but at the moment we need to work out how we get out of the problem that we're in. The good news is that it's not as if we are playing badly and leaking plenty of goals, we're not getting battered, we always look to be there or thereabouts.

There is a big difference between getting over the line and doing what we're doing and that's not picking up anywhere near enough points. I think from a league perspective, there's plenty of teams in and around that bottom area who will be looking over their shoulder so we're not marooned at the bottom. We're in touch with plenty of teams. And I think anyone that just gets a bit of form and goes on a bit of a run will scoot up the table. We've got to believe that's going to be us. Obviously, the sooner that happens the better, but there's a long way to go with ups and downs to come. Hopefully Saturday takes us on an up.

What a very well run football club Brighton is, in lots of different ways. They clearly have a structure and a belief that they use and stick to and the parts appear pretty interchangeable. They've got a well-oiled machine down there. I know quite a bit of Roberto De Zerbi from Serie A. He's a very clever tactician and the way he manages smaller teams to great effect has shown itself. He came in at Brighton and took over where Graham Potter had left off.

They'll be very difficult, they've got some very good players, their scouting network is obviously very good indeed and they've got a record of sending players here, there and everywhere for plenty of money after picking them up for not so much money. There are goals in their team, they're a quality outfit and we will have to be very, very good against them. It's always a difficult game but fingers crossed this one goes our way.