Reid confident Roque will be a rock in defence

LEEDS manager Peter Reid is confident the universal language of football will not fall on deaf ears as Roque Junior looks to make his voice heard in the Premiership.

The Brazil centre-back looked like a stranger in a strange land on Monday as his debut turned into a disaster, with Leeds thumped 4-0 at Leicester.

With hindsight, Reid was left wondering if he was mistaken in playing Roque Junior, as the 27-year-old had been involved in just one training session following his arrival last Friday from South America where he had been on World Cup qualifying duty.

In the absence of captain Dominic Matteo, sidelined with an ankle injury, the Leeds defence looked disorganised, yet Reid is certain to turn to the back four on duty at the Walkers Stadium for today's visit of Birmingham.

Lucas Radebe is also ruled out with a recurrence of his knee problem, leaving Reid with few options.

Yet he is adamant Roque Junior, on loan for the season from AC Milan and who speaks only a few words of English, will adapt to the Premiership sooner rather than later.

"You have good days and bad days and while he didn't have the best of debuts, he had 10 others around him who didn't help," reflected Reid on the Leicester debacle.

"One man might win you a game with a bit of magic, but when you lose 4-0 it's not down to one man, and I can't remember any of the goals being down to him anyway.

"So I've no qualms about playing him again and I'm not going to put any pressure on him at all. I just think he needs to go out and play his normal game.

"If you're a good player then you adapt. He has played in Serie A and World Cups, so I'm sure he'll do that. He will handle it.

"I know the Premiership is quicker than Serie A, but when you talk about defences, I think Italian teams showed in the Champions League in midweek what defending is all about. Inter looked tremendous against Arsenal.

"In Serie A, you are also talking about players who have played against English sides in Europe and handled it. Roque Junior has done that, so I don't think it's a problem.

"I can understand the interest in him because he has won the World Cup and we went and conceded four on his debut. But you go out as a team and as a team we were second-best.

"And as for the language problems, he knows the game. He knows where you want him to go and when to get tight because he is a footballer and football is a universal language.

"He speaks a little bit of English anyway, so he understands."

Reid, though, is concerned with his side's defending in general. In his 13 games in charge Leeds have conceded 25 goals, keeping just two clean sheets.

Reid is understandably far from happy with such an appalling record, prompting frank discussions in training this week in a bid to alleviate the problem.

"We are making it very difficult for ourselves," added Reid, who is also without Seth Johnson as the midfielder has tonsillitis.

"You can go on about playing good football and scoring goals, but we've got to get back to the basics of defending and not give goals away cheaply.

"We've got to get tighter at the back as a team and that's what we've been chatting about this week."

There is now a desire among the players to atone for Monday night's madness with a first home win of the season, with Reid confirming: "It was that bad I've put it away to the back of my mind.

"I get the feeling the players are in the mood to put it right. They know they let themselves and everyone else down and they are now desperate for a victory as is the manager."

Reid's quest could be aided by 'lucky omen' referee Dermot Gallagher as Leeds are unbeaten in 18 consecutive games 13 wins and five draws when the Oxfordshire official has been in charge, a run stretching back to August 1997.