Jesse Marsch on Leeds United star man's post-win speech and regular's 'miracle' recovery - YEP 9/4/22

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Jesse Marsch left Leeds United's post-game team talk to a teary-eyed Liam Cooper after the captain shone in their huge 3-0 win over Watford.

By Graham Smyth

The scoreline did not reflect the quality of Leeds' performance but it mattered little, given the state of the Premier League table at full-time.

Everton's win over Manchester United prior to kick-off at Vicarage Road made it doubly important for the Whites to come away from London with a result, and a win that made it 10 points from 12 created an 11-point gap between Leeds and Watford. Leeds have a nine-point cushion between themselves and the drop zone, although 18th-place Burnley face Norwich tomorrow.

Marsch is not yet ready to consider Leeds free of the relegation battle.

"Everyone is getting results around us," he said.

"There's been some weak penalties [given] and we can't seem to buy one. People in Leeds tell me we have to fight for everything, I'm okay with that. Especially with the 16-day break now it would have been really difficult to sit and watch the table because things are going to get tight. We just have to stay focused on us. That's the most important thing.

"I'm really excited that we were able to, in a tough moment and in a really important game, emerge. The points are massive for us and there's confidence and momentum in the group. In six weeks we can see the form of many players and the overall mentality of the group has grown so much. That's really helped us get to where we are right now."

The American was happy to admit this was not a game or a performance that was pleasing on the eye, but he insists that was to be expected and so Leeds' character was once again all-important.

"This is a game, we knew from the beginning wasn't necessarily going to be about quality," he said.

"I want us to play better, be more confident on the ball, some of the combinations and ideas I want to get better in those areas. Southampton played every ball long, we had to pick up second balls and didn't do a good job. Today we were better at that. We need more moments where we press, win balls and calmly, cleanly find actions that lead to big chances, like Jack Harrison's goal.

"I tried at half-time to be a little bit clear we could calm down and play with more confidence in some spaces but the game was such they were going to isolate their wingers in one v one situations and for the most part I felt like we contained that pretty well. The defensive performance was quite good.

"I've been saying it from day one I think that the group's mentality to work and learn every day what we're trying to achieve has been fantastic. I will be the first to say in terms of the quality we had in the match and what we wanted it to look like, it was far from perfect. I know I can draw from their mentality, their inspiration, their belief in each other. Even when the game's not exactly what we want, now we're able to do certain things effectively and fighting in the match is incredibly important.

"To get a clean sheet three goals and three points was massive for us."

Marsch was without Adam Forshaw, who should return to training this week having picked up a slight calf issue, and could not yet start Kalvin Phillips but did count on goalkeeper Illan Meslier who was close to missing the game.

"Joffy [Joe Gelhardt] just got fit yesterday and Illan as well," he said.

"On Thursday I would have thought Kristoffer Klaesson would have been the keeper today. Illan was fantastic. He's three weeks later still struggling with that [knock at Wolves]. It was a bit of a miraculous recovery given how he felt two days ago. I had a meeting with him and Kristoffer Klaesson today, I said I know goalkeepers like to have rhythm, it's a sensitive decision but we needed a big performance from whoever and certainly Illan, where he didn't train, delivered one of his best performances of the season and was incredibly stable."

The final whistle heralded jubilant celebrations for Marsch and his players in front of the away end and Cooper, who was the best player on the pitch throughout, was a central figure.

"He won his duels, his aerials, he was aggressive against the ball, didn't lose any balls, he was fantastic," said Marsch.

"I had him speak to the team afterwards, I haven't had a better captain in the entire time I've been a coach. He was great, he almost came to tears, he loves playing with the guys so much. I really like this group, they give everything they have. It fits with who I am and with what we're trying to establish together."

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