On the brink? Jesse Marsch's strong message about Leeds United mindset as Watford await - YEP 8/4/22
Leeds United are on the brink of potential Premier League safety but fired up boss Jesse Marsch has warned: "None of us think that we are done yet."
By Lee Sobot
New boss Marsch has arrested United's recent slide with epic
back-to-back victories at home to Norwich City and away at Wolves before the
international break followed by last weekend's 1-1 draw against Southampton at
Elland Road.
The seven-point haul and three-game unbeaten run has
fifth-bottom Leeds six points clear of the Premier League drop zone but having
played more games than the four sides below them ahead of Saturday afternoon's
showdown at second-bottom Watford.
Nonetheless, with fourth-bottom Everton woefully struggling
for form and Burnley still playing catch up, Leeds are now as big as 4-1 to go
down having been considerably shorter and United will now visit a Watford side
who have lost their last eight games at home.
Victory would put Marsch's outfit on to 33 points and in all
likelihood the brink of safety but United's head coach has fired a strong
warning, admitting Leeds are ultimately not out of the mire yet.
“The reality is we are still in a relegation battle,"
said Marsch
"We know that, we are not foolish or naive to that.
"But watching the table doesn’t do anything to impact
our work process and so the best thing for us is to control ourselves and not
stress about what the external situation is and I think we have done a really
good job of that.
"We have tried to stay focused and calm and disciplined
with that mentality since I have been here and I think it has impacted us in a
positive way.
"None of us think that we are done or that we are safe
or that we are a completed project, it’s all about pushing every day to get to
be better and by doing that we know that we can fight for more points.”
Pushed on whether there was a confidence from the squad that
Leeds would stay up, Marsch explained: “In general there is a confidence that
the team believes in themselves more than they did I think a month ago and I
have spoken openly with them about that.
"But the key is to use that confidence in ways to
continue to propel us forward and not to get comfortable and think that
everything is okay.
"But that urgency and that mindset to push every day
has helped us to get to a better place than we were and we have to continue to
use that to be even better a month from now.”
