Jesse Marsch says Leeds United's belief was behind 'massive point' against Brighton in Premier League relegation battle - Yorkshire Post 15/2/22

Jesse Marsch admitted he saw doubts in his Leeds United players' eyes at half-time but they pushed them from their minds to secure a point which although deserved, was starting to look as if it might not come.

By Stuart Rayner

A 1-1 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion, secured by Pascal Struijk's stoppage-time header, moved the Whites out of the Premier League relegation zone ahead of the final week of the season.

Burnley, who lost at Tottenham Hotspur in Sunday's early kick-off, have a game in hand at Aston Villa on Thursday.

Leeds are at Brentford on the final day, when Burnley host Newcastle United. Everton, who were playing at home to the Bees as Marsch spoke, finish with games against Crystal Palace (home) and Everton (away).

Although the way Leeds finished the first half strongly would prove a sign of things to come, they had been comprehensively out-played and out-thought in a first half where Danny Welbeck opened the scoring.

"(I asked them to show) compactness against the ball, eliminating them (Brighton) running into the space in our box, on our flanks, cut the ball back, adjust our pressing to win more balls and get into the attacking part of the field," said Marsch of his half-time team-talk.

"I could still see (in) their faces that they weren’t 100 per cent believing they could do it.

"The last thing I said was that we need to make some adjustments but we can have no doubts and push. And in the end they did that really well and emptied their tanks and invested so much to get that point - which could wind up being massive.

"We seized our moment and put ourselves into a great position for the last match."

The American claimed he never lost belief despite seeing his side squander a number of chances and outstanding Robert Sanchez saves in either half.

"I want the players when they look at me on the bench to show that I believe we’ll do this. When they came for water, it’s positivity, I’ll say, 'Keep going, it’ll come, keep pushing'," he said.

"In those moments you have to believe, to have an aggressive mindset that you’ll find a way to make the difference. And we did.

"That part has been fantastic since I’ve been here, so it’s a good group that way.

"The start we had, with the chance that Joffy (Joe Gelhardt) has that hits Coops (Liam Cooper) in the face (at a second-minute corner) is a little bit of how we feel right now. We fight for everything and nothing comes easy.

"I asked myself why we weren’t good enough but the situation and the stress has a lot to do with it. We will manage it for next week."

There was a worst-case scenario which could have effectively relegated Leeds on Sunday but instead the pressure switches to the Clarets.

"We’re alive right now, regardless, for the last day," said Marsch. "We just have to fight for every point, every point shifts a little bit of momentum. We know Burnley and Everton have games in hand. We need some help and then we need to be ready next weekend to do whatever it takes.

"Burnley have a match in hand. If you look at the table they need to get a result. They have two matches, we’ll see how Thursday goes and do everything on Sunday.

"We’ll watch the match obviously but we have to recover mentally and physically. We’ll manage the week and put together a match plan that will give us success in Brentford, we’ll invest everything we can in every way."

Heading in from a couple of yards, for all the pressure of the situation, Struijk's header was the easy part of a goal created by 20-year-old Gelhardt, who made space for himself at the byline and looked up to deliver the cross.

"It was a very special play, really incredible," said Marsch. "Joffy grew into the game, we need him and it’s great to see him give a confident performance."

Marsch's opposite number, Graham Potter, felt a draw was a fair result.

"The second half was better for Leeds than us," he conceded. "They had some opportunities. I can’t sit here and say the point wasn’t fair.

"They pushed as well, fighting for their lives and they did that."