Jesse Marsch highlights tactical issues in Elche win and picks out positives - YEP 10/12/22

Jesse Marsch admits that Leeds United still have tactical wrinkles to iron out, after a smash-and-grab win over Elche

By Graham Smyth

The first public friendly of the World Cup break - Leeds beat Preston North End behind closed doors a week ago - saw them go behind and struggle in the first half against LaLiga's bottom side. An opening goal was richly deserved for Elche and they continued to cause problems in the second half, although eventually Leeds levelled and then hit the front through Joe Gelhardt's tap-in and Mateusz Klich's fine strike.

"Sometimes the opponent did a pretty good time of switching the ball and then pressing us in on our backline and then sometimes we lose concentration to stay connected in the ways that we want to, so we're still working through some of that," said Marsch.

The absence of Robin Koch, who has picked up an injury in training this week in Spain, and Diego Llorente's recovery from hand surgery, meant that Liam Cooper had to fill in on the right hand side of the centre-half pairing, with Pascal Struijk next to him and Leo Hjelde at left-back. And with Tyler Adams not yet returned from his post-World Cup break, Adam Forshaw partnered Marc Roca in the centre of midfield. The unfamiliarity was, Marsch said, another factor in how the game played out.

"A lot of new combinations of players on the pitch," said Marsch.

"Robin picked up a little bit of an Achilles’ calf issue, so he couldn't play, we used Coops a little bit more on the right centre-back but one real positive is I think Pascal's played now left centre-back against Preston and in this match and I thought he was good in both matches. We're trying to push Leo a little bit more, so some positives in there."

Leeds looked leggy at times as Elche used quick, one-touch combination passing to unlock their press and then get in behind, but Marsch is content with how the training camp has gone.

"We put a lot of fitness into this week so there was a little bit of heavy legs on the pitch," he said.

"It was a good week. First of all, I think the togetherness of the team. Their commitment to try to improve is really good. We still have work to do tactically to iron things out, but it was a good run for us. And I think we really put a lot into the fitness this week. So that'll help us moving forward."