Jesse Marsch points out two key factors after Manchester City defeat - YEP 28/12/22
Jesse Marsch rued Leeds United's nerves and Manchester City's quality after a 3-1 Elland Road defeat.
By Graham Smyth
The Whites held the title favourites until first half
stoppage time, when they conceded a disappointing goal from a counter attack.
Prior to that Marsch's men won the ball regularly but failed to keep it well
enough.
"I think in the first half we were stable defensively
and we won a lot of balls but because we were a little nervy we were so quick
to just give it away," said Marsch."That was the message and was
going to be the message at half-time. They were having a hard time breaking us
down but we can stay on the ball. I showed a few scenes where we won balls and
they weren't pressuring us and we had more time than we thought.
"Then obviously the second goal is a tough mistake and
that makes the challenge that much harder. "However then you saw us coming
into the game more, this is part of being brave. At 2-0, 3-0 you know we have
nothing to lose but I really want to see us playing like that from the
beginning, making dynamic movements, connections on the ball. Obviously there's
a quality issue in the match, they're very good, they have very good players,
it ended up being a war of attrition."
Marsch highlighted goalkeeper Illan Meslier's performance as
'outstanding' as the Frenchman returned to action following a bout of Glandular
fever. Had it not been for the youngster's efforts, the scoreline could quite
easily have looked lopsided well before the break.
✍ @GrahamSmyth's player ratings tonight. #lufc https://t.co/VAf2cWUiSQ
— Leeds United News (@LeedsUnitedYEP) December 28, 2022
"All the tests we had with him about five, six days ago
were all in line with what we thought [for him to play against City] and I
thought his performance was outstanding, so it's good,” said the head coach.
Marsch kept Jack Harrison and Crysencio Summerville on the
bench however, and took a number of players off in the second half in order to
keep them fresh ahead of a trip to Newcastle United on Saturday.
"Some of the decisions we made were to protect guys a
little bit to make sure that with a quick turnaround in a busy couple of weeks
that we can turn around quickly," he said.
"Cree we just felt like we didn't want to push because
we wanted to not risk him and the same with Jack Harrison."
