Jesse Marsch held his press conference yesterday afternoon, and here are all the key points and his thoughts on the game with Arsenal.
As usual, he started with injuries and team news, “Leo’s (Hjelde) recovered well from his appendectomy and he was on the pitch today but won’t be available for probably another week or so. Adam’s (Forshaw) surgery went well, he’s eight days out feeling better. Archie (Gray) was on the pitch as well today feeling better with his broken toe, but not available and then Stuart (Dallas) making good progress as well, and we’re planning on bringing him along with us with whatever we do, which hopefully we will have an announcement for what we do exactly in December soon, but he’ll be part of the group then, so that’s big progress there. Everybody else is healthy including Junior Firpo.”
“Good afternoon, first off Patrick Bamford, last week he had that start for the first time in a while, played sixty, sixty-one minutes. How has he been this week, and given the situation with the results, how much extra pressure is there going to be on him to perform at his best?”
“Yeah, I mean, first it was great that he, I think he’s getting closer and closer to fully being 100%, which he knows he hasn’t been in quite some time, so that, that part’s really good. He’s looked good in training this week. You know, I said after the match that he’s part of the solution for us for sure, in terms of finding ways to score more goals, and that’s, that’s what it is, it’s getting him physically better, it’s getting him, fitter, it’s getting him more up to speed, with our tactics with everything we’re trying to do and getting him sharper around the goal because we know he’s always dangerous, so I think he again, I think he’s very important guy and we need to keep him sharp, sharp and fit until we get to November 12.”
“Is that a case really then with the the match fitness it’s just minutes in games that’s that’s gonna do that?”
“yeah it’s, it’s but it’s also I think training loads you know is making sure that we’re getting the most out of every day”
“What would you say has pleased you most about Leeds so far and conversely what’s perhaps disappointed you?”
“I think that for the most part, we’ve played quite well through the runs of our matches. No, like I feel like we’ve been in the match and we know how competitive all games are, we haven’t other than Brentford, given up many goals. I think we’ve been more stable and much better defensively, and then I think the biggest room for improvement is goal scoring. I think in moments when we’re on top of games and moments where more in the opponent’s end we don’t, it’s, it’s turning advantages into chances and chances into shots and shots into goals. Even when you look at expected goals and some of our games, like for example, the very first play of the match, or one of the first play the match, when Jack (Harrison) wins the ball and plays it to Patrick (Bamford), Patrick’s seven yards in front of the goal and we don’t even get a shot off, for example, that doesn’t register even in expected goals when in reality that should be like a 90% goal, so we’re still getting our cleanliness and sharpness and confidence and poise around the goal to get us, to reward us more, that’s, that’s the biggest room for improvement”
“It would be massive progress if you were to beat Arsenal, what would that do for the team for the players and what sort of signal would it send out do you think maybe to the rest of the Premier League?”
“Yeah, so first, that’s what I would say, Arsenal, Mikael Arteta has done an absolutely amazing job. I think he’s the most underrated manager in league with a young team, he’s built this up to be really complex, stable, I think exciting to watch. I think he’s done an amazing job and it’s taken him time, he took a lot of heat in the beginning but I think now you see the fruits of his labour and the fruits of their labour. Obviously, for us, it can be a big boost for us the to have a big result against an opponent like this. We are confident, we are confident that at Elland Road we can play the way we want, we believe that arsenal is very good and we have to be very calculated with what our match plan is, but we want to be aggressive at the right moments. We still want to try to play our football we want to challenge them in certain ways and we know we have to be at our best to have a chance against such an opponent. What it sends in terms of a message to everyone else is less important than what it means to us internally, and I see the work that goes on here every day. My belief in this group is is as strong as it’s ever been, I think the first half against Palace is the best that we’ve played since I’ve been here, so I mean, you have to think of that as a positive but it winds up walking away empty because, we don’t get the result, so, and we don’t turn it into a 90-minute performance, so you know, we’re, we’re growing and we’re moving forward, but slower than all of us would like that’s for sure.”
“There was a different stress when you arrived at the club when you haven’t won for five games in a different scenario, it feels a different kind of stress now as well and how are you coping with it?
“Yeah, I mean, listen this job, it always has stresses, they come in different ways. My focus always has been, you know, just trying to help the group to be their best at every moment. We’ve had five tests now and we’ve passed some parts of the test but not fully passed it in completion, and that’s what we need, we need more times now where all the work that we put in, and all the progress that the group is making is adding up to more points, which then breeds confidence in the group. so it’s been my job to continue to find ways to keep them confident to keep the belief high, to keep them focused on what’s important and for them to believe in the process and commit to it. So it becomes harder, that’s the job of a good leader and a good manager is when the results aren’t coming to stay calm and help the group understand what the steps are necessary in order to get ourselves back in the form and get the results that will get us moving in the right direction, so that’s my stress right now, it’s less about getting every result right now and more about just continuing to breed confidence and keep the group moving forward.”
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