New Leeds manager Jesse Marsch praises his players’ intelligence despite 1-0 defeat to Leicester

Leeds United’s new manager Jesse Marsch was impressed with his players’ intelligence, despite the American’s Premier League managerial debut ending in defeat.

Marsch has worked with the squad for just four days but his philosophy – a fluid 4-2-3-1 set-up with a focus on winning possession and attacking at speed – was evident.

That pleased Marsch, whose side had enough chances to win the match. He relayed his pride to the players after calling them together for a full-time huddle in the centre circle.

Leeds put in a lot of effort against Leicester but still ended up suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat

‘I’ve learned, and maybe this is the American in me, that sometimes our sport isn’t the fairest but that doesn’t matter,’ Marsch said.

‘You’ve got to do what you can in this sport to manage. In a sport like basketball, you score a lot more points and usually the better team manages to emerge.

‘What I find with this group is I know how hard they work. I know how committed they are to each other and how hard they want to make the fans proud.

Marsch stated that he is ‘very positive’, with Leeds facing a battle to stay in the Premier League

‘What I also learned today was how intelligent they are – how they were able to take a lot of our video sessions, some of the work we’ve done on the pitch in segments and, after four days, put in a performance in like that. 

‘I’m very positive even though we’re disappointed with the result.’

The ‘expected goals’ statistic said Leeds should have won 2-0. They now face two crucial home games against Aston Villa and then Norwich City.