Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch remains upbeat ahead of their FA Cup third-round replay with Cardiff despite a five-game winless run in the league.
Marsch’s side currently sit 15th in the Premier League and are just two points above the relegation zone. The club recently completed a club record deal for Georginio Rutter to boost their survival chances.
Despite the result and rumblings from the fanbase, Marsch has remained upbeat about how his side have progressed throughout the season.
In his latest press conference, he explained (via Yorkshire Evening Post): “Friday was the second most high-intensity running performance in the last five years of the Premier League.
“I think it was a match that showcased the way that I would like our team to play and from a physical perspective, from a tactical perspective, from a mental mentality perspective, it was a really strong strong statement for what we want to be.
“And, you know, frankly, if I’m critical of myself, I’m frustrated that I haven’t been able to access that quicker and that’s been a source of even, you know, there was discussion a week ago about some of my frustration that I was showing on the bench at different times and that was at the source of my frustration, trying to figure out how to help the players execute more clearly what we want it to be.
“So I’m happy that we did that. I wish they would have been rewarded with the result because I think it would have created ease in everything that we’re doing.
“However, it gave me real belief, and more importantly, the players right now have real belief so they now have a very clear example of the potential that they have and what I said to him is, now’s the chance for us to really start a process to become better.”
Next up for Leeds is an FA Cup replay against Cardiff City. Leeds played out a 2-2 draw in the first leg as they dramatically levelled things up in the 93rd minute.
Marsch is adamant that they will be taking the competition seriously adding: “I think I always take the Cup matches very seriously.
“I said the lineup we put on the pitch given the physical situation where we were last week would have been pretty much the same as what we would have played in a Premier League match.
“I thought actually in the beginning of the match we were playing pretty well and then we gave up two quick goals and then we needed to adjust at half time and push the match.
“We know it won’t be easy but we will be at home and the club has not had a home FA Cup fixture for many years.We’re going absolutely to win that match.
“We will need to go match by match now in the league and in the cup and try to now really take the momentum from that Aston Villa game and show that we are ready for big challenges now.”
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