Blackpool manager Michael Appleton has admitted his side struggled to stand up to the quality of Premier League opposition Leeds United. The Whites kicked off their pre-season calendar with a 4-0 win over the Championship side thanks to goals from Robin Koch, Junior Firpo, Rodrigo Moreno and Mateo Joseph.
Leeds were dominant throughout the 90 minutes and restricted Blackpool to very little in the way of clear-cut chances, particularly during the first half when Jesse Marsch’s XI was at its strongest. After 10 days of work on the training pitch, Leeds showed some positive signs of getting to grips with the style Marsch would like to implement.
Despite that, Leeds’ opening two goals came from set-pieces and while Appleton believes there are no excuses for his side’s poor defending in those situations, he conceded that they failed to make it difficult for the Whites in general play, too.
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He told blackpoolfc.co.uk : "It's one of them when you play the Premier League teams. When you come up against a side like that who are up for it, it's always going to be tough.
“Apart from their international lads who were missing tonight, they played a really strong side and they were up for it and knocked it around really well. Of course, I'm not going to make excuses for our defending from set-pieces at times, as that was poor, and we still have to do better there.
"When you're up against strong opposition who you know are going to have a lot of the ball, you have to frustrate them during the game and make it difficult. This creates a bit of anxiety in their play and makes it difficult for them, but we didn't do that.
"Having said that, there were a few of the younger lads who didn't do themselves any harm and looked to be really competitive and that was good to see."
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