Marsch opens on injuries…
Yesterday, we didn't have a bunch of guys in the mix because of a few little injuries and we had a sickness kind of going around the team. So, Klichy was sick, we had a few other guys sick the night before the day of the match.
So, we're hopeful that everyone can be healthy and be back in training this week, with exception to Stuart (Dallas), who actually had another surgery yesterday to kind of clean some things up. They felt good that that surgery was successful.
Luis Sinisterra is making great progress and we feel like he's on track. We have to be a little bit cautious with this injury, but we're hopeful that in a couple weeks he can be back in training.
We're hopeful that everyone else is back in training this week. So we'll wait and see but hopefully we can get healthy and fit and ready for the start of the season again.
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Klich has been linked with a move to the MLS, can you give an update on that?
There has been an enquiry for Mateusz but I think from all sides, we're still cautious about picking that it might be time for him to leave. I think he's still been really important here.
One of the interesting things is he's played the fifth most matches for me since I've been here, he’s played 25 and 28 games since I've been here. So, for me, he's one of my favourite personalities of anyone I've ever coached and we have a really good relationship, we've been open with each other in all these moments along the way.
I'm not sure, again, that it's the time for him to leave, but with the 2 of 28 games, they haven't all been starts and I know that sometimes players would like to play a little bit more. I think we've had good dialogue about his role within the team and continued role within the team. So I think that that's not necessarily set in stone and he's obviously a guy that I still very much like and we think is still a big part of this team.
Is it one of those situations where you respect his wishes but at the same time, any potential move has to really suit Leeds United?
Yeah, that's a good way to describe it. Klichy has earned so much respect around here in a lot of different ways and so we have to always have open dialogue during the transfer windows for everybody but then also act selfishly and sometimes for what's best for the club.
How has the break been overall?
Overall, I think it's been great. We've invested a lot in the fitness of the team as well. So some of the little injuries have come because we've pushed them a little bit physically but I think that was one of the reasons why we kind of held guys back last night as we didn't want to jeopardise them for a week later. Even in the match last night I think there was some heavy legs in the second half which contributed to some of the issues we had in the beginning of the second half with goals.
But I actually think first half was a really strong performance and really clear from a lot of players. So I feel like we've made progress but the togetherness of the group is always really strong. And we need to get everybody as close to 100% fitness once we get started because the games come quick.
Mateo Joseph has been training with the first to squad, is he someone who can be an impact in the first-team reckoning in the second half of the season?
I mentioned maybe two months ago that Cree was knocking on the door a little bit and I had to at some point kind of throw him into the mix more I've talked about Willy, Sam Greenwood obviously Joffy is another guy that's played a lot of matches since I've been here but obviously Joffy is always pushing. I think Mateo from the younger group is the next guy that I think with the 21s has performed really well with them and has trained really well with us and is asking questions of myself and the staff about what his continued role should be. He's done really well, you're right about that, and we'll see what the next month holds.
He’s got 11 goals in the Premier League 2…
Yeah, he’s scoring a lot of goals and when he scores, he’s scored a few hat-tricks, he’s scores in bunches.
With that in mind, you've been able to supplement the first team squad but do you need to be active in this transfer window?
Well, here's how I want to deal with this transfer window. Obviously, we're being active and Victor and Andrea and everybody's hard at work behind the scenes. But I want to avoid from talking about it just because it becomes a lightning rod and everybody wants to draw attention to that and I need to keep our attention squarely on our group and our progress. So you're going to hear more, ‘I'm not talking about it’ this time around than last time.
Let's look about football then, it's a tough start that you’ve got to the restart of the Premier League campaign...
Yeah, right now it's just looking at Man City and I would have hoped that more of the Man City players would have gone deeper in tournament but the obviously the tournament is so competitive that it's not easy. They just have such a great squad and for me the best manager in the world, a very difficult playing style to prepare for and then when you introduce the quality that they have on the pitch, it becomes a monumental task.
The good thing about our team now is that we're not afraid of the biggest opponents and we've proven that not only can we play with them on the day, but that we can find ways to get points. So we'll use that motivation but we'll also have to have very clear a match plan and discipline and execution on the day to give ourselves a chance and we know that. The first day we got together I said the standard of everything we do from here on it has to be with Man City, the best team in the world, in mind, or one of the best teams in the world, and I think that the attention to detail and concentration from the group has been as such for such a challenge. So you know, we're excited.
You obviously know what happened against Man City last season, how as a group, do you pull them out of that? Is it relatively straightforward to do that?
Actually, I think we can take positives from last year. I think we played actually quite well and we gave up two set piece goals and then went down 2-0 and then gave up two late goals. Now it wasn't good enough and I think we've progressed a lot since then and we believe that we can get more from it.
When we had to play the three giants in a row last year I think it was just about survival, I think now it's more about can we be better on the day and we know that against some of these opponents that we have been able to manage that. So really huge respect for Man City and the way they play and the quality they have and the mentality they have, but we also saw right before the break that Brentford at Man City on the day could do the things that they wanted and managed to get the points, so that'll be our focus.
You worked with Christopher Vivell, I was just wondered what you think of him going to Chelsea in the sporting director role?
Yeah, I worked with Chris at Salzburg and at Leipzig. I think Chris' greatest asset is his recruitment ability. He's assessed a lot of talent over the years and found really good players. I think that's really what his bread and butter has been. So yeah, I consider him a friend and I'm happy for him and wish him the best. We’ll be gunning for him.
Can I just clarify more about the players who were missing last night, Liam Cooper and Jack Harrison are they both sick with the illness you spoke about?
No, Coops out a minor calf injury and Jack Harrison had a small adductor injury. They should be training this week.
Summerville, as well, who picked up the injury in Spain, how are they getting on?
Yeah, he was on the pitch today and he should be in training as well this week.
Rodrigo, should he?
Rodrigo was scheduled to train to play in the match up until the afternoon of the match and then we just felt like he was feeling a little bit of a tightness in his hamstring. So we decided to hold him up.
Patrick Bamford, is there any timescale on his return?
So when he got sick, I think it disrupted a little bit his return into training, but we expect that he'll be back in training as well. Then it'll be can we get him up to speed for the Man City match but we expect him to be back in training.
And how confident are you about Illan Meslier being fit again?
He has sort of a test tomorrow morning when they kind of do some internal checking and then if he's cleared, which they typically think, it’ll be four weeks by that point, that we think he'll be back in training. He's been active. With glandular fever, it's two things, it's modifying so they don't get chronic fatigue and then it's also making sure that they have no contact so that the when they have swelling of internal organs that you're not risking any damage. He's felt really good and I expect him to be in full training.
If he's not quite where you want him to be, have you thought about the decision you’ll have to make?
Well, I think we've had some discussions and I think both goalkeepers have performed well. Obviously Kris has had an illness as well, so he wasn't in Spain. Joel I think has performed really well and been a great addition to what we've done here. So we haven't made that decision yet, but I think that both will be ready.
I appreciate your reluctance to talk about the January transfer window, more specifically, or more generally speaking, are you happy that there is finance available to do some business in January should it be needed?
Yeah. They'll be working with some different ideas of how to put together the whole package so that we can add to the team the way we need to. We discuss all this often but yeah, I mean, it's already been incredibly active. I think everyone's had goals that maybe you can get players in ahead of time, right so that you can have them even before January 1. So yeah, let's see how things progress
So it’s not a situation where somebody will need to leave in order to finance moves?
No I think in general there's different strategies. I think Pep has said over the years he likes 18 senior players, because more than that and it gets difficult to manage rotation a then he introduces young players. I've been places where they said the numbers should if you're playing in Europe, the numbers should be 21, I've been places where they say 20. We're not so structured that way and we have a lot of sort of moving pieces at different times. We try to just look at what's the best situation for every individual and then how it fits within the group that we're trying to push for any given time period.
For me, and with the work that we've done here, I've been really happy and satisfied with the commitment from every player to try to get the most out of every day and that's ultimately more my job but then telling we need this transfer, this transfer, this transfer
Looking ahead to Man City, Willy Gnonto has been a real bright spark, is he somebody that you could see featuring against Manchester City?
Yeah, for sure. I think a lot of our players that maybe, if we had our full squad available, wouldn't have gotten as much sort of preparation game time in the last few games have performed well, and I think Willy's certainly one of those. So that's good to see and I think yes, he absolutely becomes an option to start against Man City.
You said, you think Pep is the best manager in the world, what makes him that for you?
Well may it's fair to say that he's the best at managing the types of players that he manages, right? He gets usually some of the top talent in the world and he has over his career, and then his ability to form a team and football concept around having those quality players maybe makes him among the best or the best. Like at one point, I think he said something about Marcelo if he coached Marcelo’s team and they did it vice-versa.
That's the beauty of our sport, we all have our own ideas of how to play the game and then it's about finding the right player pool to meet the standards of the way you want to play the game. That part at Man City over the years has been managed really well and that's ultimately the goal of what we're doing here is to transfer window by transfer window to can you continue to, to add to our team with the kinds of players that we think can fit to what we're trying to achieve tactically and then what our goals are, long term in terms of success.
What do you maybe fear the long term impacts are on the Premier League from this World Cup?
I don't know. Do you mean long term this season? You mean like overall?
Yeah, this season, do you think do you think it will impact?
Yeah, I think it has the potential to burn some players out and I've seen even Man City I think has brought their players back relatively quickly. There's the sort of standard in our in our business that after these big national team tournaments that players need three weeks, we have only provided 10 days.
So we’re fully aware that with the season coming around so quickly, it's important to get them back but the physical and mental demands of a big tournament like that are very high. So I think it's really important that we have appreciation for what these young men go through in these situations and what the pressure of representing their country in big tournaments is like. For us, we had three players, we tried to use the break to bolster our fitness, and also create clarity and our tactics and make sure that we're refreshed in the way when we get back into it and it's coming quick and the games come fast, that we are going to be at our best.
Can I just ask about Mark Jackson and what the future holds with him after being linked with the job at MK Dons?
All I can really talk about right now is that Jacko has been an absolute asset for me from the first day that I stepped foot into this building. He has done everything and more than I could have hoped, his passion, his commitment and his love of this club made him essential, essential for me and for us, in our quest to stay in the league.
I fully believe that without him we wouldn't have stayed in the league. He helped me understand what the culture of the club is, what the culture of the fans, what the history means to what we're building here. He helped me understand the player pool, what was done in the past, what he thinks we need to do in the future. He committed himself to what I was doing entirely
It's not for me to talk about what may be out there or what his future may be, but I can only say that I value him completely as a person and as a football mind. And I can see why there's interest in him because I think he has a big future.
On Manchester City, tactically is there a way to set up against a team who dominate the ball but are also so good out of possession as well?
Yes, whatever opponent we play against, we look at their strengths and weaknesses and we then try to address with our within our principles, where we think we can find advantages on the day. I think we've done that in a good job this this season on in almost every match and certainly against some of the big opponents.
The key for us will be, when you play a team like Man City, it's understanding the tactics and then what they're trying to achieve and how to negate that and then obviously understanding the qualities of the players that they have because on their team they have such high quality but also how to make them uncomfortable, with and against the ball and set pieces. In what areas you think you can make them susceptible. Obviously, the better the team, the fewer weaknesses they have. But every team and every system has weaknesses and so it'll be about exploiting those and playing in those areas.
You've got immense competition for places in some positions especially what's your attitude to outgoings in January, particularly loans maybe of some of the fringe players, maybe a Cody or others?
Yeah, those discussions I think are ongoing, especially with young players, how to challenge them to grow and equip them with things so that ultimately they'll provide the club with more at some point. How to shape their development path to get them to be the best that they can be as quickly as they possibly can. Whether that's a loan or staying here and then looking at the overall resources of what we have as a team and as a club. You bring up Cody and Cody has been fantastic over the last month and I'm so happy that we have gotten to a point with him where he feels so energised by what we're doing and engaged.
The decision will be how to continue to push him in the direction for him to be an important player at this club, which I think he will be. Listen, maybe we need to even think about how it fits now. So he's done really well and I'm really happy for him and then you kind of just try to go through every player. What's the situation of the team? What's his personal situation? How do we provide him with what he needs to push him along as quickly as possible?
Tyler Adams is the big miss for the City game. How are you feeling about the preparations for coping without him and also how are you managing him and his return to training, we know he’s had a slower approach?
Yeah, I think first of all for him, it's been good that he's not available because it gives them a little bit more time to kind of gradually build in because the demands on him mentally and physically were so high at the World Cup. I think he's come out of it in a good way. He's excited to get back to work. He's obviously very confident and eager to get going, but I think he's on track personally. I think we've got Adam back in the mix and I thought he played fantastic for the 60 minutes last night. Sam Greenwood has made a lot of progress.
Obviously Marc is a cornerstone in what we're doing. I thought even with the way we've modified how we play a little bit, a little bit more 4-3-3 against the ball. Klichy played well in a couple of our matches, and I think once he gets out of his sickness, I think he'll be a factor moving forward. So we have options and then it'll just be about within the new structure that we're trying to create it with and against the ball, how to use guys the best way to feed in their strengths.
I wanted to ask about the 4-3-3, I wondered what you think it does for the team and why you’ve gone down that road?
Against the ball I think it gives us a little bit more flexibility to play where we can play a little bit more tilted or we call it asymmetrically at one side or the other. We can we can use the front three or the middle three with different ways of pressing where we can cover spaces where we can kind of still attack in front of the back four in ways where we can protect and attack areas in on the ball side and then also protect things a little bit more on the weak side.
Now, last night in the second half, we get beat in ways that are similar to some of the things that have happened to us in the past and we're talking about systematically how we needed to address some of those moments. But the 4-3-3 can look like a diamond, it can look like a Christmas tree, it can look like even the 4-2-3-1 at times. We can we can manipulate it with small little subtle, tactical subtleties, based on what the opponent is going to present us.
With Haaland, do you think it makes any difference when planning for him that you've actually coached him before you've had the sight of what he is?
Yeah, it'll help us I think a little bit. I think it'll motivate him on the day a little bit but it'll motivate me as well. The time I had with Erling was just outstanding and we had an incredible relationship. He fit into the team so well it was a really special team we had in Salzburg at the time and everyone committed to it at a high level and we really enjoyed the whole process.
I think Erling was a real good example for all the young players there in terms of someone who had their mind entirely wrapped around football, but in a way that was fun. I think you guys see that about his personality. He's obviously very serious about what he does, but he does it in a way where it's enjoyable and it's infectious for his teammates. So, in general, I have some ideas of things we will try to do, but again, it'll come down to luck on the day in certain moments and, and finding ways to contain him and hoping that we can still find ways to punish them as well.
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