Jesse Marsch has revealed what he said to his side at half-time during Leeds United’s 3-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday. The Whites arrived back into the Elland Road changing rooms with a dominant, commanding and deserved 2-0 lead after blowing Chelsea away in the first half.
Brenden Aaronson was rewarded for his pressing work as he forced Edouard Mendy into making a calamitous error inside his own six-yard box, allowing the American to poke the ball into an empty net. Just a few minutes later, Leeds were celebrating again as Rodrigo scored his fourth of the Premier League campaign, with his glancing header finding the back of the net.
However, many Leeds fans were braced for a different and more determined Chelsea side to emerge in the second half following a half-time Thomas Tuchel scolding. Marsch’s side stood firm, though, and continued to take the game to their visitors, who have expectations of at least qualifying for the Champions League this year.
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Leeds' second half showing was as good as the first, though, as they produced their best and most complete performance since Marsch took the Elland Road reins in February.
“We were ready that if they built up with three or four, we were going to adapt,” Marsch said when asked about his half-time mindset and message. “We talked about, with the ball, what our match plan was and how to commit to that and to be brave with the ball.
“If we were deeper at times and they were putting pressure on us to remain aggressive because we felt that at Southampton, not just that we defended deeper, but we weren't aggressive enough and we invited pressure into our own box more. So I thought that part was good.
“Then we said don't play backwards, don't play conservative, keep being on the front foot, keep playing, playing brave and they did that. It was really, really confident and strong performance.”
He added: “We have principles and then we try to use tactics to implement our principles to manipulate the game and opponents in a way that we want the game, the way that we want it to look. And again, against the top opponents, against incredibly top opponent, we were able to do that today.
“That's rewarding and validating for everybody. It should continue to feed us the right kind of positive momentum to continue to go forward.”
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