Jesse Marsch was more than happy to see Joe Gelhardt make a point to him this week while in action with Leeds United Under-21s. Despite appearing on the pitch before kick-off, Gelhardt was overlooked for selection against Aston Villa last weekend with Marsch favouring new signing Wilfried Gnonto for a spot on the Whites' bench.
As such, the youngster was used in Michael Skubala’s U21s and he bagged two of Leeds’ five goals in the Papa John’s Trophy win over Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park on Tuesday night. It was a performance that sent a very clear message to the head coach and Marsch was delighted to receive it as he watched on.
His showing in Merseyside seems to have been enough to catapult him back into first-team contention this weekend as Leeds travel to Crystal Palace and Marsch has confirmed he is in his thoughts.
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“Joffy made a fantastic point to his manager in the Tranmere game that he should not be left out of the squad,” Marsch said in his pre-match press conference. "I thought he played really well and he was very dangerous.
“Joffy will be a factor in this game as well.”
The competition for a spot in the Leeds side is fierce at present with selection dilemmas seen across the park as senior stars battle it out for the head coach’s approval.
"There's a lot of these discussions,” Marsch added. “Even when Coops was coming back, how do we use Diego [Llorente]? We still value him a lot.
“What we're doing with Luke [Ayling] and Rasmus [Kristensen] and there's a lot of competition within the squad. I think that's a healthy thing and I think the best part we have here is, I think the players manage it where they come and train hard every day and they try to make a point if they're not in the squad, or not in the line-up, that the manager has made a mistake, but they always do it in a way that's respectful of the team and each other.
“I'm very thankful to have that kind of team and group. They're tough decisions but even if you're not in the XI, the most important thing is that you're ready to come in and make an impact off the bench.
"I think the best example of that has been Klichy. He hasn't had many starts this year but every time we've called on him off the bench I think he's been fantastic. We need that kind of mentality and that kind of group and we have that."
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