Jesse Marsch has blamed Marcelo Bielsa's training methods for Leeds United's dismal injury situation this season. The American believes that the players were 'over-trained' which led them to become 'physically, mentally, psychologically and emotionally' drained as he opens up on his time at Elland Road so far.
Kalvin Phillips, Liam Cooper and Patrick Bamford are amongst the high-profile Leeds stars to miss a sustained period of time throughout the campaign after suffering long-term injuries in the 2-2 draw against Brentford in December. Bamford, in particular, has missed more matches through a succession of issues, including an ankle problem and a foot injury, picking up the latter in the 3-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers last month.
Junior Firpo, Robin Koch, Diego Llorente and Luke Ayling have also been out for a number of weeks this season and it is a problem that has effected Leeds' performances on the pitch. The Whites currently sit 16th, having won just eight of their 31 Premier League games, collecting 17 fewer points than at this stage last term.
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A major factor behind their downfall has been injuries to key players and Marsch has outlined the reasons why Leeds have struggled so much with those issues. In an interview with talkSPORT, he said: "The injury issues had a lot to do with the training methodologies, the players were over-trained.
"That led them to being physically, mentally, psychologically and emotionally in a difficult place to recover from week-to-week and game-to-game. I have a very specific methodology in the way I work and I've had a reputation for having high running data in the way we play, but also having healthy, fit and strong players so we can meet the demands we want.
"So, we tried to put that into place to help the players, I think that has helped a lot. The one with Patrick I felt terrible about because the responsibility of a coach to take care of players and to make sure you're not injuring them and putting them in harms way.
"In the end, it didn't go the way I wanted with Patrick and I always feel like it is my responsibility to get that right. But for the most part, we are getting healthy and strong with almost the entire group.
"The other part of that is the playing style. Marcelo had such strong man-to-man demands and trying to rip apart three-and-a-half years of work structured exactly to do that, to now transitioning into what I want to do moving forward has been challenging for the players to adapt to.
"They have worked really hard at it but they still fall into old habits, especially when they are fatigued on the pitch. It's normal, right? I'm going to tell them a story today that I was watching a video on the bus ride back and I was frustrated about some of the things that were still not right. But then when I got off the bus, I went to go and get in my car and I got in the wrong side because I am still used to driving on the right hand side of the road."
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