Leeds United winger Raphinha has admitted his frustration at not being able to replicate the club’s first season back in the Premier League second time around. The Whites earned a superb ninth place finish during their first top-flight campaign since 2004 but have struggled to hit the same heights this time around.
Leeds sit 17 th in the table heading into the final four matches of the season and face a real fight to remain in the division. Just two points separate themselves and the bottom three, which is set to make for a nervy end to the campaign.
In an interview with Stadium Astro, Raphinha believes a lot of their struggles has been down to the sheer volume of injuries that has hit them hard for almost the entirety of the season.
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He said: “I believe that it was a very complicated season for us, mainly because of injuries, we ended up suffering a lot of loss of players, due to injuries. That’s it.
“It ended up reducing the work and even what Marcelo tried to propose to do and then it ends up being normal, we have some difficulties, we have some frustrations because of us not getting the results and then arrival of Jesse Marsch we got the positive results.
“We are still fighting down there but we managed to come back with our confidence and of course it’s normal, we’re frustrated after the season, and I couldn’t keep the same level this year.”
Leeds have seen an improvement in results since the appointment of Jesse Marsch just over two months ago, including a five-match unbeaten run that conjured up 11 points. Marsch has taken a different approach to his predecessor Marcelo Bielsa both tactically, and in terms of his man management.
And although their recent improvement in results has not fired them out of trouble, Raphinha detailed what Marsch has done to try and restore confidence levels in the side in the time he has been in charge.
He said: “I think [the huddle] was Jesse’s first game in charge and we ended up playing a very good game. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the positive result.
“But what he passed on to us at the moment was not only to trust him but have confidence in ourselves. It is because we have the potential to get out of this situation.
“We were alone in that bad moment. But what he does to give confidence to ourselves is tell us that we have quality to have a better position in the standings.”
