Leeds United head coach Jesse Marsch presided over a narrow defeat to Leicester City as he took charge of the Whites for the first time.
Marsch cut an animated figure on the sideline throughout the contest at the King Power Stadium, but could not influence his side enough to force a positive result.
Harvey Barnes' neat give-and-go with Kelechi Iheanacho midway through the second half yielded the game's only goal as Brendan Rodgers' team emerged victorious.
Jesse Marsch discussed his side's performance, their adaptation to his way of playing and the fight on display during his post-match press conference.
Here is every word the new head coach said after his first outing ended in defeat.
How harsh was that in your opinion?
I've learned - this is maybe the American in me - that sometimes our sport isn't the fairest, but it doesn't matter, you've got to do what you can in this sport to manage. In a sport like basketball you score a lot more points and the better team manages to emerge. I'm not saying we were the better team, but what I'll say in general is I am very pleased that after four days and where we've changed a lot of tactical topics and we've changed a lot of what we're trying to accomplish on the pitch that there was such clarity, and that we were able to execute in every phase of the game, and we were able to put into practice. What I find with the group is now that I know how hard they work, I know how committed they are to each other on the pitch, I know how hard they want to make the fans proud. What I also learned today is how intelligent they are, how they were able to take a lot of our video sessions and some of the work we've done on the pitch in segments and after four days put in a performance like that at a tough moment for us in the season, at a tough place to play, against a good opponent. I'm very positive even though we're disappointed with the result. Certainly, we need to use this as momentum to continue to propel us to get better and better.
What was the missing component?
During the match I can see, I don't know, every moment little things where we can be a little bit sharper and clearer with our tactical understanding with and without the ball, and our movements, what can be a little bit sharper to help us gain advantages or control the movements of our opponents a little more. For the most part, the basics it was quite good and then for me if we find the first goal then its a diff kind of match so just a little bit sharper in the last third a little clearer with some of the relationships and maybe luck and maybe then we find ourselves a lead and some points.
Thinking behind Roberts over Bamford at the end?
Patrick was maximum 10 minutes, so obviously we want to get him on the pitch as quickly as we possibly can but I felt we needed to make a change before that ten minute mark. Then of course we put Tyler on the pitch and it leads to him having a weird collision inside the box and him having a little bit of a hamstring strain and then we're almost playing a man down for the last phase. Patrick is back in training, he will continue to progress more and more, we'll get him fitter and fitter and sharper and sharper and then we will be able to rely on him in these 11 games.
Roberts not ready for Thursday? Bamford?
I think that's true, we'll see exactly what's going on with Tyler. I don't think Patrick's ready to be on from the start, let's see how the week goes but certainly I think he'll be ready to put in some minutes come Thursday.
Introducing new ideas this week? Not enough time? Repetition and reinforcement?
I think it'll be more about creating clarity with the things that can happen in the game that can be a little bit tighter and better understood. But, at the same time, in a tough moment in a big game where there's stress in the moment, I thought that their ability to execute was really good. Like I said, there's so many little things that go in that are happening on the pitch that can be a little cleaner, but this will take a little bit of time to implement fully but again, what a great first step, really what a great first step.
Why did you go with that particular midfield?
This was the group where most of them were able to train through week and work through things on pitch a little bit. I spoke to Adam before the match and told him that just because the fact he wasn't able to train throughout the week and we had a few other guys that only had modified training, we needed to put as many players who were 100% on the pitch from the start as we could. I'm pleased with every single performance from every single guy. I've been watching these games, these guys, they run and fight and work for each other so much and I'm just trying to guide these efforts to help each other and to play as a unit.
Got the players and staff into the huddle at full time - what were you trying to say?
It was a real simple message: this was very positive and a big step in right direction and I know the stress of the situation in the moment is that they know they want to get points and they have such a desire to achieve for the fans and for each other. With me and a fresh perspective, I need to continue to feed them the right kind of information and be positive with them, not just for the sake of being positive but I want them to know how strong that was, how good that was and we're going to use it as momentum to continue to get better.
A few decisions for the referee to make around the Leicester penalty area, how did you see things?
From what we saw we thought Rodrigo was a penalty but you know, I don't confess to be a referee, thankfully.
What are you asking of your front four with the ball? It looked fluid.
I think they can be better connected, I want coordinated movements from the front guys. When we get into build-up phases I want them to understand their positioning, I want them to always be ready to be in counter-pressing positions. Then I want them to understand what the relationships are with each other so they can start to have it become second nature and rely on the fact they can find each other on the pitch. I feel like in many phases of the game when we had 4/5/6 players around the ball, the behaviours and movements without the ball were good but if we look at the whole group overall, and some of the players who were furthest away on the pitch, then we still need to work on what the tactical relationships are in those moments. Overall though again, a very strong first performance.
Putting away chances been an issue recently. How much can you do in that area in the short term?
I think we've worked hard to create relationships when we get into the last third, to understand what the roles are and where to expect to attack, what areas to attack, and then the last part is just we've got to relieve the stress a little bit, this is what it's like a little bit when you get into the last third when things haven't gone our way. I think if we keep - I told them - if we keep playing like this we're going to get all the points we need.
Inevitably when you're trying to build relationships, is it going to require time and patience?
Of course. Again, if I just draw on my experiences, for four days, and they had to sit through some long video sessions. They said they were used to long ones already, I think Marcelo used to do a lot of very detailed video sessions. The video is really important and then helping them understand exactly what tactically we're trying to achieve, and then go out on the pitch and work on the timing and relationships against the ball and with the ball. Even set-pieces, I haven't seen every game this year, but I think that's probably for us that's a very effective and dangerous set-piece day for us, against and with. The only negative is the result, really, there's so many positive things to come out of that. I have to be very clear with them, that's exactly what it is, we have to see it for exactly what it was.
Is this your philosophy, the way the team played today?
Sometimes we'll press a little higher, sometimes a little deeper. Sometimes a different formation, sometimes with the ball we'll create different build-up actions. Ideally, for me it's about understanding the principles of what I think the game should be and then implementing it with our players who I believe have the types of qualities to play the way I like, and then help them understand how to be clear and clear, to use all their energies to benefit each other and themselves. Really good first step. I think the intensity which we run and fight and go into tackles and counter-press and play in the transition, those are elements for me that are very important to the way I want our team to play football.
