Jesse Marsch was speaking to the press this afternoon as Leeds United continue their preparations for their Premier League opener against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
Here's what was said:
First of all, it's good to be back. It's good to see everybody. Obviously it means we're getting back to work so it’s an exciting weekend.
Let me go through a few things with us personnel wise, so Dan James, if we can remember, is suspended one more match.
So he will be out this weekend. He will be playing 90 minutes tomorrow night in the 21s match. That was by his request, so I think that's incredible, really good professionalism from him to know that getting 90 minutes is good for him.
Then let's go through some injuries. Liam Cooper has had an Achilles issue from his off-season programme and running on a treadmill. It's taken him a long time to get back into training this week. He's been on the pitch doing individual work, finally, but he will not be available this weekend.
We're hopeful by next week he’s in team training. Junior Firpo has had a scan today and he is ahead of schedule where we hoped so we can be more aggressive with him. I would say he's still probably two three weeks away from being match eligible.
Adam Forshaw has made really good progress with a little bit of a knee MCL issue. It's not a pure MCL strain, it's a little different but, but we're hopeful that he will be training next week.
Luke Ayling has made a lot of progress after his surgery and is ahead of schedule. We're trying not to pressure him too much but he's showing really positive signs and we're hopeful that he can be he's been on the pitch and hopeful that he can be in training in a couple of weeks.
Luis was on the pitch today, Luis Sinisterra, and looking very good. He’s getting closer and closer to his top speed so I would assume that he will be in training next week and hopefully available for the weekend after let's see.
Stuart Dallas has made really good progress and has had a couple of check-ups after the severe surgery and they feel like he's right on track and that he's looking better and better. So that's a good sign.
Let's talk about Mateusz Bogusz. He has been working incredibly hard and has also been on the pitch and we're hopeful that in a few weeks he can be in team training. So he maybe becomes an option.
I need to get to know him better and see him with our team but it's exciting that he's coming back strong. I'm not sure if everyone heard about Danny Van den Heuvel but he had a car accident with the U20s in Holland, and it was a pretty severe neck injury where he broke some vertebrae. We were really worried about him not even as a football injury but as a life situation.
He's showing really good progress. He's back in the gym. And we'll be ramping him up over time but it's probably a couple months before he'll be eligible to be training and be ready to go.
There’s a few surgeries from the past but then a couple of injuries that we've just picked up along the way but again in two three weeks, we feel like a lot of these guys will be back on the pitch and ready to start playing.
Read more: Jesse Marsch details Dani van den Heuvel recovery after Leeds United star's 'worrying' car crash
There's obviously been a lot of change at the club and you mentioned a lot of the guys who are injured there. You’ve brought in six new signings as well. Could we see a new look Leeds United this season?
I think we've been able to use the time in pre-season to work in a little bit more of a stress-free environment. Obviously there's always pressures to improve and grow and we know once the season starts that the games demand the absolute best from you. But yeah, we've been able to invest heavily in tactics that we think are important, set-piece ideas and the idea of like what we want this environment to be like from a team perspective, from a day to day work perspective from a physical.
We've even made some adjustments of what's going on here at Thorp Arch to really just be more efficient and clean with everything we do. So, of course, when new managers come in, they bring a lot of new ideas and new styles of play and everything. I think that we have made incredible progress in the last six weeks.
And I think that we're going to see a better version of what I would like us to be on match day, which is exciting for me. Certainly some of the additions have been important for that. But I think also the players that have been here have now had more time to work more intensively and minutely on the details, so that we can now transform ourselves into what we want.
You sold arguably your two biggest name players, two of your best performers in recent years. Do you feel you've got enough within the squad that other players can step up and take their mantle?
Yes, I know we lost two great players, but that has allowed us to bring in I think six or seven other players that can help us even more precisely play the version of football that we want to play.
It was great working with Kalvin and Raphinha and I'm very thankful for the time that I had with them and the way they committed to everything that we did here, but I think we'll use the situation to make us stronger. I really believe that.
What’s your take on the way the club have backed you this summer. The fact that you sold those two players for big money and as you've seen it, you've brought in a new additions?
It was easy for me to see from the first day that I came in that the club and the people here at Thorp Arch and Elland road had supported Marcelo 100 per cent. All in, they did everything they could and that was from support staff to coaching staff to players, everyone.
I took that as a real positive and opportunity for myself. I can only say that, obviously that I think you're referencing our transfer politics, but I think even more so if you were here to see the work that's done every day from day one. I've never felt so supported in my life.
So it's a real credit to the people of this club. And this club in general. That's the situation.
Are you looking to add in the striking department still?
I don't want to go too much into the transfer situation because it takes away attention from the group that we have here right now but we're trying. What I said at the end of the game at Cagliari when we had our little group together is we've done a really good job with the group with the guys that we've brought in so far.
I think we're really trying to again be very precise with exactly who we want and what we need for the next steps in this transfer window. We have some time.
I think we'll probably make one addition next week and then we're continuing to look at what else is out there.
There was a Premier League statement out yesterday saying that the captains have met and decided they won't continue to take a knee before every game. What is your take on that as a manager?
I love the fact that there's been an appreciation of diversity in our sport, I think our sport is the most unique of any in the world.
It's not just racial, it's international. It's cultural. It's religion. It's everything. Like when you're when you become a manager in this business, you have to have an open mind to what it's like and you have to love it.
You have to love to work with people and different kinds of people and the key is to make our differences make us stronger, not weaker. I've always tried to emphasise that.
So whether we take a knee or not, I know here, we have a massive appreciation for all of the differences in the different kinds of people we have and we enjoy that. I'm American and that's a big part of our culture and who we are anyway.
This league is at the forefront of so many things, like the LMA is to me an amazing, established organisation that it supports the managers for life.
I think the player pool and the unions and the togetherness of how they work, how they think. I think taking a knee was absolutely the right thing, I think the referee organisations are fantastic. The league is for me at the forefront of any league in the world in all of these areas, so it's a privilege to be here and I'm excited about the future.
How productive was your meeting with Andrea, particularly on the transfer front, are you confident of signings?
Yeah, I think we're already excited about what's been done and I've expressed almost daily my appreciation to Andrea for his support that when we've made plans, he's carried them out and invested heavily.
We're trying to be prudent We were very sure in every transfer that we attacked in this window, and now we're just trying to really evaluate the team carefully to make sure that whatever addition we make, it fits the way that these others have already done.
So the money is there for a significant signing?
Yeah, I mean, I think every manager wants more money. That's not a big secret, but a good I've always said good players make good managers, not the other way around.
We really like our team and I think we'll be intelligent with how we add here.
Can I ask you about the goalkeeper situation and Kristoffer Klaesson, is he fit?
He has had a little bit of an ankle injury but it's not enough to not consider him, he'll be available for Saturday.
Do you think there is an argument to have a more established keeper?
Absolutely there's an argument for that. Again, the key is to get the right kind of person because Marcos Abad, our goalkeeper coachm has created a really good environment with his goalkeepers and we think very highly of not just Illan (Meslier) but Kris as well.
Anyone we bring in, we have to be very clear as to what the expectations are, what the role is, and then to make sure that person will strengthen us and not necessarily create friction within that young goalkeeper core. I think we're close to making a decision on that and I think it'll be someone who does exactly that, makes us stronger.
How does it feel not having that stress and different pressure from last year?
It's not a relegation battle, but I know the games are so damn good, right, and the opponent's like my respect of Wolves. To be fair, in the first half, we played Wolves at Wolves we had a really good first 12-15 minutes but then they commanded the game with their quality with their tactics, with their ability to move the ball and we were a little bit lucky to turn the match the way we did.
You can call it stress, you can call it pressure, it’s just the league is so good and it demands the absolute best out of you as a manager and as a team.
I'm just totally focused on everything to try to get our team ready to have a good first step in the season and do everything we can to put ourselves in the best position to have a really strong season and feel very confident about who we are and what we're trying to achieve.
On the opposition there is talk they’ll play a different way, maybe four at the back, what are you expecting from them on Saturday?
Yeah, they've changed a little bit in pre-season to four at the back with Jimenez being out it's made them also kind of retool some of the things that they've done. They've played Podence a little bit more in the striker position. We'll see, he'll be on the pitch but whether he plays in that role or a different kind of role.
I think that their manager is very intelligent, he has a lot of good tactical ideas, and they have an incredible player pool. I think their players are good in tight spaces are really intelligent. They fit well together.
They defend really well, one of the best defending teams, if not the best defending team last year in the Prem and then they still can unbalance you with the way they move the ball. It challenges you in every phase of the game.
I think we can really get an edge on set-pieces and we have to be really strong and clear with what our goals are in that phase of the game come Saturday. It’s a big challenge, one that we're excited for and let's go let's get started.
Obviously the team sailed close to the wind last season and just about survived. You had to be pragmatic as a manager when you came here with that particular job to do, but after a full pre-season, what does a Jesse Marsh Leeds team look like this season?
There was a lot of talk that that wasn't exactly the way we wanted to play. Yeah, it wasn't but we made steps along the way and we introduced a lot of new topics and tactics.
We challenged the players to adapt quickly, but we didn't throw a million things at them, we wanted to be just good at the simple things, we wanted to adjust some things defensively and we wanted to be harder to play against.
It wasn't anywhere near a finished product at the end of last year, but it allowed us to, I think start the process of this season affirmatively and clearly. Even when I talked about the idea was me to come in the summer, I don't think we'd be where we are as a team right now if I would have come in summer versus when I did come.
So I'm thankful that we're ahead of schedule, I'm thankful that the players have adapted really well and I'm thankful that we've brought in the right kinds of players to add to what we have. I'm hopeful that this team will be really strong.
Do you have to manage expectations from your fans?
It’s too early to start talking about goals, but certainly we want to finish better than we did last year and I think the key in that is just to have a good start.
I'm really happy that we play the first match at home in front of our fans. I know there'll be anticipation, but there'll be support. We have to come out and play on the front foot, we have to play aggressively and I think we have to play well with quality, with confidence to honour what the fans are going to bring to the stadium and to honour what we believe is going to be a good year for us.
Patrick lasted the full 90 against Cagliari, how has he reacted physically and mentally?
It's been a huge week for him. He looks great. He looks fit. He looks strong. He looks sharp.
The good thing as well having Patrick closer and closer to 100 per cent is we've actually been able to work through what tactically we want him to look like. I thought the way he played against Cagliari was very good and in the direction that we want him to go.
I believe that there's a lot of room for improvement for Patrick as a player and that's our goal, to help him to be more dangerous, to score more goals, to be a better pressing player, to be more complete. He looks great, he looks fit and psychologically he’s incredibly excited.
I know we have a great player on our hands and that he's only going to get better. Is he at 100 per cent? Probably not quite yet, but he's really, really close.
Who is his competition right now in the nine role?
I would call it more support, rather than competition, we're going to need Joffy to come off the bench at times and help him. I think we can play with both of them at times. I think Rodri can play as a striker as well.
We know that's not Dan's preferred position, but there's different ways where we can play with nine, half nine, two strikers, a central ten, there's different flexibility we can have at different times.
The left back situation is a conversation that’s been had over the entire pre-season period seems like you've settled on Pascal, can you tell us about the quality he brings there and exactly how comfortable you feel playing with him, compared to Junior, who is still three or four weeks away?
It's not his natural position, but Pascal still is mobile enough. He's intelligent, he's technically good and he understands the tactics.
It gives us even more flexibility that if we want to build with three, if we want to build with four, and in the last matches, I think that flexibility and his positioning has been quite good.
We've worked a lot with him, showing them a lot of videos and talking a lot of different phases of the game and what we want it to look like. He helps us on set pieces by being a little bit bigger and he helps us defend a little bit harder in and around the box.
There's benefits actually to having Pascal on the pitch in this position. I think he's taken it on that way and I think he's ready for a big season and to show that that he can play in that position quite well.
How much of an impact has Rene already made on the training? What has he come and tried to bring in immediately?
He's been great. He's been in and around a lot of the discussions already. He's watched all the matches, and we've had interaction after each match about a lot of different things and tactics and ideas of what we're trying to accomplish.
When he's here, internally and working more closely with us, he can see my way of working in thinking and then he's really good at adapting to what that is and then brings his own ideas.
We've had Frankie Schiemer in as well this week. So we've had our full complement of staff and support system to make sure that we're prepared for a good start to the season.
Rene and I have never worked intensively together but we share a lot of the same education and a lot of the same concepts of the foundation of what we want as a playing model and then it's just about the nuances of what we can get out of our player pool and what each game will require and what each opponent will require.
Kalvin was such a big personality. Was it important that you didn't directly try to replace him and just get a different midfielder?
I still have contact with Kalvin. We're really excited for his new opportunity. Last week I drove through the city and I saw the mural of Kalvin and it got me a little emotional, because I know what he means to this fan base, in this community and not having him in our kit is not so easy to accept moving forward.
We knew that it wasn't going to be about replacing Kalvin with one player or two players, and more just about continuing the process of what we wanted to achieve in that position on the pitch with the way we want to play. I think that as a starting point, a lot of the players that we've had here have adapted more and more and more, including Adam Forshaw, into what we need in that position.
Then I think Tyler Adams and Mark Roca, the balance of who they are, how they complement each other and how they understand what we want the game to look like, fits really well for where we're at right now.
Those two, for me, both have still much more room for improvement and have both been very good in pre-season. So we still feel you can also include Darko (Gyabi) you can include Archie (Gray) as guys who I think are going to see playing time in that position over the season because I think those two still have a lot of qualities well.
With Brenden Aaronson. How do you see him developing?
Brenden's work ethic is different than probably any player I've ever known. His ability to cover ground and his intelligence and ability to adapt is one of the best I've ever seen. The league demands, like I said already, the best from people and they will demand the best from Brenden and he will know that physically he will have to manage some situations.
I think coming from wide situations and coming in and moving into the middle, it suits him maybe a little bit more physically, but he's intelligent enough that anywhere he plays in the front along our front four he knows how to find space. He knows how to challenge opponents in behind and he's clever in tight spaces and he's good around the goal. He has a lot of good qualities and he's been good in pre-season. I know he's going to get better.
Do you manage the balance between using Patrick as much as you need to and pushing Gelhardt enough because he looks very ready to be pushed?
They will dictate that more than anything. If Patrick is fit, strong and healthy, which we're thinking he can be, then Patrick will play a lot of minutes. But I also have to be cautious of the fact that he hasn't played a lot in the last 10 months and not kill him from the beginning physically and put him in danger of picking up little things.
Joffy, the more he pushes himself and the more he takes advantage of every minute he's on the pitch and continues to show his quality and understanding of what we want the game to look like, then he's going to obtain more minutes and then he'll be rewarded.
Rodri is still a big piece of that puzzle and, for me, he has made big progress in the last weeks as well. Obviously the performance he had on the weekend was quite good. That's where you talk about healthy competition and guys pushing each other and I think we have that more in our squad right now and it's brought the best out of guys.
It's my job to create an environment that does bring the best out of them. It doesn't challenge them to act more selfishly and I'm trying to get that balance right every day with opportunities with what training is like, with how I treat everybody and to let everybody know that their development path is important to what we're trying to achieve here.
Just weighing up the players who've gone against the players who've come in, is your strongest line-up stronger than last year?
Yes, I believe our strongest line-up is better, stronger than it was last season and mostly because there's more clarity as to the way we want to play the game.
Jesse, you were talking about driving past the mural. What were your emotions, was it sadness, regret?
I don't know how much I want to go into this. When I started, when I knew I wanted to be a coach, I thought it would be about tactics and competitiveness. I realised more and more that the role of the father figure took a more prominent position in the way that I lead and it was mostly because I care for people.
I've said before that for me this is a people business and you know, in the stressful time, in a stressful 12 weeks, all of us invested in everything we had and along with that comes a real affection for the people, for the situation and a fondness to the fact that we did it together.
We really achieved our goal of last year, it wasn't any one person, it was really a group and everybody sacrificed everything they had to try to get there. When I see the mural of Kalvin I think it's hard not seeing them here every day and it's hard not being attached with a young man that you really liked, that you think has high potential and that you want to really see be successful. Now I just have to do it a little bit more from afar, and can see him in an ugly colour.
Liverpool’s assistant Pep Lijnders was talking about five substitutes and how it can be both used as a weapon but also to protect the players. I was just wondering how you think it's going affect Leeds?
There's no secret that I've been behind it. There's no secret that I like to play with power and speed and intensity and the more that we can interject that into games, I think it can be a benefit for us. But obviously other teams are going to try to use that to gain strategies to benefit them as well.
For me, just in terms of now really pushing the game at every minute, I'm really excited and it's a development thing, where we can develop a theme or we can give more players chances and minutes on the pitch to grow to show that they're ready to learn to adapt.
From a strategical, tactical perspective, I think it's a way to use more formations based on what is happening within the game and to also use more players within formations to try to manipulate opponents.
READ NEXT:
Leeds United committed to long-term plan as they enter Premier League season with settled squad
Jesse Marsch facing key Leeds United leadership decision ahead of Premier League opener
Leeds United's winners and losers of pre-season including Bamford, Klich and Firpo
Jesse Marsch provides Leeds United injury latest as Liam Cooper ruled out of Wolves clash
Former Leeds United man joins Sunderland just days after his Elland Road exit
