A look at the latest Leeds United headlines on Thursday, 29 December.
Jesse Marsch told he's too honest with Leeds United injury news
Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site, claims Jesse Marsch is too honest when it comes to injury news at Elland Road. The medical expert claims he has 11 players listed as injuries on his site, but doesn't believe the majority of those injuries are long-term issues for supporters to worry about.
“I’ve got 11 players listed as worries, but I don’t see that as a reflection of Jesse Marsch’s training or the Spain camp as many of those were contact injuries and also illness,” the injury expert told Football Insider.
“For me, it’s all about the time-loss injuries in the league and not what happens before that. Marsch is one of those managers that likes to be very thorough and transparent with the information he provides and so there are no stones unturned when speaking in regard to injuries.
“I’d be very surprised if a large number of those flagged players don’t return soon rather than later. I see many of them as a precautionary measure. Their last pre-season friendly was against Monaco and those pre-Christmas games were not the time to take lots of risks with players.
“Rodrigo, who had a tight hamstring, Liam Cooper with a minor calf injury and Jack Harrison with an abductor – I’d be very surprised if those three weren’t involved. Stuart Dallas is a long-term one and the Luis Sinisterra injury is also a freak long-term one too. There aren’t many major time-loss muscle injuries that people would associate with Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa towards the end of his tenure when players were picking up long-term soft tissue problems.”
Man City was only the breath Leeds United take before January's whirlwind hits Jesse Marsch
Passing scared
If the most encouraging aspect of Leeds United’s opening 45-minute shutout was the tenacity and frequency of ball-winning challenges, the most frustrating was the immediate return of the football to Manchester City. Time and time again, Leeds would lead the champions down alleyways, trap them, force errors or force the ball from them and then lump it to away defenders.
A fraction more composure and this could have been a very different affair for the Whites. Had they realised how much time and space they had, they would have surely created more of a threat going forward.
Rodrigo’s 24 touches from 71 minutes said it all. Leeds couldn’t even string enough passes together to get up the field and use their forwards.
Every word Jesse Marsch said on Leeds United's defeat, Klich, Radrizzani comments, injuries, Haaland
Hi Jesse. It’s no disgrace to lose to Manchester City but in possession how poor were you tonight?
Well, I think in the first half we were stable defensively and we won a lot of balls. But then because we were a little nervy we were so quick to just give it away and so that was the message and was going to be the message at halftime, that we're pretty stable. They're having a hard time breaking us down the tactics of what we're trying to do against the ball but we could stay on the ball and I showed a few scenes where when we won balls that they actually from behind weren't pressuring us and we had more time than we thought. If we were able to get into second half and do that better at 0-0 then maybe we could find ourselves in a match. Then the second goal is a tough mistake and that now makes the challenge that much harder.
However, then you saw us coming into the game more, right and this is part of the being brave is at 2-0 or 3-0, then you know we have nothing to lose. But what I really wanted to see us is play like that from the beginning, where we were brave on the ball, where we were making good dynamic movements and connections with the ball and trying to unbalance them as much as they were trying to unbalance us, but obviously there's a quality issue in the match, and they're very good and they have a lot of good players and it winds up being a little bit of a battle of attrition.
Brenden Aaronson identifies where Leeds United must improve following Man City defeat
Leeds United midfielder Brenden Aaronson has told his teammates they 'must get better' defensively after a 3-1 loss to Manchester City at Elland Road saw them unable to capitalise on other team's losses earlier in the week.
An Erling Haaland brace saw his seasonal tally go up to 20, with those sandwiched in between a Rodri tap-in just before halftime and a Pascal Struijk header with 20 minutes left in the second half.
The result keeps the Whites in 15th place in the Premier League table, just two points above the relegation zone. Speaking after the match, Aaronson revealed the team's frustrations at conceding just before the break and highlighted what they need to do better in order to get results against tough opponents.
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