Fulham came from behind to win 3-2 at Leeds and inflict a fourth straight loss on Jesse Marsch's side; Rodrigo gave Leeds the lead but Aleksandar Mitrovic, Bobby Decordova-Reid and Willian turned the tide, despite Crysencio Summerville's consolation; Marsch's Leeds are in the bottom three
Monday 24 October 2022 06:39, UK
Leeds head coach Jesse Marsch issued a passionate defence of his credentials after his side were beaten 3-2 by Fulham, insisting he will stay at Elland Road for the "long term".
Marsch has now seen his side go eight matches without a Premier League win - and Sunday's defeat at home to newly-promoted Fulham, after taking the lead, has dropped Leeds into the relegation zone.
Boos rang around Elland Road at full-time, mixed with chants of "What is going on?" and "Sack the board", but Marsch vowed to carry on at Leeds despite the intense pressure on him and Sky Sports News understands that Leeds have no immediate plans to change the head coach.
"I understand their frustration - we're all in that boat," said the American when asked about the boos.
"I'm responsible for making this team better. I'm going to work tirelessly to try to help them gain their confidence, to have solutions, to show belief in them, to challenge them, to stay strong and keep pushing. But I accept responsibility, we have to do better."
When asked about questions regarding his future, Marsch replied: "I'm here for the long term. I love this club, I'm investing everything I have to try to make us better.
"We always knew the league is incredibly difficult - we never took anything for granted, even staying up last year. We're going to use our mentality and our commitment - even today we pushed until the end - and we're going to use that character we have in the group and figure out ways to get better."
Leeds took the lead at Elland Road through Rodrigo's header, but Fulham responded just six minutes later in similar fashion, with Aleksandar Mitrovic nodding the west Londoners level from a corner.
Marsch's side had several opportunities to retake the lead through Brenden Aaronson, Rodrigo and substitute Patrick Bamford, but it was Fulham who completed the turnaround via Bobby Decordova-Reid's header with just under 20 minutes to go.
Willian made it 3-1 10 minutes later which led to Leeds fans either publicly venting their frustration or heading for the exits, despite Crysencio Summerville pulling one back for the home side in stoppage time.
"I don't think our fans want to hear a lot of tactical analysis right now," said Marsch while trying to explain the result. "We had a good start to the game and you feel after the goal, we would start to get control of things.
"But we find ways to hurt ourselves and give up goals in ways we don't think we should be - and we put games in balance.
"In the second half, at 1-1, you can see that our confidence is at its highest and then we gave the game away.
"Set-piece defending, we take a lot of pride on. It's two corners and a throw-in and we don't defend well enough and we're not ready for those moments. It's painful and unacceptable."
Analysis from Sky Sports' Sam Blitz:
Four straight defeats for Leeds and no wins in eight under Jesse Marsch. Fans booing, players out of confidence and goals flying in at the wrong end. How much worse can it get?
Well, take a look at Leeds' fixture list and it could be quite a lot. Next on their agenda is Liverpool next weekend, then Bournemouth at home the week after. Either side of the World Cup break are Tottenham and Manchester City.
You do struggle to see where the points are coming from, especially given Bournemouth at home will contain a lot of pressure.
In their last four games, Leeds have put in varying levels of performance - but there is a common denominator.
Marsch's side should have been 3-0 up against Crystal Palace but threw away their lead. Leeds were unfortunate against Arsenal but gifted the Gunners their winner. At Leicester they were abject but literally put goals into their own net, and Leeds were so open that Fulham could have left Elland Road with a hatful of goals.
It seems that no matter what Leeds do now, they cannot help conceding via their own means. Once and Marsch can hide behind individual error. Four straight games? That is more than coincidence.
A leaky defence was the tale of the tape behind Marcelo Bielsa's sacking - and his successor looks to be heading down a similar route.
