'I'm watching him' - Every word from Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch's pre-Bournemouth press conference

“This has been a little bit of a crescendo for him of putting really strong performances together and now on a nigh it comes together in a big way for him and for us. Certainly he needs to use that to gain confidence and belief and know how good he can be. I think we all know his talent is high and we’re just trying to help him mature and push himself daily to be the goalkeeper that we need and. He fits well with us because he’s a good shot-stopper and he’s good in one v one situations and transition phases and I thought that he stood up big in those moments.” Do you exepect him to be in the France squad for the World Cup? “I spoke to him about that about a month ago and he seemed to think it was unrealistic so I would just go off of that but I think that as a young gaoalkeeper he fits the criteria of a third goalkeeper in a World Cup squad.”

“It’s a good question and those guys are incredibly vital to what we do here. But the issue has been that too many of them have been injured so with Stuart and Adam out a long time, Luke was out at the beginning of the year, Patrick was unhealthy, There were some games where we made Robin captain because none of the six leadership council players were healthy. Obviously getting Luke back has been really important and getting Coops healthy and going has been really important and then Rodri I think has been a pretty consistent guy with the team. At one point, we sat in this room and I said ‘listen, right now you guys have got to be strong, and I need you. I need you to help me in this moment. And I need you to be clear that that we need to push the group and make sure that there’s no little things going on behind the scenes, that we stay on top of being positive and maintaining the belief so those guys have been vital for that.”

“I’m not really sure how he got the no 10 to be honest. I just got a text from Victor, it wasn’t even the start of the season and he said Cree will be no 10 and I said okay. I’ve had a lot of teams where there has been no number 10. I think it’s an overplayed number and moniker in our sport. I was 15 and I always thought 15 was like the new 10!”

“I think adapting to the league. I wouldn’t say he had a slow start, I think against Wolves he was pretty solid and in pre season he was very good. Obviously the level of the league and then the fact that the full backs in this league sometimes have the hardest task because the winger position in almost every team is usually equipped with the best players from the teams, from the opponents. I think the key for him has been that he’s been more aggressive against the ball and with the ball. He jas shown more confidence and more self belief and he’s gone after it in a bigger way, physically, mentally, everything. Wit the way I like to coach and manage, aggressiveness is a key and we can’t have passive players on the pitch so I think he’s gone through that with me already at Salzburg and I think he just had to readapt to another level of what the quality is and then and then start to exhibit more and more what I know he has.”

“That’s the important thing. My mind, right after the match, was squarely on making sure that we’re prepared for this weekend. I said last week at this press conference, I was tired of losing and tired of being in a situation where we have to dig ourselves out of. We’re not out of that yet and we’re still there but the only way is to get the result on Saturday.”

“I think from a tactical perspective, against the ball he can be connected with the team more and more and more and be really making sure that he’s always in the right tactical position. When he is around the ball both against the ball with the ball, he comes alive. He’s one of our best players in terms of pressing and counter pressing and winning balls. And then obviously on the ball right now he’s very cofident, he’s very hard to tale the ball off and he’s very dynamic in those moments. And then I think he can be, as much as he scored two goals in the last two games, I think he can be more dynamic in transition and creating even more chances for himself and others. His potential is very high. I’ve talked to him about that from the very beginning and we just need to keep pushing him every day in terms of his mentality of being a pro and then the technical and technical aspects of what we are trying to achieve.”

“There’s there’s a lot of little things in there. I think there’s with the ball tactics and movements and ideas. We still are a team that if we gain an advantage in possession, we think we almost always have to go direct. And that’s not the idea. The idea is to now understand how to unbalance teams through a lot of tactical positioning and ball movement. And then what are the last third kind of movements and connections we want to have. And too often we have like a concept that we call often option A, option B, option C with pption A being the most threatening, most vertical action of the time or possibility and then option C being sort of a third-most vertical and too often we are always in our mind is option A and then it means that we’re giving the ball away too often, we’re losing too many advantages by thinking we can always make the most important play at that moment. And then it’s sometimes means that we’re not able to set up our counter pressing and rest defence tactics in moments which then means if we lose bad balls that the opponent has more space to get out on the counter. For this game, that balance and that understanding will be really important.”

“Yes and no. I think the urgency has been the same, the desire to to find a way. I don’t feel in any way that we’re out of the phase of were things weren’t going our way or where we weren’t getting results. The only way to ensure that we can really start to push the process and even though we only have like two weeks left in this moment of the season, I think it’s vital for us to get as many points out of the next two matches as possible so that we can go into the break, feeling like we’re coming back and we’re going to be strong.”

“I think it’s an opportunity for him to use the moment to strengthen his position within the group. That’s what I have said to him. I said in front of the group, I said, you know, I’m watching him, I told him in front of the group that I’m watching him now and I’m going to stay on top of him even more and we have to make sure there’s no slipping back and that we are only going forward from here. He has had a really good training.”