Jesse Marsch makes painful admission in sharing candid Leeds United dressing room anxiety

Leeds’ winless run extended to eight matches on Sunday afternoon as Fulham departed Elland Road with all three points, leaving Jesse Marsch fielding further questions about his future.

The American insisted the United board remained ‘unified’ behind him despite slipping to a fourth consecutive defeat, conceding another three goals in the process. Marsch did admit, however, that he felt anxiety within the home dressing room was playing a part in the team’s recent form, which has seen Leeds pick up two points from the last 24 available.

"It's painful right now and I take responsibility,” Marsch said. “I have to find ways to to organise us to keep the confidence high and the belief high.”

“Part of it is we're so anxious to play forwards so quickly, that the game starts to open up and it's tough for us to control the opponent in those transition moments, because the game is so open. We don't want it to look like that all the time.

"We had a really good start [to the season] and then we had some things happen against us and then the momentum got stalled and right now there's anxiety and pressure,” he added.

Marsch called on his players to use the energy of the Elland Road crowd to their advantage, too, which he felt has gone under-utilised this season: “If you look at the way we started the match and the way that the fans were in the match, it was perfect. It was perfect. We've got to find a way to use that to be a real weapon for us.”

At the final whistle, sections of the Leeds support were vocal in criticising the club’s board members, meanwhile during the second half, both sets of fans chanted against United head coach Marsch. Leeds will aim to avoid going nine without victory for only the second time since the turn of the Millennium next weekend, but face an uphill task as they face a wounded Liverpool side at Anfield.