Jesse Marsch reveals Leeds United's substitution mix-up and defender's international break issue

Right-back Luke Ayling had gone down needing treatment in the final stages of the 1-1 draw, as Leeds prepared forward Sam Greenwood to come on. With Ayling coming back on and seeming to move without too much trouble, Greenwood was then sent back into the dugout and Pascal Struijk was instead called back from his warm-up to get ready.

It appeared as if Struijk would take the place of captain Liam Cooper, who started his first game since December and made a solid comeback from hamstring surgery but started to look uncomfortable as the clock ticked towards the final whistle.

When Leeds made the change, though, it was Ayling who departed for Struijk. The right-back's response led to a confused debate in the Leeds technical area and Marsch admitted that it was Cooper he had wanted to take off.

"There was a mix up with staff," said the American.

"Luke had a little situation where he had to come out for a second. Liam was feeling heavy, we wanted to get him out of the game and put Pascal in centre-back. We talked to Pascal before the match that he might have to be a solution at left-back, clearly the communication wasn’t what it needed to be, but it was okay in the end."

Struijk was the man to drop out of the starting line-up to allow Cooper to return in what Marsch called a straight forward decision given the events of the international break.

A Covid-19 outbreak that brought positive tests for Raphinha, Robin Koch and what Leeds believe was a false positive for Joe Gelhardt, also saw Struijk return a positive test and then he picked up a niggle.

"Pascal was also positive in the break, coming back out of Covid, he picked up a little hamstring injury so he didn’t train fully," said Marsch.

"Cooper had. He looked strong and good and clear, it was a relatively easy decision to make given the circumstances. I was concerned whether Coops could make 90 mins. Given the way it went, it was good he was able to play a full match. The point is important in our season, to have Kalv [Phillips] and Liam back in the group is massive in this moment. We need them in a big way, they're a big presence in our team. Big step forward for us."