Steven Gerrard praises Leeds United referee and hits back at Jesse Marsch with sharp response

Steven Gerrard has hit back at Jesse Marsch’s comments regarding Aston Villa's time-wasting during Leeds’ 0-0 draw on Sunday afternoon.

The Villans’ boss asked whether Marsch had taken issue with Leeds’ own time-wasting following Luis Sinisterra's red card during the second half.

"Was he happy with their time wasting when they went down to ten?” Gerrard said.

“Works both ways,” the Villa boss added. "I'm not really interested in what Jesse thinks. My priority is Aston Villa.”

Gerrard’s men were warned by referee Stuart Attwell as early as the 20th minute about the time they were taking at goal kicks, throw-ins and other set-plays.

Despite this, the former Liverpool star insisted Attwell had a ‘good game’, stating he could not pick out a single error with the official’s performance.

"I thought he had a good game. Is there any [decision] he got wrong? I think that's a good game. If a referee doesn’t get anything wrong, that’s a good game, so well done to Stu [Attwell].”

Marsch took issue with his opposite number and the approach Villa took during the game.

The American dubbed the fixture a ‘snail’s pace match’ during a post-game broadcast interview and bluntly refused to comment on the referee’s performance.

"Villa decided to slow down the match. Now it's two or three opponents that we've had here that just want to, at every moment, throw the ball away, take a minute on every goal kick.

"And so we need some help to manage this, right? We can't do it alone and again, the sad thing is this is the best environment in the league for me and our fans don't come here to watch a snail's pace match.”

“I will be speaking to somebody from the league, I've already spoken with the referee committee that this [time-wasting] is clearly a tactic,” Marsch told reporters.

"I feel bad for our fans when they have to come to this match and they have to watch that, right?”

“They want to see an energetic game that has a lot to see,” he added.