Leeds United fans turn on each other in the away end before aiming anger at Jesse Marsch following defeat to Nottingham Forest.
Brennan Johnson scored the only goal in Nottingham Forest’s win over Leeds, moving six points clear of the relegation spots.
Forest were second best in the first half, but were able to take the lead at the break with Johnson’s 14-minute goal.
Leeds failed to score a free kick on the right. The ball bounced up to the Welsh forward, who smashed it into the box’s bottom corner.
The hosts owe Keylor Navas, a debutant goalkeeper on loan from Paris St-Germain who made crucial first-half saves against Luke Ayling, Wilfried Gnonto and Luis Sinisterra. Leeds had the best chance of winning the game from six yards.
Leeds’ threat was almost eliminated in the second period. Forest held on comfortably for a third win in five Premier League games and moved up to the 13th spot in the table.
Jesse Marsch’s Leeds are now 17th in the league, just above the relegation zone on goal difference.
Get him out. Simple as that.
How can anyone defend him? Awful tactics, awful football. Get out of the club. #lufc pic.twitter.com/PivWuoLJny
— Oliver Medd (@OliverMedd7) February 5, 2023
Sky Sports’ Micah Richards: “Leeds need to pick up points and quickly. If you look at Jesse Marsch at the end of the game, he looked defeated.”
Sky Sports’ Graeme Souness:
“Nottingham Forest rode their luck in the first half and were better in the second 45 minutes, but I thought Leeds were disappointing.
“There was a lot of huffing and puffing from Leeds with no real end product. The quality just wasn’t there when it really mattered.
“The Leeds board will look at it like this: they have supplied the players and now it is up to the manager, and you have to get wins.”
“It’s great for Forest because they didn’t play to their normal standards at home, but they dug in, they held on and they got away with it.”
Leeds fans turn on each other in the away end before aiming anger at Jesse Marsch at the City Ground.
Leeds fans this time 🤣 #nffc pic.twitter.com/SRvAJXbJse
— Alicia Andrews (@liss_andrews) February 5, 2023
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Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones:
Jesse Marsch has made Leeds very easy to play against. Even tactical novices can work out that if you stop his side from being able to counter-attack, they simply don’t have the required guile and creative nous to unlock a defence.
Leeds have now won just two of their last 17 Premier League games – the last of those wins came at Anfield where Marsch’s men had 31 per cent of the ball and were allowed to unleash their pace and power on the break. In their last two games against Brentford and this defeat at Nottingham Forest, their possession average has been 65 per cent as teams have dropped deep and asked Leeds to break them down. It’s worked a charm. Leeds failed to score in both and created just a total of 1.19 worth of expected goals. In the second half at the City Ground, after a bright first-half display where they were unfortunate to be behind, the lack of courage and creativity on the ball was staggering. The longer the game wore on, the more the belief seemed to ebb away.
“I have to find a way to get more out of us to make sure when we’re on top of games, we don’t lose them,” Marsch said.
He needs to find that fix, and fast.
“I’m frustrated and disappointed,” Marsch told Sky Sports. “We had a really good start and were on top of the match. We had chances to score and then their set-piece, it was their only time down the pitch in the first half and we go down 1-0.
“I have to find a way to get more out of the group. I have to make sure that we don’t feel sorry for ourselves. We have to find a way to stay strong and keep going. But I take responsibility. I have to find a way to get more out of us to make sure when we’re on top of games, we don’t lose them.
“I feel like we’ve had this feeling a lot: we’ve played quite well, been on top of matches, but we find ways to lose. So it’s a young team, we have to accept there will be mistakes in there. But we have to find ways to become winners, to turn performances into points.
“It feels like it’s moving in the right direction, but it’s not enough. We have to get more out of it.”
“The purist in me is disappointed with our football today”
Steve Cooper reflects on Nottingham Forest’s win over Leeds 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/zzMhsNwrso
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 5, 2023
Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper, speaking to Sky Sports: “I was disappointed with our football today. I thought we could play better than that. And, first half was not a good version of ourselves, second half defensively I thought we were excellent.
“Obviously the outcome is the most important thing and to win, but my job is to look a bit deeper than that and look at how we get better, because it’s probably the first time we’ve not played well and got something. We’ve played a lot better and lost games this year so in a way maybe the lads deserved that today.
“But I’ve got to look a bit deeper into the performance and got to do a little bit better. But at the same time we’re on a good run and it takes all sorts to be on a good run.
“We take the points and we move on.”
On goalscorer Brennan Johnson: “Fantastic player, we know he’s got qualities and is a great finisher. The guys didn’t get loads of service at the top end of the pitch but, sometimes you just need one moment, so obviously him and Keylor in our goal in the first half were brilliant with the save so some big individual moments for sure.”
On beating a relegation rival: “We’re not looking at it like that, we’re just looking at ourselves and I think it’s still a little but early to be worried about others, that time will come of course. We’re just thinking about ourselves, the next game, picking up points, we’re thinking about how we get better.
“We’re building and identity, we’re building a team, we’ve been doing that from the summer so step-by-step.”
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