Javi Gracia explained how he intended to keep Leeds in the Premier League After a win against Southampton as head coach.
Junior Firpo’s late lone strike gave Leeds a 1-0 victory in a critical relegation clash and lifted them up from the bottom three. Elland Road He certainly avoided a new club record of 11 games unbeaten in the Premier League.
former Watford Boss Gracia, who was appointed to replace Jesse Marsh on Tuesday, said: I want to create many opportunities.
“However, after coming here and looking at the statistics as well as the game, I thought it would be better for the team to have a good balance between defense and attack, so today we didn’t concede a goal. increase.
“We prepared as best we could, approached the game firmly, compactly, and waited for the moment. I think we did it.”
Marsh’s full-throttle game plan, which focused on swarming attacks, fell through, and he was sacked earlier this month after less than a year.
Leeds were easily beaten under the Americans, whether in transition or from set pieces, and Gracia, having been in charge of Malaga and Valencia, was pleased that his team disapproved.
“I think we’ve found a good balance between defending well, keeping a clean sheet and being aggressive in other ways,” added the 52-year-old Spaniard.
“We tried to create more chances. I don’t think anyone created many chances, but it was the game we wanted and the result was good for us.
Next up for Leeds is the FA Cup fifth round at Fulham on Tuesday and the relegation battle to resume at Chelsea on Saturday.
Southampton remain bottom of the table by three points after failing to build on their morale-boosting victory over Chelsea in the previous game.
Ruben Seles was confirmed as head coach until the end of the season 24 hours before the trip to Elland Road, and his players responded with another tenacious display in a narrow defeat.
However, Saints winger Mohamed Elnouchi felt they fell well short of the standard they set at Stamford Bridge.
Elyounushi told the club’s official website: Last week’s performance was not good enough.
“We lacked the aggressiveness and intensity of last week.
“We have more games to play. Every game is like a cup final for us. We lost today, but there are still many more.”