'Message received' - Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch's pre-Cardiff press conference every word

Here is every word that was said from United’s American head coach in the 1.30pm media briefing at Thorp Arch.

Opening team news

"It's a big week. We have a lot of guys that we're hopeful that they can turn around but have a lot of little issues so I'm not going to give you full updates and we are hopeful that some of the questionable guys can turn around and be ready to go. We want to put a strong team on the pitch. We know 6,000 fans are going down, I know the history of us losing 21 years ago at Cardiff and we expect that they'll be very spirited for this match so we want to put the best team we can on the pitch. Patrick was in training today so that was a big step in the right direction, not predicting him to be ready for the match but at least in training. Adam will probably not be available for this match but should be training next week. And then Stuart had a follow up operation too because they thought they had a little bit of an infection so they just cleaned that out but he's back and feeling good so that's that."

On Dallas - is that another operation on the back of the second one he had?

"Yes. So he had his first operation. Then he had the second one because they felt like there were some things limiting sensation in his knee so they went in and they took out a couple of screws and they cleaned a little bit of the knee area up. And then from that he picked up an infection. So then he went back and got another surgery but he is feeling good and back home."

On Sinisterra

"Sorry, I didn't mention him. He was on the pitch individually today looking really strong, sprinting and running and looking close. Let's see, I don't want to talk too early but we're hopeful that at some point next week he is back in training so that's really positive. He won't be ready this weekend."

Your first experience of the FA Cup - what experience have you had from the outside and what does it mean to you?

"The FA Cup final is a big thing in the US too so even before when I was a professional and when I was professional a lot of people get up early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to go to pubs in the US and watch the FA Cup final so it's a big thing. I think even the vernacular of the FA Cup final, this is a big match I think even in the US. The opportunity to compete in it....the US Open Cup I won as a player I think five times, four or five times and I always valued the cup matches as a chance to win a tournament, win a trophy. So obviously here the challenge of winning the FA Cup is massive, but we're excited about it."

On the 6,500 fans travelling down - how much motivation for you after a horrible run in recent years?

"I have heard a little bit about the recent history of some of the matches. I've heard about the history between Cardiff and Leeds. Leeds has obviously won this tournament with Don Revie so it's kind of in the blood of the club still and I think we want to make sure we represent ourselves in a big way down in Cardiff. It means a lot that our fans are going down there and that we want to put a good team on the pitch."

On the board and a cup run

"Angus subtly spoke to me last week and said maybe we should focus on having a good FA Cup run. I said 'message received'."

On Max Wober - how has he settled in and are we likely to see him?

"Max, I think, has settled in really well. He had a good training session today. I think, again, he understands what I'm looking for out of him and out of our team and so we'll see how fit and how ready he is for this match but he will be in the mix."

How much do you feel like this is your team now that you have had a few players come in including Max?

"To be honest, I felt like this has been our team from the start. I never look at it as these players are from the former manager and this is from the new man and my time. When you work with a team, you want to try to maximize the potential of every player and of the group as a whole. The reality is, most of the players when you go to a new team you inherit. The club has been very supportive about trying to bring some players that I think could fit what we're trying to achieve here that I've worked with in the past, but I never looked at it that way, I enjoy getting to know people from different cultures and getting to maximise the most out of what a team is and and I've enjoyed that here and I've been welcomed here maybe as well or better than anywhere I've ever been."

On Joffy - how is his confidence after limited minutes?

"I was not happy and I told Joffy right after the game that I should have put them on earlier. I thought Willy was doing well. I thought Rodrigo was doing well. We had just put Jack in and Jack was doing well. Klichy was doing well. So it wasn't so easy to just take one of those players off the pitch but from the 80th minute, from the 75th minute on I wanted to get Joffy on the pitch because I know him and I know he can make plays. I know when the game is like that and we're pushing that he's one that can make the difference. So I wasn't happy that I didn't put him on earlier. I think he's been training really well. I think he had a really good run up to this moment when we had our second pre-season and it's just that Rodrigo has been a big piece of what we've done and and he continues to play so well and score goals so it's not so easy to take him off but we can still use Joffy and Rodri at times as well."

Is Sunday an ideal fixture for the players to make a statement of intent? With Cardiff's injuries and league position?

"I have been on sort of different ends of what a cup match can be, David and Goliath as player and manager and I think it's really important to understand that for both teams. It's really important. We have to expect the best out of Cardiff. going down there won't be easy. When we got the draw, we weren't happy because we thought this will be very difficult. So our mindset is to prepare for a very important match in a good way and make sure that the group we put on the pitch represents exactly what we want to be."

On a personal level?

"Talking about raising trophies right now, we're not at that stage as a club, but you don't do this without that kind of focus in mind. We're continuing to try to build a process here that's about improvement, week by week, year by year. But even seeing what Crystal Palace did last year, I think that is still a reminder that the possibilities are there. But you have to just take it one stage at a time."

On players being brave on the ball

"What we've seen from our group a lot this year is that against the big opponents we play aggressively, especially against the ball or defensively. And then we tried to find ways to capitalise in transition and still try and find ways to command the game with the ball. And then there are other opponents that we play that on the day we think we can be better than and and I want to see our team play from the beginning in those matches with more courage with more endeavor, and to be able to in those kinds of matches, push our level to be better. At 2-1 (against West Ham) and at 2-2, I thought we were really strong in the match and the question I posed to the team this week or after the match is why can't like that at 0-0 and why can't we find a way to believe in ourselves and play with that kind of confidence and aggression from the start and let teams know that when they come to Elland Road that we're ready to suffocate them, that we're ready to be on top of the match. Now, obviously every team and West Ham have quality so it's not so easy but we still, in my mind, play a little bit too passive and too safe so I've got to continue to build that mentality and the tactics of that mentality into what we do."

On Gnonto

"I think what you see is a combination of confidence and belief, and quality and that's usually with young players that have big potential, what you like to see and so he's been a lot of fun to work with. He takes on information really well. He has flexibility to the way we use him so we can use Cree a little bit more as the wide player and Willy a little bit more in the interior. He had certain moments where I thought he did really well, certain moments where his understanding of what that role is can continue to grow. But you see confidence in him right now and I think it's partly about the run of games that he's had and then adapting to the league and adapting to what we're asking of him. So that part's been good. If we can get Cree fully fit and sharp, him, if we can get Luis, Brenden and Jack then we start to build and then obviously with our strikers a real complement of attacking players that can be a lot of fun to work with."

On Harrison - is he in the frame for Sunday?

"He's still physically not at 100 per cent so playing him 90 minutes and starting in both games from the start, we just made the decision to try to protect him a little bit. But I think Jack is in a really good place. I think he performed well. against Newcastle and I think he performed really well when he came into the match a couple of nights ago. Jack is a big part of what we're doing here and we need to just get him fully fit so that we can push him back to 100 per cent in every way."

On Archie Gray - how close is he?

"He's currently ill. I was told he had really high fever today so he is not here. His injury, we feel like we've been very cautious because it's the type of injury that if we aggravated more, at his age, it can cause problems down the line so we have wanted to be cautious. And I think the steps we've taken have put him in a good place that he's close to accelerating now and getting himself really back on the pitch. Obviously, no one's more frustrated than Archie but he is young and we have to be patient with him. We like him a lot and we like his mentality. But we just want to make sure that we're addressing his physical needs in the right way."

On Alfie McCalmont

"Alfie has trained really well and played really well in the last six weeks and made the biggest impression on me in his time here so far so that part's been great. What exactly the decisions are for loans with different players, aren't all clear quite yet. For them (the under 23s), they get their season going today, so they play at Nottingham tonight. Alfie's been training more often with the first group and and doing really well in training and and then the test matches so I expect him to have another good match tonight and then and then I think we'll continue to think about exactly what the path is for for him and players in that same category of trying to figure out do we want to send them to get more real matches? Or do we feel like keeping them internal and working on their process here is better?"

On replacing Mack Jackson

"We're incredibly close. I don't want to say anything yet. I said last week that I thought we were a couple of days away. I'm going to say right now we're a couple of days away! But we have made the decision and we've had negotiations and we're just kind of trying to iron out all the details so that we can announce it."

On Drameh - Cardiff return this Sunday

"Cody will play some minutes tonight in Nottingham and then we'll address what we need from him. He'll be in the squad for sure and then we'll see exactly how we decide to use them. I know it's sort of contradictory what I've been saying, I'm really happy with Cody, but then haven't included him in the squad, but I'm really happy with Cody, really happy and we've got to figure out exactly how to challenge him moving forward as well."

Is the importance of actually winning trophies being diminished by Champions League qualification, fighting to stay up etc - other league priorities?

"It depends on your status as a club I think. For me, I guess because I've won a lot of trophies, that means a lot to me. For me, even managing this club and where we are, it's a little bit different experience for me as well because I've been mostly with teams that are on the top side competing for titles, which then changes the mindset of even how you manage. And for me, I'm just trying to continue to create a mentality mindset here that's not just about survival, that's about building, that's about a process. But the pressures of this league and where we are as a team mean that that's one of the hardest things to do is to relieve that, leave the idea of looking at the table every day. It's not my focus and it's not my emphasis but I understand what the realities are for players, for the club, for fans, for everything. But really trying to stay in the moment is probably the most important thing and maybe the hardest thing for all of us to do on a daily basis and I think the more that we can actually execute that and stick to a plan and focus on development, I think the better that we can control results and trying to convey that is is really important for me.So, but in a moment like this, obviously you can't go into matches and not say that the results are important because they are, especially in a cup, because either we are in or we are out, or I guess we draw and we come back, that's the one variable. But in the end we want to go down there and focus on performance and we feel like we do that then we can have a good chance of winning."

Can cups help in the league in a way then?

"We believe that a cup run can give us momentum, if that's what you're saying. We believe that. Even when we chose to play the lineup that we did against Wolves, it wasn't thinking that we were throwing in the towel, it was given where we were at that moment what we felt to give ourselves the best chance in that tournament as well as against Tottenham, that was what was necessary. If we would have beaten Tottenham when we were up on them late on the match then even losing to Wolves I would have thought that we got a lot of Wolves, that we played pretty well and we were a little bit unlucky to lose that match and then we would have won Tottenham but it didn't work out that way. But the strategy for this match is certainly that with enough break in between, to get as many guys prepared to play as possible and then to make sure we have a team that will go after it in every way."

On Cardiff being a bogey team for Leeds

"This is why I think even when we got the draw at the club we spoke about it. We knew this was going to be a difficult draw for us. It's a bit of a long way by English standards, not by American standards, but by English standards! But again, for me, it's about having a clear mindset and expecting the best from them and being ready for that. It'll be a cup fight and it'll be our ability to play the way we want to play but to understand exactly the mindset of the opponent will be very important and for us to be ready for a real match, absolutely, in every way."