Jesse Marsch apologises to Leeds United fans as managers disagree on referee's performance

Managers can often view the same game completely differently, and after a 0-0 draw at Elland Road, that was certainly the case.

Gerrard was frustrated because his side was unable to capitalise on Luis Sinisterra's dismissal for two yellow cards inside 48 minutes, Marsch that he felt the visitors had killed the rhythm of the game.

It is something he says he will raise with the Premier League after they broached it with the clubs last week.

Both Sinisterra's yellow cards were correct – the first for a trip on Tyrone Mings, the second for preventing Villa taking a quick free-kick. Marsch described the second as "not intelligent".

The issue was that similar incidents did not seem to be punished in the same way by the erratic Attwell, who lost control of the game in its early stages and never got it back.

Marsch refused to speak directly about him, but did speak about the flow of the game he was managing.

"I almost feel like we have to apologise (to the fans) because they don't get an entertaining match," he said. "They get a match totally slowed down by the opponent from the very first whistle and then they don't really get to enjoy coming to Elland Road the way they can and should.

"I will be speaking to somebody from the league. I've already spoken with somebody from the referee's committee. This is clearly a tactic.

"They took up another hour and a half of our time this past week to remind us they're going to do better at controlling the run of play. I didn't create that dialogue, that's not my agenda, that's the league's agenda.

"I will be discussing that with somebody and we will as a club."

Mings and Emiliano Martinez were warned but not booked for time-wasting inside 20 minutes and as Gerrard pointed out, Leeds wasted time without punishment when they were down to 10 men.

"It's not new," commented Marsch. "I've encountered that a lot and we've already seen it this year. Discussions have already been had.

"I've had more referees that were able to manage it better than we're getting here. It leads to frustration for the crowd but the key to us is not to let it be a frustration to us."

That manifested itself in Sinisterra's second yellow card, after team-mate Rodrigo had been booked for complaining about Attwell's inconsistency in the first half.

There was a limit to how critical Marsch could be as he was serving a one-match touchine suspension after he was red-carded for his over-the-top complaints in Leeds' last match, at Brentford on September 3.

"The second yellow is not an intelligent play and gets Luis in trouble and us in trouble," said the coach.

"I'll speak with Luis but I don't think any big statement needs to be made. I think he's pretty clear that was not an intelligent decision.

"We've made the decision strategically to go after players that we believe have high potential. We haven't gone as much with Premier League experience.

"That means I have to be patient at times, and it's not like I have a ton of Premier League experience either.

"We're all growing through this together and we're trying to be intelligent and savvy but aggressive and clear as individuals as a group

"You have to be patient and at times understand they're going to make foolish mistakes.

"In the process you have to help them learn from those mistakes and help them learn it's part of the process and try to accelerate the process and the learning curve as much as possible. We are doing that.

"We worked on man-down tactics two weeks ago and we even submitted a video for them to watch on Saturday night. I was joking next time it's going to be man up tactics.

"But the preparation helped. Then you also see, which I know we have here, the character, the fight, the willingness to run and do whatever it takes for each other. That I know we have and we always have had."

When told about Marsch's comments, Gerrard offered them no credence.

"I thought he had a good game," he said of Attwell. "Well done to Stuart. I don't think he got anything wrong.

"We wanted to frustrate Leeds. Leeds are a team that want to get in rhythm. We slowed the tempo and we went to war when we needed to.

"Was he (Marsch) happy with their time-wasting when they went to 10? It works both ways. I'm not really interested in Jesse's opinion."

Gerrard’s annoyance came at his side's inability to turn possession and chances into goals, a common theme for them already this season.

"We need big players to step up and take our chances," he complained. "A point before the game wouldn't have been so bad here but how the game panned out, a point wasn't enough."

Marsch also revealed Joe Gelhardt was left out of the 20-man squad as a tactical decision, and that Patrick Bamford was limited to the bench because of a knock picked up in training.

On Leeds’ performance, Marsch said: "First half I thought we could have been more assertive.

"It was hard to tell if our rhythm and confidence was lacking a little bit because we've been off for quite a time but the first half I thought all in all was satisfactory and we could make some adjustments at half-time to push the game a little bit more.”