Leeds United dictating to Chelsea is validation, says Jesse Marsch, as he sees players 'in the form of their lives'

The American coach believes he has a group of players producing the best of football of their careers, and saw the rewards in a "validating" 3-0 win over the Blues which was the Whites’ best since he took charge in March.

Opposite number Thomas Tuchel was reluctant to give credit to Leeds for the intense way they played, arguing the game turned on two first-half errors compounded by another goal after the break.

But Marsch took a very different view of “a really good performance, the best since I've been here.”

Tuchel argued: "Today we lost track and there was no need. We were not forced to lose track - everything was going well.

"I think it's more our fault than anybody's else's credit.

"I hear from you (journalists) that this is for you the story but we were not all over the place, we did not lose our discipline against the ball but with the ball we were not disciplined enough and sharp enough after 20 minutes.

"But it's not like we could not deal with anything. It's a set piece and an own goal (this was how he constantly referred to the calamitous Edouard Mendy error that allowed Brenden Aaronson to open the scoring)."

When the German's opinion was put to Marsch, he responded: "I think our way of playing dictated the match almost entirely. We limited them, created chances, made them make mistakes.

"We wanted to make them uncomfortable, we wanted to be aggressive but intelligent and we wanted to push the game that way."

The other view of Aaronson's opener is it was a result of the high pressing Marsch preaches, forcing a poor mistake from the goalkeeper. And if Rodrigo heading in his fourth goal of the season at a set piece was disappointing for Chelsea, it was vindication of the work Leeds - led by coach Mark Jackson - have been doing in that area.

Jack Harrison scored a third after half-time as Leeds hit Chelsea on the counter-attack.

To win in that manner should be self-perpetuating, according to Marsch.

"We have principles and we'll always use tactics to try and implement our principles to manipulate the game and opponents to make the game look the way we want it to," he said.

"Against a top opponent - an incredibly top opponent - we were able to do that today. I think that's rewarding and validating for everybody.

"It should continue to feed us the right kind of positive momentum to continue to go forward."

Rodrigo, captain and centre-forward for the day in the absence of the injured Patrick Bamford and Liam Cooper, has started the season magnificently, but Marsch was keen to stress he is not alone in that.

"He's been massive, all in, getting better every day, every week," Marsch said of the Spanish international. "He's committed at the highest level, he was the captain today, rightfully so.

"I think he's potentially in the form of his life and I think we have a bunch of guys right now - Jack Harrison, Brenden Aaronson, you can go down the list, of guys playing at a really high level.

"When individuals are playing well and the group is clear with their roles and tactics, when you're flexible in the way you want to do things, then you can start to feel like we can have real potential.

"Tyler (Adams) is another guy playing the best football of his life for me and I know the potential he has because I've known him for so long.

"I could see when he came and we had some tough conversations we needed to almost pick up from where we left off a couple of years ago and he's certainly doing that in a big way.

"With all these guys they're playing really well and there's so much more potential."