Leeds United transfer news: Jesse Marsch wants another striker but willing to be patient

Leeds, who lost Patrick Bamford to an abductor injury in the first half at St Mary’s Stadium, remain short of options up front although Marsch is pleased with the signings already made by the club.

“I understand that transfers are always a lightning rod and people want to talk about this a lot,” said Marsch, who saw Rodrigo take his goal tally to three in two games with a brace at St Mary’s.

“The transfers have gotten us to where we’re at. We made them early. We brought in players that we think fit the way we want to play.

“We are playing quite well and now we’re just trying to be prudent with how we make our last decision.

“So a striker has always been in our mind but we’re doing it in a way that we think makes sense.

“We think it’s something that we need to continue to evaluate on – what kind of move we make.”

Marsch said there was no doubt his team were improving despite being left with a “terrible” feeling after Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Southampton.

Leeds were 2-0 up by the hour mark as Rodrigo completed a brace of tap-ins but Ralph Hasenhuttl’s hosts rallied to pull a goal back through Joe Aribo in the 72nd minute before equalising through Kyle Walker-Peters with nine minutes left.

The Saints comeback denied United a return of six points from a possible six after the opening weekend’s 2-1 win at home to Wolves and Marsch delivered a balanced assessment of events at St Mary’s and his side as a whole after two games of the new Premier League campaign.

“Obviously we’re disappointed,” said Marsch.

“It’s a terrible feeling to play so well and then have the game switch and then walk away with what feels less than one point.

“But that’s also I think, progress for us to be so disappointed with only a point and we also have to see through the trees a little bit and unde,rstand that the performance was quite good from an individual perspective and from the collective so we’re looking clear in every phase of the game for me and then on set-pieces I think we’re very stable and also finding ways to be dangerous.

“For me, it’s always in my mind how to be glass half full, even in a moment like this.

“But the group is making progress. There’s no question and it’s great to see so many individuals playing at a high level.”

Pushed on what he felt went wrong and if he wished he had made more changes, Marsch reasoned: “At 2-1 we switched to five at the back to try and cut down their ability to attack us in what we call the half lane.

“And then we got beat in that, Jack gets beat on the half lane so it’s a little frustrating.

“Jack’s done a really good job and has had two fantastic games for me to start the season.

“But to tactically make that shift and then to still get beat, that’s painful, that’s a little painful. That’s the point of making tactical shifts in a match and then there’s a little bit of maturity.

“We’re still a young team.

“That was one of the reasons why I put Adam on at the end just to help have a guy on the pitch with a little bit more experience that can help settle the game down and I think he did a really good job at that.

“And of course, there’s a couple of changes that I’m looking back on and thinking could we make those a little bit earlier and could we manipulate the game in a way with some guys off the bench.

“But in the end, again, I think we’re making progress.”