‘Played really well’: Jesse Marsch says 18-year-old Leeds prospect’s defending really impressed him last night

Thu 10 November 2022 8:15, UK

A youthful Leeds United side couldn’t overcome Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup last night.

A late Boubacar Traore goal settled the tie, although Jesse Marsch was very pleased with his side’s performance.

A number of Leeds’ under-21s were given full debuts yesterday.

Joel Robles deputised for Illan Meslier in goal, but couldn’t do anything about Kamara’s effort.

Mateo Joseph, Darko Gyabi and Sonny Perkins are made their senior debuts and impressed at Molineux.

Marsch rotated his young forwards into different positions throughout the game, showing their promising versatility.

And after the match, Marsch said he was impressed with Perkins’ work, especially his defensive output.

He was also complimentary about Joseph, and thought he was unlucky not to score on his debut.

Marsch impressed with Perkins’ defensive work

“Mateo Joseph was very good on the day, a little unlucky when in on goal that he couldn’t get something on frame.

“I thought that Sonny Perkins also played really well.

“We used him in a couple of different roles, but I thought he was really intelligent, found a lot of good spaces.

“He was also dangerous and really good defensively.”

Perkins arrived in the summer from West Ham, and has scored eight goals in 12 games at under-21 level.

Despite being a forward, Marsch being impressed with Perkins’ defensive work shows he’s bought into Leeds’ philosophy already.

He’s got a lot of competition ahead of him right now which makes a Premier League debut unlikely.

However, Marsch’s assist Rene Maric has also enjoyed working with the 18-year-old.

“In Sonny, we have a player who is very young and extremely talented,”

“He’s eye-catching because the mixture of his physical posture and his ability on the ball is rare.

“He has to iron out some details but we’re very happy with him.”