Leeds coach: 'I allowed Haaland's injury'

In the Premier League match on December 28, Leeds will take on Man City. Coach Marsch is likely to meet Haaland again, the player he once led at RB Salzburg season 2019-2020.

"Erling texted me as soon as the schedule was announced," Marsch said. "He said he was excited about this, and I allowed him to have a small hamstring injury."

Haaland is leading the race to be the Premier League's top scorer from 2022 to 2023. The 22-year-old striker has scored 18 goals in 13 games, six more than second-placed Harry Kane. If playing in the next match, Haaland will be the biggest threat to Leeds.

Haaland soon regained form after the World Cup break. In the match in the fourth round of the League Cup on the evening of December 22, the Norwegian striker contributed a goal to a 3-2 victory over Liverpool. "In full availability, Erling will cause a lot of problems for us," warned Marsch.

Haaland was born in Leeds, where his father, Alfie, played in 2000. When Marsch came to lead this club in early 2022, he received the support of the Haaland father and son.

After successful relegation last season, Marsch's team is ranked 15th in the 2022-2023 Premier League, with 15 points after 14 matches, two points more than the group at risk of relegation. If they lose to Man City, they can once again sink deep into the relegation race. Meanwhile, Man City is second with 32 points.

Marsch once hoped that the Man City players played in the World Cup as long as possible. That could give Leeds a bit of a physical and personnel advantage. However, things did not go as he expected. Except for Julian Alvarez who won with Argentina, most of Man City's players stopped in the quarterfinals. De Bruyne and Gundogan were even eliminated from the group stage. "Man City have a great team and the best coach in the world," Marsch admitted. "We're not afraid of the strongest. We've proven our ability to compete and win points, but we need a good plan and execution to do that."

Marsch twice won the domestic double in Austria in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons, for RB Salzburg, becoming the first American coach to win the national championship in Europe. He led RB Leipzig in the first half of the 2021-2022 season, but left after 17 games. In 28 matches with Leeds, he had nine wins, six draws and 13 losses.