Jesse Marsch senses 'fear and stress' as Leeds United capitulate to Aston Villa

The third Villa goal was enough to prompt chants of 'Marcelo Bielsa' and anger aimed at the directors' box as Leeds sank to a sixth straight defeat.

Marsch felt the occasion and the atmosphere got to his players.

"I underestimated the stress of the moment from the players' perspective," he said.

"We've had a very good week, 10 days together, I've tried to create clarity for how we want to play and the behaviours we want and the tactics, but it was clear from the beginning that we lacked confidence and aggression in the match.

"I've heard a lot about the Elland Road crowd and I thought it was fantastic from the beginning but I could see that the players want to do so well so badly that it brings almost more pressure and stress. From the beginning I said we had to stay calm and be clear, that's a message we have to stay strong with. When we step on the field we need to know that the fear will ensure failure, it won't protect us from failure. We have to be fearless, attack and go after opponents. That's the biggest lesson for me from what happened tonight."

Leeds went in at the break a goal down having allowed Philippe Coutinho to arrive in the area unmarked to finish a Matt Cash cross, but they emerged at the outset of the second half with much more about them and took the game to Villa.

After their best spell, however, they conceded a second as Junior Firpo left Matt Cash alone in the area and he converted from Danny Ings' cross.