Leeds boss Jesse Marsch won’t let his coronary heart rule his head when he takes cost of his first FA Cup tie on Sunday at Cardiff.
Marsch’s major goal is to retain Leeds’ Premier League standing, however the romance of world soccer’s oldest knockout competitors isn’t utterly misplaced on the 49-year-old American.
When requested if he had dreamt of lifting the well-known trophy with Leeds, Marsch stated: “Talking about raising trophies right now – we’re not at that stage as a club, but you don’t do this without that kind of focus in mind.
“We’re continuing to try to build a process here that’s about improvement, week by week, year by year.
“But, you know, even seeing what Crystal Palace did last year (they reached the semi-finals), I think for people it’s still is a reminder that the possibilities are there, but you have to just take it one step at a time.”
Leeds have a poor current FA Cup report having fallen on the first hurdle in every of the final 5 seasons.
They have additionally been dumped out of the competitors by the likes of Hereford (2007), Histon (2008), Rochdale (2014), Sutton (2017), Newport (2018) and Crawley (2021).
And since falling sufferer to a different well-known cup upset in opposition to Sunday’s opponents in 2002 – when Cardiff had been within the third tier and Leeds prime of the previous Premiership – the Yorkshire membership have gone past the fourth spherical on simply three events.
Leeds’ board are determined for an prolonged and long-overdue run within the competitors and if the Premier League stays Marsch’s precedence, he insisted he has focused victory in Cardiff and can identify his aspect accordingly.
The former Salzburg and Leipzig head coach, whose aspect resume league duties at Aston Villa subsequent Friday, added: “We believe that a cup run can give us momentum.
“The strategy for this match is certainly, with enough break in between (the next league game), to get as many guys prepared to play as possible and then to make sure we have a team that will go after it in every way.”
Leeds may hand a debut to new signing Max Wober, who has adopted Marsch and former Salzburg team-mates Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen to Elland Road.
Wober, who was captain of the Austrian membership, signed on Tuesday for a reported price within the area of £10-12million and may function in a wide range of left-sided defensive positions.
Patrick Bamford is closing in on his first look since October after having groin surgical procedure in the course of the World Cup break however is unlikely to characteristic, whereas Adam Forshaw (hip) and Luis Sinisterra (foot) are nonetheless unavailable.
