Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch insists he never sought to insult predecessor Marcelo Bielsa when discussing their injury problems.

Marsch said Leeds' players had been over-trained under Bielsa and that had led to a debilitating injury list which has undermined their season.

He said: “I haven't spoken at all since the comments I made on talkSPORT about overtraining and Marcelo and listen, I want to say this was not intentional to attack Marcelo in any way.

“It was a little bit careless and I can see how it was interpreted in some ways.

“But it was more about the state of the player pool and what I had observed in trying to take the team forward.

“I think you would be hard-pressed to find an incoming coach that has spoken more positively about the person he replaced (than) the way I have spoken about Marcelo. It's because I have major respect for him.

“I haven't said anything about what I said after that and I've seen a little bit of the response, but I want to make sure that the respect for Marcelo is of a very high level from me and from everyone here."