Jesse Marsch spells out Leeds United priority as special vacancy invites applicants - YEP 7/10/22

Jesse Marsch believes his aggressive brand of football, if done right, will sufficiently entertain Leeds United fans this season.

By Graham Smyth

The American's priority is getting the Whites to defend with a smothering intensity that allows them to win the ball high up the pitch, where they can play forward quickly and directly to score goals.

It worked a treat against Chelsea, when it was the industry and determination of Brenden Aaronson, rather than free-flowing football, that forced the opening goal. A second, from a set-piece, followed before a third that, of the three, was the most aesthetically pleasing in its formation. On that day a packed Elland Road was thoroughly entertained by the sight of their historic rivals being hassled and harried and well beaten.

The victory over Wolves, complete with its distilled, vertical Marsch move for the winner, sent the hordes home happy, too, because goals and wins do that. And that's what Marsch wants on a regular basis, but his focus is on the building blocks that will allow it to happen.

"I am focused on the team being effective in the way that we want to play," he said ahead of Sunday's trip to Crystal Palace, a game that could snap a four-game winless streak that has featured just three goals for.

"And I know that if we manage that effectively the football can be dynamic and the dynamism can be attractive and it can score goals. If we can score goals, then everyone has fun. In the meantime, we have to still be stable. And I think that's one good thing, we have been stable."

In saying that, Marsch knows what is coming next before it's even said. Leeds were not stable on their last visit to the capital, shipping five goals on a horrible day at Brentford when all that could go wrong just about did. There's a strong case to be made, though, that it was individual errors rather than a systemic failure that did for Leeds against the Bees.

"I know you can't just go 'let's take out the Brentford game where we made some big mistakes and we give them five goals,'" he said.

"But if you did do that, we've been defensively pretty solid, and we still find ways to be dangerous. So I think we've got to improve on both sides of the ball , in all phases of the game and if we do that, then the attractiveness comes with the aggression and the intensity. The ability to score goals is important too."

There's no doubt that Marsch has elicited aggression and intensity from this group of players. That part of his job has been made easier, in one respect, because those who pre-date him at Leeds carried out an aggressive, intense strategy under his predecessor Marcelo Bielsa. Three of those who arrived in the summer did so under Marsch himself at previous clubs. The tricky part was coaxing Bielsa's group out of their man-marking habits, into a system the American feels will better protect Leeds from harm in the Premier League.

Elland Road responds to intensity, its roar grows as white shirts pile into the opposition and force them to take backward steps. Players, Marsch feels, respond well to tactics that work.

"I find that players enjoy when they have a plan and that the plan can be effective to help them be successful on the pitch as individuals and as a group," he said.

"You can go through a lot of different styles of football and talk about what that means and what that is and it's one of the nice things about our sport, you can have a lot of different tactical strategies that form into different kinds of styles of play. But again, I think that the players, when they know what their roles are and they can find success together, there's enjoyment in that."

Leeds fans will serenade their fellow train and coach passengers all the way back to West Yorkshire on Sunday evening if Marsch's players prove, again, that his footballing ideology can work a treat. A win by the slimmest of margins, with a goal that comes off someone's backside should do the trick. But what will really make them sing this season is days and scorelines like the one that sent Chelsea home with their tails between their legs.

That's the bit for Marsch, or any other manager whose squad does not contain Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, that appears the hardest, by far. Scoring goals and picking Premier League defences apart is no mean feat and even if you can bully an opposition out of their shape, the last pass is often beyond even very good attacking players because it sometimes requires a bit of magic, something special.

For years Leeds relied heavily on Pablo Hernandez for that. A magic man who could unlock a defence and make a way when, to mere mortals, there appeared to be none, Hernandez was entertainment personified.

Right now the wizard's hat hangs in the dressing room, waiting for someone to claim it as theirs. It has been passed around, and borrowed from time to time. Rodrigo evidently has vision and a desire to play quick passes round corners, into space and possibilities. Brenden Aaronson has a quick mind to go with his quick feet and Leeds have wingers with wonderful touches and dribbling ability, but the magic is coming in fits and starts. There are, at least, candidates for that vacancy. Their suitability will become clearer in time.

Marsch is getting aggression, intensity, commitment and work-ethic from Leeds already, almost as standard. Fans will always like that. Getting the bit that really entertains, in the final third, is what will make them fall in love with his football.