Leeds United: Jesse Marsch and Whites facing a busy summer - Yorkshire Post 11/4/03

A desperately woeful game of football at Vicarage Road on Saturday was a reminder of how much work Leeds United have to do this summer, but at least they have something to work with.

By Stuart Rayner

In beating Watford 3-0, the Whites showed spirit, organisation and a desire to fight for one another. The least said about their actual football, with the exception of substitute Sam Greenwood, the better.

You might think those positive qualities were a given but in the minutes before kick-off Leeds supporters were cursing Manchester United’s pea-hearted performance at Everton. We have reached the surreal stage of the season where they can watch their bitter rivals lose and be genuinely unhappy about it.

And let us not forget Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds folded so feebly against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur it parachuted Jesse Marsch into the coach’s office three months ahead of schedule.

Leeds should have enough about them already to make up the Premier League numbers. The most alarming thought from a comfortable win over opponents who needed the win even more desperately is that Watford are not the worst team in the Premier League.

A third victory in four games – they drew the other – did not secure Leeds’s safety, not when Burnley have nine points to play for before the Whites play again, Everton six. But they did probably knock Watford out of the equation, creating a three-way fight.

In trying to strike a balance between realism, delusion and defeatism when asked if he was still “confident” Watford could avoid relegation, manager Roy Hodgson said: “I have no reason to be confident but we do have reasons to believe. If you want confidence, you’ve got to win.”

To misquote Gareth Southgate, when his players needed Churchill, they got the dog from the adverts. Where his belief came from, goodness only knows.

But to be the club they ought to be, not just better than the three most inept sides, Leeds must play more sophisticated football than they have so far under Marsch.

They are at least banking wins and all that comes with that.

“There’s confidence and momentum in the group,” noted Marsch. It is visible.

Liam Cooper has returned from injury to show what a leader he is with rough-around-the-edges but invaluable performances. Leeds history shows it can be impossible to succeed a popular manager when the dressing room is dead against you, but Marsch’s looks fully behind him.

The American’s more approachable style is more than likely a big factor. They would not have beaten Norwich or Wolverhampton Wanderers had Marsch not started on a positive footing, or kept it without those results.

Only an imbecile would denigrate Bielsa’s transformation of the club but after three-and-a-half years of arm’s length-intensity from his players, a change in mood music was perhaps needed.

But what Leeds are playing now is a million miles from Bielsaball. You would have been hard-pushed to hear any complaints from the away end as it sang loudly to a rapidly-thinning audience in the final stages.

When you play ugly football, however, you have to get ugly wins and it is hard to see such a basic style triumphing over many of the division‘s big guns. There was no delusion from Marsch, apart maybe from a glowing assessment of Robin Koch. He was quick to acknowledge his team needs to play better football.

In his defence, though, this is only week seven.

Marsch’s style forces mistakes, the problem is they do not only come from the opposition.

The opening goal came after some ping-pong, Dan James dropping out of the centre-forward position to try to force the ball there and showing more hunger to win it than Juraj Kucka.

From there, it was beautiful, Raphinha controlling, turning and producing a gorgeous finish after 21 minutes of fairly ineffective Leeds football.

Greenwood’s threaded pass to Rodrigo after 73 minutes ought to have been a fraction overhit but Hassane Kamara somehow thought it would be a good idea to pass across the goal and the striker to the no-doubt ungrateful Samir, who tried to stop it bouncing off him and into the Spaniard’s path, but could not. Two-nil, game over.

Greenwood’s pass and Jack Harrison’s finish for the third were perfect, but came when Leeds battled for and won a Ben Foster hoof.

Those moments of beauty amongst the beastliness showed there is genuine quality to work with. Raphinha is a rare talent, albeit one Leeds will struggle to keep the rich vultures (and Barcelona’s almost bankrupt but still able to spend tens of millions vultures) away from in the summer.

We – and the vultures – know how good Kalvin Phillips is, even if he could not show it in Saturday’s half-hour from the bench. Rodrigo’s name was sung more than anyone’s.

Potentially as significant is the young talent beneath the surface.

Leeds need a lot of bolstering in the summer but showed little appetite in the Bielsa era for mass recruitment drives – at least not of senior players. But in Greenwood, who came on in the hole, and Joe Gelhardt – if Leeds can just get a full week of training into the centre-forward so he is able to start a game for Marsch – director of football Victor Orta has picked up a couple of Under-23 gems. They could save Leeds a few transfers and a lot of cash.

The less they have to do, the better, but there is no getting away from it, there is a lot of hard work ahead.