Premier League hits and misses: Jesse Marsch struggling to move Leeds away from Marcelo Bielsa ball - Sky Sports 25/4/22

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When Jesse Marsch took over from Marcelo Bielsa at the start of March, he arrived at a Leeds side that were leaking goals but creating loads of chances.

Monday night's goalless draw at Crystal Palace was the opposite to what Whites fans have been used to in recent years: defensively resilient but struggling to create chances.

A second straight clean sheet away from home has shown that the American has managed to shore things up for Leeds - but at a cost. Going forwards against a Palace side out of confidence, Leeds really struggled to string things together at the top end of the pitch.

Leeds head coach Jesse Marsch believes his side's point against Crystal Palace on Monday night is valuable in their fight to stay in the Premier League.

Leeds managed just a 56 per cent passing accuracy in the Palace half on Monday night and had just 12 touches in the opposition penalty area - compared to 35 for the home side.

While this is the opposite of the 'Bielsaball' football Leeds fans marvelled over - even in defeat - Marsch admits the lack of cohesion up front is down to his uphill struggle to move his players away from his Argentine predecessor's style of play.

Leeds have lost the man marking aspect that Bielsa brought to Elland Road, play with two midfield pivots and not one, while their wingers are much narrower, but things are still disjoined for the relegation candidates.

"There are still moments when they get caught in the man marking," said Marsch about his players after the game. "We need to be better in the connection and timings of plays.

"It's such a unique project to try and change the playing philosophy and survive and thrive in a relegation battle. It's a challenge but the guys are trying everything to get the most out of what they're doing."

Marsch also praised the fight his players showed to get that "valuable" point to move them five points clear of the drop. Every single inch towards safety is vital for those at the bottom, even though it wasn't pleasant viewing for the Leeds fans on Monday night.

Crystal Palace managed to recover from the hangover of their FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea at Wembley and a lacklustre display at Newcastle last Wednesday, to produce an energetic performance that deserved a win against Leeds on Monday night.

Wilfried Zaha, Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise all produced moments to get fans off their feet, but lacked the cutting edge in the final third that is perhaps the missing piece in Patrick Vieira's Palace side.

Jean-Philippe Mateta was guilty of spurning two big opportunities in the first 20 minutes, while Conor Gallagher had a good chance inside the penalty area deep in the second half that he hit straight at Illan Meslier in the Leeds goal.

As this season comes to a close, Vieira is sure to be thinking about how he can improve his squad in the summer.

And based on Monday night's performance, it feels clear that if Palace are to take the step up and challenge further up the table, they need another striker who can guarantee goals.

Zinny Boswell

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