How Graham Potter outfoxed Jesse Marsch in battle of rising managerial stars - Telegraph 27/8/22

Brighton set a new club record of nine consecutive top-flight matches without defeat following Pascal Gross' strike

Arindam Rej

Brighton vs Leeds pitted two of the Premier League’s most promising coaches against each other, and Telegraph Sport runs the rule over Graham Potter and Jesse Marsch to see how they performed in four key aspects.

The contrast between the two here was marked. Brighton head coach Potter, dressed all in black, was a generally understated presence, often giving off a cool and composed vibe.

Lively Leeds head coach Marsch, in his loose white shirt, jeans and trainers, showed more emotion - often understandably negative - on the sideline, notably when he was booked for raging at the refereeing.

At this venue, the Yorkshire club have now failed to score on seven visits in a row. While Potter looked at home, Marsch - like many from visiting Leeds camps over the years - suffered near the seaside.

After defeating Chelsea so breathtakingly the previous weekend, Marsch picked an unchanged line-up from that win, continuing his consistent selection-making so far this season. Luis Sinisterra, the Colombian summer signing, could have been an option - but he came off the bench.

The American played it safe by not risking injury-affected captain Liam Cooper at centre-back - but Diego Llorente was a let-down in that area.

Potter handed a first Premier League start to Pervis Estupinan, the Ecuador left-back, formerly of Villarreal - and it worked well overall. Estupinan had impressive moments going forward and defensively, although it must be said that he was caught out at times and ran out of steam.

Having lost left-footers like Marc Cucurella and Dan Burn, Potter deserves credit here though. He knows how to keep producing balance and flexibility in his squads, even after big player sales.

The Englishman’s gameplan was a masterclass, as he nullified Leeds’ pressing, which caused so many problems for Chelsea. Leeds are hard to play through so Brighton stretched the pitch - and the results could be seen in the tough afternoon handed to the visiting wide players.

Potter deployed man-marking - a technique Leeds are using less these days - and were happy to let the Yorkshire club have the ball without threatening; before winning it back and unleashing dangerous deliveries. Impressive, improving Pascal Gross was a key to this.

Marsch’s plans were shredded, leaving him to accuse his players of some "free-styling". They were the ones who should have pressed and countered but they could not do it; they did not engineer the spaces they wanted.

Marsch knew from the first half that Leeds needed to be better, to up the tempo, to push their opponents more - and, to be fair, they did, although the performance could not have been less threatening than what was served up in the first period.

Mateusz Klich’s arrival helped them make a better impact, while Adam Forshaw gave some control too, and Sinisterra made a positive difference despite his bad miss.

It was a familiar sight from last season - where Marsch found a better response in the second half, but it needs to happen from the start.

Potter also did well to shut out the attempted Leeds recovery with his late changes - shoring up both flanks with fresh legs, with Estupinan going off at the right time, and the introductions of Japan wide man Kaoru Mitoma and England Under-21 capped Tariq Lamptey.

Pascal Gross’s strike for dominant Brighton led to home fans chanting “we are top of the league” - which is where they stood when that goal went in - and they deserved to enjoy revelry.

Although the table-topping did not last, Graham Potter’s team have produced a stunning start to the season, unbeaten with 10 points from their four games, including wins over Manchester United and West Ham plus a draw against Newcastle.

Gross struck twice in that win over Manchester United at Old Trafford so this was another sign that he can potentially ease the goal-scoring burden on Brighton.

Leeds United had arrived here unbeaten after defeating Chelsea 3-0 the previous weekend, but they were rendered ineffective, pushed on the back foot and out-played here for long periods.

Before Gross’s intervention, this had, however, threatened to be one of those afternoons where Brighton are on top for long spells and fail to profit. The likes of Solly March and Adam Webster had spurned excellent chances.

Potter hit back at any suggestions that they should have been even more clinical though, and lack a prolific striker, saying: “How you get points in this league is you score more than the opponent. There were only eight teams that did it better than us last year. So far, there are a couple of teams who have done it better than us this year. So you can talk all you want about individuals.”

Potter’s men are a team that seem to enjoy playing against Leeds. They by-passed the Yorkshire club’s pressing with their man-marking and breaking - and it eventually paid off.

Last season, some supporters booed Potter’s men after a 0-0 draw here against these opponents - but this time it was the Leeds manager, Jesse Marsch, who was irritated afterwards.

“We had guys freestyling,” Marsch complained of his players. “We were trying things that we never talked about.”

The American added: “After the Chelsea game, there was a lot of fanfare about our performance but what this league is is that every match is a little different, every opponent is a little different and very good.

“Every match is a massive final exam. Just because we passed one doesn’t mean we’ll pass all of them.”

Brighton, who have just sold striker Neal Maupay, won the midfield test and that laid the platform. They first should have taken the lead when Webster headed off target from eight yards.

The chances kept coming - and March was guilty of missing a pair of excellent ones in quick succession - including an impressive save by Illan Meslier.

Leeds improved for a brief spell and came close when Luis Sinisterra failed to finish at the back post. Brighton struck when Leandro Trossard delivered a diagonal pass, leading to Gross scoring with an angled finish from around 12 yards.

Marsch’s frustration with proceedings, including the officiating, was soon clear when he was booked for throwing the ball down angrily after a refereeing decision.

The Leeds manager admitted he deserved his yellow card for showing his frustration to the officials in that incident, but said he had an option to “sit there and take it” or “escalate it” and admitted: “I’ll never be a guy who just sits there and takes it, that’s not my style.”

The referee, Michael Salisbury, was taking charge of his second Premier League match.

In the latter stages, Leeds pushed for a leveller, but the better side - Brighton - deservedly won, making it a club-record nine consecutive top-flight matches without defeat for them.