Jesse Marsch addresses his current Leeds United reality with unprompted ownership statement - YEP 15/10/22

Leadership looked lonely on Friday afternoon, both at Leeds United's training ground and Downing Street.

By Graham Smyth

Shortly after Jesse Marsch held court at Thorp Arch, prime minister Liz Truss did the same, albeit taking fewer questions, offering far briefer responses and putting up a much less confident front. The top job must have its attractions, but when it's your plan that everyone is following then all eyes are on you when it goes wrong. While the accompanying accountability is healthy, it can't be much fun.

Marsch, as he keeps saying with genuinely believable gusto, enjoys his job at Leeds, even if the Premier League makes it so difficult.

"The league tests you as a manager, I think, in every way every, every match is a little different," he said.

"And I said last year, when I came during the relegation fight, I had to use all my experiences in my life to help us find a way to manage the moment and that's still where I'm at. The challenge of this league is at the highest level and I love it."

In going about his business he feels the support of everyone around and above him, but he does not float around in some delirious cloud, detached from reality, as a largely unprompted statement proved.

"I think that the support that I have internally in this club is better than anywhere I've ever been in my life," he said, when asked if success for Mikel Arteta would prove to football owners the value of patience.

"Now, I know that when you lose, that questions arise, that's normal from you guys [the media], from everyone, from fans, and I accept that and it's my responsibility to make sure we lose as little as possible, and my goal is to never lose. So that's the job. I'm not afraid of that. I accept that responsibility. I take it on, take it straight on and I'm here to do the job and I believe that I'm the man to do the job, but I'm doing it with my staff, with my team, with the leaders in this club, with my ownership. "We're together, right and I feel incredibly supported and it empowers me, empowers me to do the job I think is necessary to help us win."

Whether or not that statement of self belief needed saying, this early in his first full season in charge, Marsch was happy to say it. Yet while he speaks with the confidence of a man who feels backed and valued, marching on together with his superiors and those in his charge, he sat alone as he said it. That's the lot of a Premier League manager, for whom football's relationship with its broadcast partners mandates appearances in front of cameras and microphones.

Marsch knew this when he took the job, though, it's just the way it is, as much a part of his responsibilities as talking his strikers through what Leeds need from them right now, or deciding how the side will defend against Arsenal's daunting attack.

The American revealed that while he was meeting with his front men this week, his assistant Rene Maric did the same with their defensive counterparts. His right-hand man will be out there in the technical area with him on Sunday, discussing tweaks and changes as the game plays out. But if it plays out in the way they don't want, it will be Marsch of whom all and sundry demand an explanation for the game plan, selection and substitutions. You can delegate a coaching session, a team meeting or a set-piece routine, but not the carrying of the can. And therein lies the loneliness. 'Who would be a referee?' it's often asked, but who would be a manager?

Marsch's job at Leeds has already given him memories to last a lifetime, however, and highs to rival any he encountered as a player. Elland Road moments he shared with 30,000-plus, like Joe Gelhardt's winner against Norwich City, or moments of equally wild celebration shared with 3,000 at Wolves and Brentford, are the reward for when the leader's plan works out.

And this weekend, just like every time Leeds play, offers the potential for another of those moments, a reward for carrying the burden and a release for all the stress. Beat Arsenal and the endorphins will still be flowing when Marsch sits in front of the microphones, with a new, far more pleasant narrative to address.

The more difficult the opponent, the greater the potential for Elland Road's roar to envelop him and it's hard to imagine feeling alone when tens of thousands of others, including your colleagues and players, are right there with you, feeling the very same emotion that you are. That's when the top job at Leeds must feel like the best job in the world.