Jesse Marsch outlines plan upon 'monumental' Leeds United task v Arsenal and ponders change - YEP 16/10/22

Whites boss Jesse Marsch admits Leeds United face a "monumental" task against this afternoon's visitors Arsenal and has run the rule over what he could do with his own front four.

By Lee Sobot

Mikel Arteta's Gunners will line up at Elland Road having won 11 of their last 12 games in all competitions so far this term and sat one point ahead of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League pile. Marsch has highlighted Gunners front three of injury doubt Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka as the chief Arsenal threats but is wary of Martin Odegaard and Granit Xhaka "joining in" as he plots his own plan to deal with the Arteta's side.

Marsch reasoned: "I think the combination with Arsenal of the way they play and their clarity as to their roles, along with the individual quality that they have, makes them very difficult to deal with. I think that's what the job of a manager is, to take good players and make them better by introducing them into a system that feeds into their strengths.

"Obviously, the front three with Martinelli, Jesus and Saka are incredibly dangerous and clever one v one, they're, all three, at the top of the league on one v one takedowns, one v one success. They're obviously scoring goals and getting assists in bunches.

"But then, the moment that you put in place a little too much attention on any one of them then Xhaka starts joining in and Odegaard and they have quality coming from all over the place. For us, it will take a full tactical understanding and commitment on the day as well as individual performances in certain moments to manage what they will present.

"The talking point has been very clear with what our tactics are for this match and then finding the players that can execute at the highest level and have good discipline but also play with confidence in the moments that we need quality in order to tilt the scale in our favour, which will be a monumental task."

Marsch has winger Luis Sinisterra back available for this afternoon's 2pm kick-off after the Colombian international served a one-match ban in last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace. Without him, Brenden Aaronson shifted to the right flank as Rodrigo moved from the no 9 to no 10 role to accommodate the return of striker Patrick Bamford upfront on his first start since August after injury issues.

Jack Harrison completed the front four on the left flank as part of a contest in which Crysencio Summerville, Mateusz Klich and Joe Gelhardt were all introduced from the bench in the second half. Asked about having Sinisterra being back available and how hard it would be to decide who would start in the front four, Marsch reasoned: "I think we have a little bit of an attacking core now that's emerging as all potential threats in the way we want to play. We started with Rodrigo and Patrick against Palace and I think there's a lot of games where we can do that and Rodrigo’s flexibility I think gives us that freedom.

"And then you have Luis, Jack and Brenden who I think you've all seen are important to the team. I think Cree Summerville is also emerging more and more into that group. At some point I'm going to have to say to myself, I've got to let Cree go more. I've got to find more minutes for him. I've got to let him show how good he is and he's making progress every day.

"I'll have to make decisions based on match plans and opponents and what's necessary in the season and then each match for what we need, to challenge those other guys to be ready off the bench and you could throw Klichy in there because I think he's been ready at times.

"I think Joffy has been pushing whether it's with the 21s or with the first team to try to get more minutes, so there's a lot to manage with that attacking crew right now and I'm just trying to make decisions based on exactly what we need for each match so that I can help the team as much as possible."