Leeds United impatience rooted in Jesse Marsch’s increasingly evident Marcelo Bielsa similarity - YEP 22/10/22

Leeds United have recorded the fewest number of patient build-up attacks in the Premier League this season as Jesse Marsch’s style comes under scrutiny

By Joe Donnohue

Leeds United’s change of tack from the revered methods of Marcelo Bielsa was initially welcomed at Elland Road earlier this year, but nobody envisaged a change of styles would be required so soon into Jesse Marsch’s reign. Players and supporters in equal measure had become fatigued by the Argentine’s exacting demands and perceived tactical hard-headedness to amend Leeds’ setup, which saw the team concede 20 times in the month of February.

Bielsa’s argument was a consistent one: when a manager jettisons his best-laid plans at the first sign of trouble, the conviction he held in his preferred style of play is undermined. And so, Bielsa carried on in the same vein as he had done for the entirety of his three successful years at the helm. Ultimately, this decision cost Bielsa his job.

Eight months on, with another head coach married to a particular style and set of footballing principles, Jesse Marsch finds himself on a precipice. Supporter frustrations at the team’s apparent lack of cohesion were vehemently aired at the King Power Stadium on Thursday night; fans chanted the name of Marsch’s predecessor as the inevitability of a seventh successive winless game – one more than Bielsa endured in his final months as Leeds boss – came into view.

Bielsa’s methods were footballing scripture, heralded by coaches Pep Guardiola, Diego Simeone and inspiration for countless others. For three years at Leeds, it worked. United were entertaining even in defeat, their style of play easily identifiable but hard to stop. Currently, Leeds’ tactics are more difficult to discern and somewhat simpler to suffocate.

Rarely, if ever, were Bielsa’s substitutions audibly booed, while the unfamiliar chant of ‘what is going on?’, minus the expletive, which emanated from the away fans and enveloped the King Power Stadium in midweek, must have been deeply unsettling for those in the away dugout. At times like this, however, it must be acknowledged that Bielsa revisionism may become rife, and the truth of the matter must not be lost: by the end of the Argentine’s tenure, entertainment had been supplanted by concern for the club’s long-term future, while Leeds’ tactical predictability became a stick to beat the veteran coach with. But, for three years it had worked tremendously, reigniting passions in those whose love of the sport had been dormant or condemned.

Similar to Bielsa, Marsch appears wedded to his principles of play, the pillars of which are verticality, centrality and aggressive, co-ordinated pressing from the front. When it works – as it did versus Chelsea and Arsenal – the rewards can be magnificent; Marsch’s victory over Thomas Tuchel’s Blues at the beginning of this season greatly surpassed many of Leeds’ greatest victories in recent seasons, both in terms of performance and result.

When it doesn’t work, Leeds appear out of sorts and out of ideas. United appear capable of playing only one way, and that is the concern. When opponents have changed their approach – as Patrick Vieira did at Selhurst Park two weeks ago – or have resorted to time-wasting in order to sap energy and momentum, elements which fuel Marsch’s style, Leeds lack a solution.

In the Premier League this season, the Whites have recorded the fewest ‘build-up attacks’ in the division with just seven after ten matches, according to football data experts Opta. In isolation, this is no major issue – after all, Brentford have only recorded ten but find themselves much higher in the league table having scored seven goals more than Leeds. In United’s case, though, the team’s hurried approach at forcing the ball through the most densely-packed area of the pitch, requiring near-perfect interplay between several attackers, doesn’t appear to be working.

This season, Leeds are averaging 53 per cent possession in their league matches, a similar figure to Brighton and Arsenal. Those two have been able to put together ten-or-more open play passes on 130 and 137 occasions, respectively. Comparatively, Leeds’ number of 10+ open play pass sequences is the lowest in the division, with 56.

The team have picked up nine points in their opening ten matches this season, one fewer than at the same stage last campaign when the team scraped by with 38 points from 38 games. There is a growing impatience – ironic, given the hurried nature of United’s attacking play this season – that if Leeds do not halt their present slide, the club are bound for a repeat of 2021/22, except this time there might be no happy ending.

Having failed to score in three of their last four matches, Marsch is under no illusions that goals are what the team, and possibly even he, needs. An acknowledgement that his preferred attacking style has failed to deliver risks showing weakness or confidence in his convictions, but conversely could end up saving his job.