Leeds United sands shifting suddenly for Jesse Marsch - Graham Smyth's Verdict on Leicester loss - YEP 21/10/22
Leeds United are taking themselves out of matches with mistakes and keeping themselves out with missed chances, which is a sure-fire way to take yourself out of the Premier League.
By Graham Smyth
Performing as well as they did in the win over Chelsea and
Sunday's undeserved defeat by Arsenal is largely meaningless if, against the
sides you need to beat, like Leicester City, you don't hit the same heights, or
even the net.
If a second half battering of the Gunners was exactly what
they needed going into a must-win against the Premier League's bottom side,
then a 2-0 defeat at the Kingpower was exactly the last thing the season called
for.
Seven games have now come and gone without a victory but it
is this one in particular that has, quite suddenly, put Jesse Marsch's Elland
Road future under intense scrutiny.
It was the performance against Leicester, a side with just
one previous victory to their name, that prompted chants of Marcelo Bielsa's
name and genuine anger directed at Marsch.
His substitution of Luis Sinisterra came under fire, and
then his disappearance down the tunnel at full-time as his players and staff
faced up to the ire of the away section.
The strength of feeling from match-going fans, unlike
perhaps on social media, is almost impossible for decision makers to ignore and
Marsch was forced to address it in his press conference. 'Totally unified,' is
how he described his relationship with majority owner Andrea Radrizzani and the
Elland Road board, but the sands can shift so suddenly in football that Marsch
and his fellow managers know their footing is at the whim of results.
Were Leeds to fail, in that regard, against Fulham on
Sunday, then the American could easily and quickly find himself drifting in a
direction he does not want to take. That is what happened to Steven Gerrard,
sacked by Aston Villa while Marsch was talking to the media on Thursday night,
and it might have been the fate of Brendan Rodgers had Leeds come away from
Leicester with three points. But they didn't. All that left on the team bus
with Marsch and his players was more frustration, questions and pressure.
One of his problem's was pre-game selection decisions that
were only ever going to look brave in victory, and foolhardy in defeat.
Two changes to the Leeds side were expected - Junior Firpo
came in for the injured Pascal Struijk and Patrick Bamford changed the Arsenal
game so started ahead of Rodrigo - but by making four, Marsch made a statement,
or a rod for his own back. The dropping of Liam Cooper for Diego Llorente was
as eyebrow-raising as Crysencio Summerville's introduction, for a first ever
Premier League start, in place of this season's creator in chief Jack Harrison,
in a game Leeds just had to win.
“We've made a few changes and we’ve brought some fresh legs
into the team," said Marsch before the game. Whatever the motivation or
the intention, it simply had to work, but Cooper's introduction at the break
after a disastrous first half said a lot.
As for Summerville, he was involved enough in the first few
minutes as Leeds started on the front foot, but neither he nor his team-mates
could make territory, possession or set-piece opportunities count.
Leicester, under more pressure than the visitors from the
start, were perhaps understandably slow out of the blocks but did offer an
insight into the problems they would eventually cause when Harvey Barnes
threatened to get in behind after Llorente went looking for an interception
that wasn't on. An over-hit Jamie Vardy pass was the reprieve on that occasion.
On 17 minutes, there was none. A heavy Marc Roca touch in
midfield was the only invitation Vardy and Leicester needed, the striker
breaking into space, Dennis Praet taking over and fizzing a ball to the back
post that Robin Koch had to go for but put through his own goal.
Leeds' response to the goal wasn't good and their lack of
intensity, control and creativity was a world away from the Arsenal performance
and what was required. A lucky bounce put Luis Sinisterra away on the half hour
mark and he lost then regained the ball to strike the crossbar, before
Summerville sent a shot wide.
The missed chances were almost immediately followed by a
Leicester goal, which is how it tends to go for a side in a bad place, and the
simplicity of Leicester's second was as troubling as the area of the pitch from
whence it came.
The ball went wide, left, then down the channel between
Llorente and Firpo and back across goal to where Barnes was all alone at the
back post to beat Meslier. Pascal Struijk has, largely, helped fix Leeds'
defensive issue on the left side, and without him they looked every bit as
wobbly as before.
Brenden Aaronson was the only bright spot in a miserable
first half, only to find himself in midfield next to Tyler Adams in the second,
from where he could not hurt Leicester at all. Rodrigo came on for Roca to play
behind Bamford and Koch was withdrawn, Cooper taking his place to bring
balance.
A set-piece led to a chance for the skipper, when Llorente's
overhead kick was blocked, but his shot from the rebound was saved well by
Danny Ward. That, and other glimmers of hope, never amounted to much more.
Before it could even get any better it almost got worse,
Boubakary Soumare dancing past Firpo and others before a vital Cooper block
prevented a third for Timothy Castagne.