JON HOWE: BRAIN TRAINING - Leedsunited.com 5/11/22

In his latest column for leedsunited.com, lifelong supporter Jon Howe takes a look over the recent win at Anfield, whilst looking ahead to Bournemouth.

Howe is the author of two books on the club, ‘The Only Place For Us: An A-Z History of Elland Road’ - which has been updated as a new version for 2021 - and ‘All White: Leeds United’s 100 Greatest Players’ in 2012.

Ignoring the fact that Illan Meslier is the coolest, sanest, most ‘together’ footballer that’s ever existed, it is generally accepted that ‘you have to be mad to be a goalkeeper’. So then what does that say about anyone who wants to be a head coach? Particularly given there are so few moments where you are able to extract any satisfaction from what you do, and when you can, just like the ashen face of Jesse Marsch at full-time at Anfield on Saturday evening, you are too emotionally spent to enjoy it.

I’m sure in a rare, quieter moment since Crysencio Summerville’s instinctive finish put Liverpool to the sword, Marsch has raised a glass to the work of himself and his staff, but when the glare of the spotlight was on him, the Leeds United head coach was notably, and perhaps deliberately, subdued.

With Leeds having so little to relish so far this season, and with the sight of a hen in a dentist’s chair more likely than a Leeds win at Anfield, whatever has gone before this season, we could all agree that Marsch deserved his moment. That he chose not to take it perhaps bears well for the rest of the season, as the time for chirping and touchline histrionics may be over and reality has set in, and Leeds are finally getting down to business after more than two months of false starts.

In his pre-Liverpool presser Marsch talked about some of the changes he had installed during the week’s training, and others which had been talked about. At a point when none of the lustre that was to come from the 2-1 win at Anfield was visible and the Leeds United landscape was decidedly bleak, talk of change just felt like words. More words. But on reflection we can assess this in a different light.

Most interestingly, Marsch talked about changes to his staff, assigning different roles and possibly adding a psychologist. At the time it felt like the gambler’s last venture before they cash in their chips; “if all else fails check out their minds”. But in reality, the psychology of football is a fascinating field on multiple levels, and so much of what the modern head coach strives to do surrounds getting a footballer in the right frame of mind to perform to their optimum.

We already know that this formed a significant part of Marsch’s approach from day one at Leeds United, and even in the pre-Liverpool presser last week he referred back to last season’s relegation battle and how it compares to the situation now: “I said last year it was a psychological project. I almost feel like we’re back into that phase right now where I have to psychologically analyse exactly where each individual is at and where we are as a group.”

I’d be very surprised if Leeds weren’t doing this anyway, and using the benefits of a psychologist is pretty much a standard tool for a professional club in today’s game. It’s said that ‘80% of football is played in the mind’, which doesn’t quite rationalise how important the other 20% is, otherwise I might have had a decent crack at being a professional footballer, but nevertheless, there are many strands to psychology in football and several of them were openly on display at Anfield on Saturday, both on and off the pitch.

Summerville was making only his second Premier League start and had enjoyed a thus far understated opening to his professional career, even accounting for his goal versus Fulham, which barely registered with most of the crowd as they filed out after another home defeat. If we had yet to see the talismanic vibrancy of his under-21/23s displays, then his goal at Anfield could change all that. If scoring a last-minute winner on perhaps the biggest stage in world football at that moment, and on the day before your 21st birthday, doesn’t deliver the psychological boost to bring the best out of you, then nothing will.

As Summerville walked off the pitch in a daze, flanked by his grinning sidekicks Joe Gelhardt and Sam Greenwood, who were seemingly just as delighted as he was, the Amazon producers must have been hastily re-editing the ending of the ‘Academy Dreams’ series, because this was the Hollywood finale which many would feel was too good to be true, but summed up the essence of what the whole series was about; aim for the stars and you might just land there. Everybody knows who Crysencio Summerville is now; and everything ‘could’ change for him from here.

And if Summerville’s reflex finish was intuitive thinking in the white heat of the moment, it contrasted sharply with Patrick Bamford’s body language; that of a hugely talented player who desperately needs a goal and would kill for the kind of chance that fell to Rodrigo in the fourth minute. You sense that is all Pat needs to get him going again, but it must feel ever-more elusive and ever-more a psychological burden which haunts his every waking hour, even if outwardly Bamford is one of the most serene, balanced and positive footballers you’ll ever come across.

Managing Bamford at the moment is the very epitome of the psychological project Marsch talks about, even if most attention has been on his physical fitness. One goal, you feel, and everything else will fall into place.

And of course, footballers have to approach every game positively, and with the belief that they can win it, otherwise they wouldn’t be where they are, and in truth, wouldn’t be anywhere near. This is the absolute polar opposite to how most Leeds fans felt as they approached Liverpool away. Psychologically, all we could see was the weight of history, and very lucid memories of last season’s 6-0 hammering. Some fixtures just bear a cloak of doom and this was definitely one of them, but 90 minutes later there is no better place in the world to be on a Saturday night, and even the prospect of no trains back from Liverpool until the next morning now felt like a God-given opportunity to celebrate.

In terms of psychology, what Jesse Marsch has definitely grasped, if his post-match demeanour is anything to go by, is that Leeds United need to use this victory as a springboard and use this week to approach the Bournemouth home game in a different way, otherwise the Liverpool victory becomes almost meaningless. On the outside it looks like Leeds are only performing against the top clubs and are struggling against the lesser ones, and maybe, psychologically, we need to view Bournemouth like they are world class, like they are 1970 Brazil, or because they play in red and black stripes, like the 1989-vintage AC Milan.

If Liam Cooper wants to pretend he is wrestling with Marco van Basten on Saturday, Tyler Adams is trying to wind up Ruud Gullit and Brenden Aaronson has the famously temperamental Frank Rijkaard on strings, then I’m fine with that. And if Bournemouth don’t pick Maldini and Baresi in defence, I think we’ve got a chance.

But fundamentally, the win at Liverpool changes everything from a psychological point of view, and it’s up to Leeds United to harness that for the good. How Jesse Marsch and his troops achieve that in training this week is up to them. But the mental viewpoint of everyone associated with Leeds United has shifted on the back of Anfield; and that presents a huge opportunity. Let’s not waste it.