Leeds United current board position and what Jesse Marsch needs from tricky Aston Villa trip - YEP 12/1/23
Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch needs so many things right now that it might be easier to list that which he doesn't.
By Graham Smyth
Taking this season's performances into account, ahead of a
tricky trip to Aston Villa, you could spend time talking about defending and
the problem of big switches, spare men at the back post and individual errors.
The struggle to do good things with the ball once it's won through counter
pressing is a talking point. You could zero in on selection issues and
individual form, singling out players who just aren't doing it. What about the
gaps that remain in the squad, the striker not yet signed and what the team
lost when Mateusz Klich was allowed to walk out the door? There's the
psychology debate and this narrative of fear and stress that Marsch himself
continues to bring up. He's talking about the need for bravery and better
tactical understanding. And then there's the style of football, a sore point
for many in the club's fanbase ever since Marsch took charge.
Solutions to much of the above could be found, perhaps, in
time, but it's increasingly difficult to see a reconciliation between the head
coach and critics of his footballing philosophy, and there was always a danger,
going into this season, that it would take but a few winless games to sap the
patience of those wishing to be thrilled in the way they were when Leeds were
at their swashbuckling best during the years 2018 through 2021.
Marsch was asked, earlier this season, how important he felt
it was to the players to play attractive football.
"I find that players enjoy when they have a plan and
that the plan can be effective to help them be successful on the pitch as
individuals and as a group," he said.
Fourteenth place, boasting wins over Liverpool and Chelsea
and sitting on a three-game unbeaten run isn't far off what could be considered
success for this Leeds United team. Were they to end the season in the same
position or higher, it would be job done, because the owners could crack on with
the business of deciding which of them takes things into the next season and,
ideally, on to the next level.
But no wins in six and only two from 16 outings does not
look like success. Having to come back from two goals down at Cardiff, to draw
with a poor Championship outfit, and giving up a lead before having to come
back from two poor concessions against West Ham, to draw with a badly
struggling Premier League side, didn't feel much like success. The grumblings
and rumblings among supporters at both games, and the boos at Cardiff at
half-time, did not sound like success.
Those games felt so close to the brink of full-scale
discontent in the stands that Marsch had to have been acutely aware. So what it
would take to tip the scales against him, among fans if no one else, does not
really need to be stated.
And with all of that said, he takes his team to Aston Villa
where he will need many things but not, as it happens, a win. A draw, away from
home, against a team in a better position, is not going to do Marsch in, not
unless the Villans of the piece come back from something outrageous, like a
four or five goal deficit. As long as the performance is respectable enough,
bringing home a point from Villa Park and pointing to a four-game unbeaten run
will be a platform of sorts for Marsch to mount a defence of his position,
should one be required.
Leeds are still backing him, still trying to do whatever
they can in the transfer market to strengthen his hand. It need not be pointed
out that they find themselves in a similar-ish situation to this time last
year, when they were also running at a point per game, albeit two places worse
off. They stuck with Marcelo Bielsa before enduring a torrid February and then
with the threat of relegation proving too much for majority owner Andrea
Radrizzani, sacked the head coach. The Whites, quite rightly, don't want to be
just another sacking-and hiring outfit. They entered the Premier League with a
different spirit about them, yet it will take a widening of the lead over the
bottom three to ensure that Bielsa precedent stays clear of boardroom minds.