Leeds United dance past banana skin as Jesse Marsch walks job gauntlet - Graham Smyth's Verdict - YEP 19/1/23

The way Leeds United danced around a Cardiff City shaped FA Cup banana skin represented a step forward for an off-balance manager.

By Graham Smyth

Head coaches rarely seem to enjoy long periods on solid footing and when they do it's a fleeting moment to be cherished.

The other side of the game's patience-devoid sacking culture was laid bare this week in a poignant video featuring Mark Hudson and his kids. It was Hudson who steered the Bluebirds to a 2-0 first half lead over Marsch's Premier League Whites in Cardiff in the initial FA Cup third round meeting of the sides, before Leeds' second half comeback took the tie to a replay. Cardiff drew again six days later, with Championship bottom side Wigan Athletic, taking his winless run to nine games, and was promptly sacked.

Hudson only took charge in November following the sacking of Steve Morison, having spent 10 months as assistant manager. It was his family's reaction to his appointment to that role that featured in the video they released on social media. His sons reacted with delight, throwing their arms around their dad and declaring him a legend. They also filmed a much more sombre moment, when he broke the news of his dismissal from the manager's position. The contrast was stark, even if the levels of affection remained the same.

Sympathy is, more often than not, in the shortest of supplies for a man getting the boot from a struggling football club. Patience wears thin, then evaporates and vultures circle. It's one of the harsh realities of what is, certainly at the top level, an incredibly well paid job. It can’t be easy. They're all human, after all. Some of them, many probably, are nice guys. Hudson seems it. Jesse Marsch does too. He's gregarious, a people person, interested in the lives and experiences of those around him. He reaches out, literally and metaphorically, to make connections with people. He'd make, you would think, a very good neighbour.

When it comes down to it, though, all Leeds fans want him to be is a very good football manager. They'd prefer, of course, for him not be a tyrant but football has had enough of those to prove that results can forgive almost all personality types. And on Wednesday night, when he needed one most, when nothing but a win would suffice, he delivered, by a 5-2 margin no less.

Leeds had Luis Sinisterra back on the bench after almost three months out with a Lisfranc injury but if the most exciting of the summer signings is to force his way back in it won't be at the expense of Willy Gnonto. The 19-year-old took 29 seconds to reinforce that truth with a goal so stunning he might never better it in what is sure to be a long and stunning career.

It was an 'I was there' moment, every bit as breathtaking as Luke Ayling's against Huddersfield Town. It was individual brilliance, yes, but Marsch's intensity did play its part - Tyler Adams won the ball back in the Cardiff half and drove forward before finding Rodrigo, whose cross to the back post was scissor-kick volleyed home sublimely by Gnonto.

Marsch deserved a little more credit perhaps, because as the half developed Leeds tortured their visitors with the same ball. Marc Roca tried it, asking Gnonto for a repeat he could not provide, albeit from a slightly heavy delivery, and Sam Greenwood tried it, Jack Harrison failing to control in the area.

There were other chances, most notably one for Gnonto from a Greenwood cross, the goalscorer clearing the bar this time from four yards.

Cardiff had a moment or two as well, but stayed in the first half only through the hosts' profligacy, until Rodrigo added a fine second and Gnonto an even better third. Harrison curled a pass around the corner to put the top goalscorer in, he jinked Jak Alnwick and found the unguarded net, then Leeds passed and one-touched their way out of pressure from their own byline, Harrison feeding Gnonto at the end of it, the finish composed and precise. That was the kind of football fans will want to see again and again.

What they could do without seeing again, is the kind of defensive frailty that almost let Cardiff back into it before half-time. The visitors put the ball in the net from a scrappy corner and headed back to halfway, only for Mike Dean on VAR to interject with an unlikely, almost baffling offside reprieve for Leeds.

The second half brought another outing for Patrick Bamford and the return of Sinisterra, but good news never seems far removed from bad at Leeds and January signing Max Wober limping off was exactly that. A poor pass from Sam Greenwood invited a late challenge on the defender by Kion Etete and though Wober gamely played on, he was soon signalling for a change.

A fourth goal was always likely and could easily have arrived before it did, on 71 minutes, from a deft Bamford sidefoot shot. His movement was a problem for Cardiff throughout the second half and a ball over the top once again found the Championship defence wanting.

The result long gone, Cardiff crumbled completely and let the scoreline get away from them, Joe Gelhardt playing in Bamford for an outside of the left boot finish for five. Three goals in two games, regardless of the opposition, is exactly the tonic for the centre forward in a season of illness and injuries. Georginio Rutter, introduced to the crowd at half-time, is yet another weapon to add to an arsenal that suddenly looks potent and sizeable. That could be pivotal as Marsch attempts to negotiate the path to survival and job security.

The defence is where concern arguably lies most and Callum Robinson's late goals, a poor one to concede and a penalty for handball, were a fly in the ointment, but a relatively small one as Leeds tasted cup victory and Marsch got the result he needed. Marching on? Not quite. There are bigger obstacles to negotiate before Marsch can plant his feet on terra firma. But he and Leeds are advancing all the same.