Leeds United difficulty implementing Jesse Marsch style revealed as American nears anniversary - YEP 11/1/23
Leeds United are still finding it tough to implement Jesse Marsch’s preferred style of play despite the head coach nearing one year in the job at Elland Road
Joe Donnohue
Few managers stumble upon instant success when taking over
at a new club, due to the difficulty in inheriting a squad which is not always
tailor-made for a specific brand of football. Jesse Marsch was installed as
Leeds boss last February because it was believed his principles of play were
suited to the current squad, and not too dissimilar from that of his
predecessor.
In some aspects, this assumption was correct: Leeds remain
the Premier League’s most active team out of possession, registering the lowest
PPDA (Passes per Defensive Action) of any team in the division this season,
according to Opta data. This means Leeds press their opponents more frequently
when they lose the ball, allowing the opposition fewer passes before attempting
to retrieve it.
This was often the case under Marcelo Bielsa, although
during the Argentine’s Leeds United heyday, the Whites were particularly
effective at turning over possession high up the pitch and generating shooting
opportunities. In theory, this was a similarity between Marsch and Bielsa’s
preferred styles although in practice it has been harder for the American to
replicate.
At present, Leeds’ counter-pressing is slightly below
average in terms of its success in the Premier League this season. The Whites
are successful with just shy of 22 per cent of their counter-pressing actions,
defined as regaining possession in the opponent’s half within eight seconds of
losing the ball in the same area of the pitch.
The team are also slightly below average when it comes to
winning the ball back quickly and turning that into shots or tangible
goalscoring chances, succeeding in this endeavour with roughly 23 per cent of
their successful counter-pressing actions.
The highest counter-pressing success rates in Premier League this season belong to Man United (đŸ‘€), Man City and Arsenal. Chelsea rate is also pretty high, but they aren't good at converting these situations into shots or deep completions (y-axis) pic.twitter.com/qQR3KsvUcw
— markstats (@markrstats) January 11, 2023
Jesse Marsch’s S.A.R.D acronym details his principles of
play when out of possession. Broken down and translated from German, Marsch’s
creation stands for: Sprinting, Alle Gemeinsam (All in), Reingehen (Going in),
Dazukommen (Second wave of the press). It is fair to describe the 49-year-old
as a coach who likes to play high-pressing football, and while Leeds are
attempting to execute that this season, they have not been overly successful in
doing so, as outlined in the data above.
“[We need] Better tactical understanding and savviness and
awareness for exactly what matches require,” Marsch described, following his
side’s 2-2 FA Cup Third Round draw against Cardiff City last weekend.
At the end of this month, Leeds will have been under the
American’s management for 11 months. Results in upcoming fixtures could
determine whether the verdict on how far Marsch has progressed the team is
favourable or not when his one-year anniversary comes around.
It is difficult to pinpoint a fix, given Leeds have
attempted to address this trend by adding players who have prior experience
within Marsch’s system: Brenden Aaronson, Rasmus Kristensen, Tyler Adams and
January addition Max Wober have all worked under the American. Considering all
four are new to English football, it may be that when their adaptation period
is closer to completion, there will be material gains in Leeds’ press.
United, meanwhile, are close to appointing a new first-team
coach to join the backroom team at Elland Road after Mark Jackson departed to
take up the vacant managerial role at League One MK Dons. In the interim
period, Under-21s head coach Michael Skubala has deputised in Jackson’s
absence, whilst a member of Leeds Under-21s’ analysis team has also been promoted
to the senior setup after the departure of analyst Aaron Dagger who followed
Jackson to stadium.mk.