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 (👀), 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.