One problem Leeds’ Marsch doesn’t have is a disillusioned dressing room - The Athletic 23/1/23

By Phil Hay

A Leeds United supporter on a tour of Elland Road recently spotted a list stuck to a wall inside Leeds United’s home ground.

It spelt out eight principles or ‘keys to the game’ — the crux of how Leeds were aiming to play.

Some of them went to the heart of coach Jesse Marsch’s tactical blueprint: fast starts, minimal width leading to vertical football and counter-pressing; an order to “stay aggressive”, another instructing the team to “go in, join in and swarm” in search of possession.

The last of them, point eight, was a more emotional idea. “Celebrate moments!!!”, it said — in sync with the trend of players taking pleasure in small wins during games, such as timely defensive interventions.

Marsch wants his squad to enjoy their work, as he wants them to enjoy themselves generally.

He is known to speak to them about finding pleasure away from football, of the value of having more in their lives than professional sport, but there is a streak in him that seeks fun from the game, even though it, and the Premier League, are usually all business. The freedom to bask in the environment is not exactly rife.

The lead-up to the visit of Brentford to Leeds on Sunday was framed around the question of who at Elland Road is enjoying what.

More than once, Marsch made a purposeful effort to dispute claims that some in his dressing room were tiring of him after nearly a year in charge, despite those reports sounding flimsy.

What materialised first on a Leeds fan’s blog made its way to a media outlet in Marsch’s old managerial stomping ground of Austria that, he said, was how word of it reached him but in England, it gained little traction. Results were what seemed to be against him, rather than the players in the camp.

All the same, it was arguably a subject worth addressing.

In the circumstances, and with Leeds in the middle of a project that Marsch admits has developed more slowly than he would have liked, how are the players feeling? A restless crowd can be curtains for a head coach but as much as anything, a club’s support for their manager is swayed by the mood of the squad around him.

“They were angry,” Marsch said when he was asked how his senior pros had reacted to suggestions of diminishing faith in his model. “They came to me (to say that). They want to make sure everyone knows we’re together.”

The interesting aspect of Marsch’s comments over the past seven days or so is his outright belief that Leeds are getting there; that they are regrouping and about to hit a period when the strength of their performance at Aston Villa just over a week ago becomes the norm and, crucially, starts yielding more points.

The reality is that, if it does, the month ahead could prove quite fertile.

Notwithstanding the mayhem of possibly playing Manchester United twice back-to-back in the space of five days, Leeds have Nottingham Forest (13th) and the bottom two of Everton and Southampton to go at. They are wheat-from-the-chaff fixtures and no mistake. This goalless draw with Brentford encouraged Marsch to say again that, in his eyes, the tide is turning.

Marsch, for a while now, has been looking for the sweet spot where defensive competence meets goalscoring and they marry neatly in the middle.

Goalscoring is not a fundamental weakness at Leeds and depending on where Marsch chooses to use new signing Georginio Rutter, it could well improve from here.

At the back, they have been dangerously charitable but there was a firm shift in cohesion against Brentford, helped no end by Max Wober, this month’s other arrival, playing on the left of the centre-back pair.

Wober’s tackles, anticipation and communication gave Leeds more teeth and Brentford little joy. He keeps his place on this evidence, without Marsch having to think twice. “We haven’t given up a goal with Max on the pitch,” Marsch said, and an omen like that will do.

The Austrian’s presence had the added effect of teasing a strong performance from Robin Koch alongside him, the two of them standing up to Brentford’s attempts to hit Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo with a wave of direct balls. There were no shots on target for the Londoners and nothing doing for star man Toney either, aside from a late header he sent well wide.

Leeds, though, found that cutting through at the other end was beyond them. David Raya saved the best of their chances, one shot by Rodrigo and another from Willy Gnonto.

At stages in the game, especially in the first half, Leeds gravitated excessively to the left side of the pitch when going forward. There were ample moments too when a killer ball was all it would have taken.

From half-time onwards, Leeds forced the pace without achieving checkmate, Brentford’s king forever able to find a way to remove itself from danger.

Marsch had the option of throwing on Rutter for his debut in the closing moments but, a week on from the Frenchman’s arrival, chose not to blood him. Rutter had said beforehand that he is a little short of 100 per cent so, most likely, there was no argument from him. “I want to integrate him the right way,” Marsch said. “With new players, you want to set them up to succeed. I just thought maybe we wait another week before unleashing him.”

So Rutter sat and watched with a blanket covering his legs, the bite of winter welcoming him to Yorkshire.

Perhaps the decision to hold back Rutter was indicative of Marsch believing that his bosses at the club have his back.

A manager in desperate straits might have shoved the forward on as the minutes ticked down, praying for some magic. He went for Sam Greenwood instead and time ran out. Another precious win getting away from Leeds.

Marsch said he was “focusing on performances, tactical clarity, individual confidence — and for me, it’s clear that we’re moving in the right direction”.

That, along with expressions of unity, was a message he had been working to present all week.

“The group is coming together, there’s momentum,” he said. “I know it doesn’t feel so strong because we’re not having a bunch of wins but the best part is that when I look all of our men in the eye in the dressing room right now, they know. They know it’s coming together, they know it’s going to be better, they know we’re going to be a good team.”

No moments to celebrate, then, but a day that hardened Marsch’s resolve and went some way to demonstrating that a disillusioned dressing room is not a cross he is having to bear.