Jesse Marsch's Leeds United career boiled down to one thing: results. They were not good enough - Stuart Rayner - Yorkshire Post 7/2/23

Harold Macmillan's quote about the biggest challenge of life as Prime Minister has gone down in history: "Events, dear boy, events."

By Stuart Rayner

It was similar for Jesse Marsch as head coach of Leeds United: "Results, man, results."

Because whatever Marsch did right or wrong, whatever he was or was not, it all boiled down to results.

The American did not get enough and three weeks before the anniversary of his appointment, Leeds are looking for an alternative to the man who for so long was their chosen successor to Marcelo Bielsa.

It was always going to be a tough gig replacing a legend but it was not Marsch’s functional, narrow football which did for him, nor the nationality which meant that whenever he opened his mouth, even though he always studiously avoided the word "soccer", English football's xenophobia kicked in.

It was always about results, man.

Marsch got just enough in his first season to avoid the relegation Leeds were hurtling towards, which is why he earnt a second. Despite losing Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha he was backed to the hilt in terms of playing and coaching recruitment, but could not deliver them in 2022-23.

Four league wins all season, two in 17 games since August, none since Bonfire Night was unacceptable.

Marsch did a good job of making himself harder to sack. Leeds made a habit of doing many more things right than wrong in matches but the bits they got wrong were the details which mattered most.

The positives Marsch stressed at every opportunity because frankly there was nothing else good to talk about made it easier for the board to stand by a coach you felt they really wanted to succeed. But every time he talked about "tactical clarity" or "positive performances" it ate away at frustrated supporters.

If good performances without results happen three or four matches in a row, you can swallow it. But Marsch was taking the positives so long, to many it began to sound like he was taking something else.

The broken record spoke constantly of progress but we have league tables to measure that. After 20 games of last season, Leeds were 15th with 22 points, at the same stage of this are 17th with 18.

When the frustration burst out against Leicester City and Fulham in October the blame was shared with the directors. Marsch put a lid on it with a victory at Liverpool, then a dicey 4-3 win over Bournemouth.

Their form since – and that of the other top-flight teams beaten, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea – cast it in a less favourable light.

Liverpool and Bournemouth needed to be the start. When at Villa Park Leeds' record since August was pointed out to him, Marsch asked to be judged from those wins.

The league table does not work like that. You cannot avoid relegation by picking your starting point. And it is becoming a real possibility.

Bournemouth was followed by a League Cup exit and a 4-3 loss at Tottenham Hotspur.

A World Cup only three Leeds players were at offered a reset but the Whites have not beaten a Premier League side since. So did a transfer window where the club record transfer fee was broken for Georginio Rutter, and Marsch's former Salzburg defender Max Wober was recruited along with compatriot in Weston McKennie.

But results, man, results.

Leeds have tried to do the right thing and then some. They identified a coach they believed in and furnished him with young players and coaches to make the most of him.

But the director of football system Leeds and most other Premier League clubs have to some extent is designed to not tie everything to a manager/coach unlikely to be around long. Leeds are so built around Marsch, sacking him feels like ripping it all up.

Coaches Cameron Toshack, Rene Maric and Pierre Barrieu, recruited on Marsch’s watch, have gone. Chris Armas, a former team-mate and previous assistant, remains having only arrived 12 days earlier but you feel like you should add "for now". Quite a few players signed to play for Marsch.

Copying a losing formula makes no sense but neither does going in completely the opposite direction without a transfer window to retool. Leeds' nearly-football needs tweaking, not stripping back.

Former Huddersfield Town coach Carlos Corberan is an attractive replacement, as the bookmakers have noticed. Despite having worked on his coaching staff, the Spaniard is no second Bielsa but it would be back to "Murderball" for bodies like Patrick Bamford's which have got used to a different pace and new signings who will never have felt anything like it.

So many people have been brought to West Yorkshire on the basis that they respond best to Marsch's touchy-feely approach in the last nine months. Even those who work closely with Corberan find him hard to get to know.

In the end though, not changing just to not upset the applecart became impossible.

You cannot defeat results, man.