Mighty Leeds Weblog

Whites boss Jesse Marsch has hailed the “high level” attributes that Willy Gnonto is already bringing to Leeds United at just 19 years of age. By Lee Sobot Young Italian international forward Gnonto joined Leeds in September on transfer deadline day for a fee of around 4.5m euros from Swiss side FC Zurich. After four outings for United’s under-21s, Gnonto was then handed his first team debut as a 72nd-minute substitute in last month’s Premier League clash at Liverpool in which he set up the winning goal for Crysencio Summerville in a 2-1 victory. One week later, Gnonto again excelled off the bench upon his Elland Road debut against Bournemouth as he stormed forward in the 84th-minute to set up another late Summerville winner in a thrilling 4-3 triumph. The Italian was then handed his first league start in last weekend’s clash at Tottenham Hotspur but the teenager was taken off at half-time after a quieter display as the forward battled on having taken a couple of knocks. Marsch h...

A round-up of the latest Leeds United headlines. Ex-Leeds owner Massimo Cellino resigns from Brescia Leeds United's controversial former owner Massimo Cellino has announced his resignation as chairman of Brescia on the club's website. Cellino is facing a judicial investigation, with Italian outlet II Giorno stating the violations are of a 'criminal-tax nature'. £48 million worth of assets could be seized, although the report adds that the 'investigations do not concern the management of the Brescia Calcio team'. He is yet to sell the club, and revealed in his statement: "I am convinced that with my resignation the company will be in a position to identify, in agreement with judicial bodies, a person who will be able to bring Brescia the results the passion of fans deserve." Supporters had also been protesting his hire and fire policy, with Brescia having seen no fewer than 18 managerial spells during his reign. Former Leeds assistant Pep Cl...

IS HE...GOOD? Written by: Rob Conlon When Jesse Marsch talks about Rodrigo, Leeds United’s record signing is made to sound less like a fine young man, and more like a wise old sage — a sensible head, a leader, but still a manly man in a man’s world. Rodrigo has spent most of his time at Leeds looking like an old bloke, a bit sad, a tad morose, and overall quite tired. I don’t like that Rodrigo. I like the Rodrigo who scores goals and celebrates not like a wise old man, but like a giddy toddler who has just spotted a ball pool filled with toy dinosaurs and free sweets and is racing to be the first to dive in. Saturday’s defeat to Tottenham taught me to give up trying to understand Jesse Marsch’s Leeds United, and Rodrigo in particular. I don’t think he’s playing particularly well — prior to Spurs, I thought he was playing terribly — but he’s scoring lots of goals. Luciano Becchio was never a master of football’s fine arts, but he scored lots of goals and did lots of daft celebra...

Leeds United did a lot right against Tottenham Hotspur, as they have throughout part one of their Premier League season. The problem is, the things they are getting wrong are the really big ones. By Stuart Rayner It is why they beat Chelsea and triumphed at Anfield, why they ought to have defeated Arsenal and should have taken something from Spurs, yet will spend Christmas 15th in the Premier League after a thrilling but soul-destroying 4-3 loss. "We've encapsulated our 16-game season in one match," said their coach Jesse Marsch, who walked off with a face like thunder after seeing his players perform very well against one of Europe’s best teams. Poor finishing has often been their undoing but pepped-up by the attacking youth of Crysencio Summerville and Willy Gnonto – who struggled after an early knock on Saturday's full debut and was sacrificed at half-time – they scored four against Bournemouth, three at Spurs. Rodrigo has five goals in four league matches,...

Jesse Marsch will spend Leeds United's mid-season break trying to hammer home the tactical disciplines he feels his players are not fully buying into. By Stuart Rayner Their final two games before the Premier League went on hold for the World Cup were a joy for neutrals – 4-3s, one won, one lost after comebacks – but less so for coaches like Marsch who like to have control of games. Leeds had it for much of Saturday's second half at Tottenham Hotspur once Ben Davies made it 2-2. Rodrigo scored his second goal to put Leeds ahead for a third time with 16 minutes to play but sloppy defending let Rodrigo Bentancur score twice. "We have to stay on top of the discipline and the behaviours and continue to reiterate what we need so we don't do it 90 per cent of the time, we do it 100 per cent of the time," said Marsch. "We've got better. It's a reason why we've been able to flip the script a little bit on our season but we just makes mistakes we...

TWO NUMBER NINES AND A MICROPHONE Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman Okay. What’s going on? It’s not only Marvin Gaye who wants an answer. As season 2022/23 breaks for its mundial interruptus, a month after our previous unplanned pause, Leeds United fans are reeling from weekend to weekend, 4-3 to 3-4, late winners to late losers, blindfolded trying to pin a tail on this donkey of a season. Are Leeds good? Are they bad? Is Jesse Marsch good? Is he bad? It won’t stop anybody asking, but there isn’t an answer. It’s a football fan’s failing to treat games like cups of tea to be slurped down hot, taking no time to find a flavour beneath the burning taste on our tongues, hurrying to read the tea leaves and find out our fate. A match ain’t just a match, it’s a plot device with implications not only for our futures but our pasts. Will we be happy, 24 games from now? Or will we be cursing the people who brought us pleasure three years ago, for the sins we could never then foresee? O...

Making sense of Leeds United's game at Tottenham Hotspur was an exercise in futility even before they threw it away. By Graham Smyth The same could be said for their season. Goals are flying in at the right end, despite the struggles and absences of Patrick Bamford, and at the wrong end too. They've been impressively competitive against big six sides but not against a number of teams they count as natural competition. And for a team coached by a man whose watchword has been 'clarity' it's alarming how unclear the picture is after 14 games. Are they, as Jesse Marsch believes, a good side with a plan that will work, or were the Liverpool and Bournemouth wins simply a detour en route to a destination that looked inevitable prior to those games? That's not the question that will occupy Marsch as he heads off to a friend's wedding in Peru during the World Cup break, but he has plenty of others to keep his mind going ten to the dozen. How to maintain...