Leeds have fire in their bellies. They are clearly playing for boss Marsch
THERE are times when watching a Premier League match resembles taking a seat ringside to observe two boxers engaged in a slugfest.
You are witnessing a pair of combatants who never take a step backwards, with not the slightest hint of one waiting for the other to come on to him. Leeds United were one of those boxers at Liverpool last weekend.
There was all the usual noise we have come to expect swirling around their manager Jesse Marsch ahead of that game. Plenty of people salivating at the idea of another manager getting his cards. Picking up on the fact that some of the Leeds fans had turned on him.
well, the first thing that jumped out for me was that this was not a Leeds side feeling sorry for themselves after four straight defeats. This was a team full of belief and energy, playing for their manager.
Marsch handled that week and that day well and even his harshest critics could not argue that the team, who won 2-1, ran their socks off. a manager’s priority is to get the most out of the group of players he is working with. If that was Leeds’ normal work-rate, Marsch is getting as much as he can from them. what an advert for the Premier League that game was.
Leeds got lucky. Liverpool had 69 per cent of the ball and 20 shots on goal. Illan Meslier had a fantastic game and made nine saves. But any Leeds supporter watching that game could depart safe in the knowledge that they have fire in their bellies to perform at this level.
Marsch is a very good fit for Leeds. He doesn’t mind making his feelings felt to officials on the touchline and so long as he doesn’t go overboard, I have no issues with that. Elland Road is the right stadium for that — as hostile an atmosphere as you will get in the Premier League. It was never easy to play there and the atmosphere remains as partisan as ever.
The talk after Leeds’ four straight defeats was that their cavalier style of football was going to land them in another relegation struggle. well, people complicate our sport at times. If you have got top players who work their socks off when they haven’t got the ball and who have quality when in possession of it, you have got a chance of being successful.
That is what they always used to tell us at Liverpool, where there were no lengthy conversations on tactics, formations, strategies and set-pieces. That philosophy is as true today as it was when Joe Fagan and Ronnie Moran were reminding us of it on a weekly basis.
some of the entirely legitimate tackles flying in against Liverpool were a throwback, too. all over the pitch, Leeds were making their physical presence felt and I say without the remotest hesitation that what we saw from Leeds was a manful approach to the task at hand. Great to see.
Leeds show the same willingness to get on the front foot that they did under Marcelo Bielsa, only with a bit more pragmatism. But by adopting that approach, they do make themselves vulnerable. There is no ‘lose the ball, drop back to the halfway line and get your shape’. It is ‘lose the ball, go hunting again, even when you are high up the pitch’. Going after teams in this way is very progressive but it does make you vulnerable.
with due respect to Leeds, Manchester City do this with another level of player, as have Liverpool in the past five years. Leeds are trying to play like the very best of our league — which is admirable and makes them a good watch — but with the players they have, there is a greater risk.
They have players who impress me, though. I like the american Brenden aaronson and it is no surprise to me that he was on the radar of some major clubs last summer. He is an athlete and a flair player with a tremendous appetite for work, who stands a good chance of being successful in our game.
Rodrigo is one of those players who will run with the ball, and excites you. and Marsch is clearly able to motivate them. all you can do when there is negative noise coming your way is block it out and accept it is the price on the ticket — even now that some of the basic respect and decency we once knew has gone out of the window.
Marsch has hired a psychologist to help the team. we can pass judgment on that decision six months from now, though when I was a manager, you were the one who had to be the psychologist.
The match against my local side, Bournemouth, today is important to both sides but Leeds need to be beating teams around them in the table at Elland Road. That is how Marsch must sell it. His players ran 11 kilometres more than Liverpool last weekend. was that because Liverpool had so much of the ball and Leeds had to hunt it down? Or was that part of the reason for some of Liverpool’s ills in a season when they are still not matching other teams’ intensity?
One good win does not change everything for Leeds. Now they need to apply that work ethic to a different kind of challenge. In football, as in all sports, it is a question of sustaining the standard you set.