Jesse Marsch

[Jaydog]

If we’d beaten Arsenal would that selection have been the same last night?

[lufc1304]

Last night was the first full game I'd seen since Everton, and it was brutal. Narrow and devoid of ideas in attack, congested in midfield and wide open at the back. That, for me, is on Marsch as it's his formation, his style. Shearer said repeatedly last night that playing out from the back was playing us into trouble but, without an out ball to the wings (we have no width), we had little choice. I've never been wholly convinced by JM but last night told me that this system doesn't work and he is out of his depth. Seems like a nice guy, but the Prem is miles ahead of any league he's managed in and it shows. IMO, this is not a relegation squad but it IS a relegation system. No idea who the next man should be, I'd love it to be Poch but it won't be, but if we stick with Marsch, we are going down.

[Irish Ian]

Well if Boris can make a comeback why not the best thing that has happened to us in decades?

I for one cant wait for those interviews.

Bueno

[Jaydog]

Going backwards is never the answer in life.

[Byebyegeegee]

I think morale amongst the players is looking shot. You can see it as the players are continuously arguing and bickering with each other on the pitch. Marsch claims that this is a very tight knit group and it may well have been once but it doesn’t look like that anymore.

Not surprising as losing saps confidence but more than that, we are losing in the main to individual errors and that must be soul destroying for the players, not only those who are regularly making individual errors but even more so for those, like Aaronson, who’s footballing skill and progressive play can at any moment be completely destroyed by one of his team mates. It was Roca’s turn yesterday making the error for the first goal, which effectively killed he game, like it was Rodrigo’s error on Sunday.

Marsch’s main job is to try and instil some togetherness and confidence in his players and I reckon he’s got till Sunday to do it. Another defeat and I think it might be curtains for him and complete disarray for Leeds United once again.

[Mick Jones shoulder]

I like a love in

[1964white]

We said it before he actually played his first game for us, we've said it numerous times since. His previous club worked it out. Llorente can't play left side central defence.. Then, I know we play 3 games in 8 days but we just had a one month break, players shouldn't need resting. So why was Coop left out?

Marsch then compounded the error by moving Llorente back to his favoured right side where he hasn't played this season and taking off Koch. Now I know Koch was on a yellow but you cannot second guess a second yellow, that way madness lies. Especially as Koch didn't look like he was likely to get a second yellow... OK we didn't concede after but still another JM baffling desision for me

A totally baffling decision, Faaip.

Is Koch dropped for the Fulham game now?

Why do coaches have to meddle when it's so unnecessary?

[1964white]

It's a shame you blocked me because I actually agree with some of that and can even understand your view regarding the process.

Bugger me.

Someone quote this so he can see it

We agree on something to a degree

[1964white]

Prime saying Gerrard sacked early so they get first run at Poch.

Shrewd thinking from the Villa board unlike the clowns who run our club, always looking to do their business on the cheap.

[Kennyb41]

Feel better?

I'll tell you.

I agree that you can't change a squad in 1 season, but then we shouldn't have purposely done as little as possible in the 2nd season.

And I agree that a manager should adapt to what he has.

But truth be told most managers don't, they have a style and a way of playing, few managers ever chop and change styles.

Bielsa himself said as much regarding himself, managers stick with a philosophy regardless.

I don't believe in criticising players for the sake of it but I don't think simply trying there best is a reason to not criticise poor performances. I've praised players in the past I don't rate for good moments and criticised for bad, simple as that.

See we are close on another agreement regarding the style as well, on a roll here. I agree with much of what you say about the style, said as much before Marsch arrived.

We do disagree on the squad, that won't change.

We have never agreed on much ever (apart from Klich) but I do respect your view regardless of whether I agree, should say that.

I respect anyone who has conviction in there belief or view even if it isnt mine.

Doesn't mean I agree or change mine or whatever and will still argue or should say debate.

But it isn't a lack of respect etc

I've never scouted, did a bit of coaching work in the past briefly (kids like you) and did have an opportunity to go into it a bit more but never did.

Should have done as I am very passionate about that sort of thing and I do have a lot of interest in tactics and style and coaching philosophy and whatnot and have researched huge amounts and written projects and stuff on it (for my own enjoyment nothing workrelated or published or anything like that).

But I do consider myself a football geek

Anyway we do agree on parts here, bits and bobs.

But Weasel is the 2nd best analyst on here, number 1 is me

You're basically an Orta clone and know very little bar your internet research and you're stat mad.

Imo you would do absolutely nothing in management.

[Overman]

Has he gone yet.

[1964white]

Probably a good thing we didn't blow a lot of money building a team for an very inexperienced manager. He was given a lot of nice new peices to play with, peices he asked for from clubs he previously managed

We have no intention of spending substantial money, as we didn't in the summer or the previous three windows.

[Kennyb41]

That Arsenal performance got him a lot of Brownie points.

They completely disappeared and some with - 1. Selection, 2. Performance, 3. Absent tactics, 4. Manic substitutions, 5. Crazy rotation he obviously tried.

He has lost so much credibility in one game it's quite astounding.

[1964white]

It’s suggested he’s not pushing Cooper for 3 games in 8 days. If he’s fit why not. We went from a solid back 4 to s**t show.

When your team is short of goals, the last thing you do is dismantle a stable defence.

I was fuming before we even kicked-off last night I just knew what was coming.

[1964white]

That Arsenal performance got him a lot of Brownie points.

They completely disappeared and some with - 1. Selection, 2. Performance, 3. Absent tactics, 4. Manic substitutions, 5. Crazy rotation he obviously tried.

He has lost so much credibility in one game it's quite astounding.

Totally spot on, Kenny

[Cjay]

You're basically an Orta clone and know very little bar your internet research and you're stat mad.

Imo you would do absolutely nothing in management.

Shows how little you know about modern football.

It's all research and stats and xG and tactical analysis.

Your dear Bert had a whole team of people who did all that for him and then briefed him on it.

I won't argue with you Kenneth but suffice to say I know more than you

Please don't respond with your usual nonsense.

Won't argue, you had your say (on a post totally unrelated to you) I had mine

[Cjay]

PHIL HAY

The vote of confidence was never tested because fate went Leeds United’s way, but the message from Elland Road as last season came to a head was that Jesse Marsch’s job was safe in all circumstances. He would be here if the club went down the same as if the club stayed up; boardroom support for him shored up before the dice were rolled at Brentford.

Marsch would say, and has since said again, that he gave no thought to the implications of relegation, which sounds commendable but slightly hard to believe because everyone has time to kill at night and no mind is immune to catastrophising. But the point he was making was fair enough. Why fixate on the worst if the worst is not inevitable? Why not cut through the negativity?

That was the mood in the dressing room after the worst was averted. It was grim, it was fraught, but there Leeds were, free to fight another day. And in that spirit, May 22 was supposed to be a line in the sand; a very near miss in which the club, if truth be told, had been extremely lucky. Sights shifted and the club’s collective gaze rose. Their chairman talked about finishing between 10th and 14th this season, with a little wriggle room on either side. One year of being terrorised by the EFL’s calling card was more than enough.

On Wednesday, though, came the first mention of the r-word, confirming the Premier League table had moved from the too-early-to-make-any-judgements stage to the probably-time-to-start-acknowledging-it stage. It was a gentle question aimed at Marsch before last night’s game at Leicester City, a query about whether the priority for Leeds here and now was to keep out of a relegation fight before they got into one. Marsch understood the question and addressed it. “There’s always pressure,” he said. “We know the responsibility we have and I know the responsibility I have.” Tenth to 14th, or thereabouts.

Leeds, as a result of last season, have a good gauge of what a tense term looks like as the leaves start to fall. The first 10 matches of Marcelo Bielsa’s final term brought two wins, four draws, four defeats and 10 points. The picture now, with 10 gone, is worse, a point further back and nothing looking any further forward. The fixture list, when it has not been dormant, has not been overly brutal either. Leeds have played only two of the division’s top seven, an invitation to cut a few stragglers loose

I believe we’re really close,” Marsch said on Wednesday and others around him think the same, that a streak of good form is close enough to touch, but the facts are the facts. The World Cup break arrives in three weeks’ time and the club are not yet into double figures. Last night, losing 2-0 to Leicester, they felt much closer to implosion.

Against that backdrop, Sunday’s tussle with Arsenal — a tussle Leeds controlled impressively without taking anything from it — was a good reason to plough on and bounce into Leicester with much the same team. For reasons he struggled to adequately explain, Marsch mixed his team up with four changes, removing Jack Harrison and Liam Cooper and giving a first league start to Crysencio Summerville. There were shades of Brentford about it, where Marsch, with pressure on, took a gamble on Sam Greenwood in midfield. After 16 minutes, Leicester were ahead.

The goal was a classic of the genre for a team who are mired in quicksand. Marc Roca lost the ball in midfield, labouring on it, and Leicester cut through the left where Diego Llorente and Junior Firpo seemed to be holding the fort’s door open. A low ball from Dennis Praet found Robin Koch none too sure and Koch stuck out a toe, prodding the ball into his own net before Harvey Barnes could finish behind him.

Barnes was there to convert himself on 35 minutes, given the job of slotting in after Leicester did what they have been trying from the start: tempting Firpo forward, forcing Llorente to drift to the left and then recycling possession to whoever was unmarked on the far side of the box, as Barnes was. In between, Luis Sinisterra hit the crossbar and Summerville dinked a great chance wide and that was the recipe Marsch was dealing with: not difficult enough to cut open, no good at taking chances. Leicester promised to give up plenty themselves but were protected by two goals before half-time arrived.

Leeds as they had been against Arsenal across the whitewash? Gone. Trouble in paradise? Very much here. The away end met the interval with boos and there was no mixed message, no ambiguity about who they were booing. There was more in the 75th minute when Sinisterra was sacrificed for Joe Gelhardt. Gelhardt was Marsch’s fourth substitute and a fifth followed before full-time. Change by change, the formation became more difficult to discern, 11 bodies on the pitch. Whatever the brainwave, the game was lost.

As injury time burned itself out, Marsch stood with his hands in his pockets and the away crowd launched into a song about Bielsa, a two-fingered salute if ever there was one. There were chants of “where the f**k is Jesse Marsch?” after he made a quick exit down the tunnel, swerving the inevitable confrontation. “My focus was totally on Sunday,” Marsch said. “It’s nothing against the fans and I want to say sorry to them. Everyone’s pissed off.” The board at Leeds would be supportive, he predicted. He pointed out that they had backed Bielsa through poor results latterly. But Bielsa, from his earliest days as head coach, had the benefit of credit in the bank. And therein lies the rub.

Marsch had tried beforehand to play down Leicester as a must-win game but, with restless natives and no semblance of form to hold onto, perhaps it was more must-win than he cared to admit. Put simply, if Leicester are in peril, and Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest, too, so are Leeds. Leicester was where it all started for Marsch, eight months back and what seems like a lifetime ago, the club’s answer to Bielsa’s downfall. He was firefighting then and he is firefighting now, more than ever.

[Kennyb41]

Shows how little you know about modern football.

It's all research and stats and xG and tactical analysis.

Your dear Bert had a whole team of people who did all that for him and then briefed him on it.

I won't argue with you Kenneth but suffice to say I know more than you

Please don't respond with your usual nonsense.

Won't argue, you had your say (on a post totally unrelated to you) I had mine

No problem at all it's just an honest assessment.

Just one question that's all, are you actually in management of any team at all?

[Cjay]

Phil Hay

The LUFC board have total confidence in Jesse Marsch and have no plans to sack him.

He will be in charge vs Fulham

[Jaydog]

Phil Hay

The LUFC board have total confidence in Jesse Marsch and have no plans to sack him.

He will be in charge vs Fulham

Oh dear. I don’t like those words