How Jesse Marsch's American dream turned sour at Leeds

Chaotic tactics, failing to win over the fans and quoting Mother Teresa: How Jesse Marsch’s American dream turned sour at Leeds… and is Marcelo Bielsa’s No 2 Carlos Corberan the right man to keep them up?

• Jesse Marsch sacked by Leeds after being winless in the league since November
• Leeds have taken just 11 points from the last 51 on offer in the Premier League
• Senior figures at the Yorkshire club were contemplating a change in manager
• West Brom’s Carlos Corberan has emerged as a potential candidate for the job

It was a throwaway comment from a senior star on the Costa Blanca last December that told you all was not well at Leeds United.

‘Relegation will be fun this year,’ the player quipped after a day’s training in Spain during the World Cup break.

At that time, Leeds were 15th in the Premier League and on something of a high. A shock win at Liverpool, followed by a comeback victory over Bournemouth, had eased the pressure on Jesse Marsch ahead of the top flight’s month-long hiatus.

Marsch, in turn, was in a relaxed mood on that warm-weather camp, spending long afternoons playing padel with his staff. He had just returned from being a best man at a wedding in Machu Picchu and was telling journalists about his bucket list of places he wanted to visit in England.

The 49-year-old will have more time for travelling now. Because just as that loose-lipped player in Spain had predicted, those back-to-back wins in the autumn proved to be a false dawn and the manager has paid the price.

Jesse Marsch has been sacked by Leeds after being winless in the league since November

With no win in seven league games since November and with Leeds out of the relegation zone on goal difference only, the club sacked Marsch on Monday after only 343 days in charge.

He was said to be visibly shaken when the news was broken to him at the training ground by chief executive Angus Kinnear and director of football Victor Orta. To others, though, his sacking was no such shock, the American dream having long since become a nightmare.

So, how did it come to this and where do Leeds turn next?

Failure to win over the fans

It was in February last year when Leeds made their last high-stakes gamble and axed Marcelo Bielsa. But although that decision was met with fury by fans, there was nothing but joy among supporters at the news of Marsch’s departure yesterday.

Chants of ‘Marsch out’ could be heard during Sunday’s fateful 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest, with one poll of 25,000 supporters showing that less than 10 per cent wanted the head coach to stay.

However, this has not been a recent change of mood. Fans never took to Marsch — and it had nothing to do with Ted Lasso and the ‘stigma’ surrounding American bosses of which he spoke when he took charge.

Certainly, Marsch suffered because he was the man who replaced the beloved Bielsa. He was hurt by chants for his predecessor during last month’s damaging defeat at Aston Villa and has never been able to step out of the Argentine’s shadow.

The Leeds supporters never took to Marsch and it had nothing to do with American stigma 

But Marsch has not helped himself. The Princeton graduate is thoroughly likeable and personable and was popular with most of his players. Yet his relentless positivity in press conferences often grated on fans, as did his motivational methods.

Last May, he was widely ridiculed for admitting he quoted Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa to his team. Recently, he instructed his players to watch Netflix documentary The Redeem Team, about the USA basketball team who won Olympic gold in 2008, as inspiration for their own redemption story.

Supporters had started calling Marsch ‘Yank Lampard’ and ultimately he has gone the same way Lampard did at Everton a fortnight ago.

Tactical disasterclass

Fast starts, stay aggressive, swarm, play forward, minimal width. They were just some of the pointers Marsch had pinned up in the dressing room at Elland Road for his players.

A coach schooled in the Red Bull system, he was seen by Leeds as a natural successor to Bielsa because his philosophy was based on pressing.

The hope was that Marsch would continue Bielsa’s free-flowing football but shore up a leaky defence. He has not managed either. ‘Worse football and worse results,’ said one player privately pining for his former boss earlier this season.

Under Bielsa, there were well-drilled patterns to Leeds’s attacking play. Under Marsch, it was just chaos and was never going to breed consistency.

The narrowness of his team was a real bone of contention, particularly as Leeds’s best players are wingers. Marsch brushed off criticism of his lack of width last month when he said: ‘The goal is not on the touchline, it’s in the middle.’

But the biggest problem for Leeds was they were narrow in defence as well as attack, which meant opponents switched the ball to the sides and easily exploited the space.

Record signings, wretched results

Only last week, Marsch admitted his squad was stronger than the one he had inherited. He was backed to the tune of nearly £150million in the two transfer windows he oversaw, with players signed to fit his system, many of whom he had worked with before.

Yes, he lost two of his star men last summer in Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips, and striker Patrick Bamford was injured for a large part of his tenure. But Colombian winger Luis Sinisterra and USA midfielder Tyler Adams were signed as replacements, with the club recently splashing out a record £35m for Hoffenheim forward Georginio Rutter.

Players such as Luis Sinisterra were brought in but the club seemed to take steps backwards

Bielsa turned Championship cloggers into Premier League performers but it is hard to make a case for any players improving under Marsch, who won just eight of his 32 league games in charge.

The one shining light of their dreadful season has been Willy Gnonto, a deadline-day signing last summer from FC Zurich. Yet Marsch deemed the Italy international not Premier League ‘ready’ when he signed, which led to further question marks over his judgment.

NEXT LEEDS MANAGER ODDS

Carlos Corberan 3/1

Marcelo Bielsa 5/1

Ralph Hasenhuttl 6/1

Mauricio Pochettino 6/1

Ange Postecoglou 15/2

Rafa Benitez 10/1

Michael Carrick 12/1

Brendan Rodgers 14/1

Thomas Tuchel 16/1

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 20/1

Steven Gerrard 20/1

Source: Betfair 

Call for Carlos?

Orta spent two years wooing Marsch with an eye on him one day taking over from Bielsa. It was sound succession planning — if only the man he appointed had proved to be a success.

The Spaniard’s loyalty to Marsch is why he stayed in the job as long as he did. Owner Andrea Radrizzani wanted to make a change earlier but was persuaded to sit tight. However, Radrizzani could wait no longer following the defeat at Forest and after Sean Dyche inspired Everton to victory over Arsenal on Saturday.

The Italian is on the brink of relinquishing full control of the club to the 49ers Enterprises and relegation could cause him to lose millions in the sale.

Radrizzani and 49ers president Paraag Marathe will have the final say on the new appointment, with West Brom boss Carlos Corberan the early frontrunner. He is admired by senior figures at the club from his time as assistant at Leeds under Bielsa, and enhanced his credentials by taking Huddersfield to last season’s Championship play-off final.

Some on the board see hiring Corberan as a return to the Bielsa days and want to move in a different direction.  

But they all agree on the need to move fast. Leeds have two games against Manchester United this week, followed by must-win matches against relegation rivals Everton and Southampton.

Marsch might have craved chaos on the pitch, but Leeds can ill afford any more chaos off it.

West Brom’s Carlos Corberan (left) has emerged as a contender to replace Marsch at Leeds

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