Yes early I know but not been able to do one for a while and as we have JMs first presser this afternoon, and me having nurse visits tomoz, not going to be able to post much. First off I will just say that I will start back doing the weekend thread shortly as soon as I get a bit fitter. Getting there and walking (hobbling) a mile each day at the moment but getting stronger. With us having the new guy in place now I thought it would be good to have a look at him, and see if he will fit in and live up to the clubs expectations. Yes there has been a lot of upset this last week about the Bielsa situation and we all have our own views on that, so pointless going over old ground. Firstly to the man himself Jesse Marsch, a yank. Ok but has there ever been a successful American soccer coach? The most well known is Bob Bradley who managed the USA team for a number of years. JM had a very successful career as a player winning trophy’s and titles. He then went into coaching and within a few years hooked up with Bob Bradley as his assistant for the National team. Thats where he first met Bielsa when the USA played Chile. Within a year Bradley and Marsch left the National team and went their own way. Bradley took over as Egypt National coach and stayed 2 years not pulling up any trees. He had a year coaching Stabik and then a year coaching Le Harve and then went to Swansea where he was again crap for a couple of months. Sacked and went back to the States to take over at Los Angeles FC and hes now running Toronto as Sporting Director and Head Coach. You may be aware that Toronto got new owners and loads of cash which enabled them to get Lorenzo Insigni on a 3 year contract paying him £12m per year. Plus a £5m bonus So has there ever been an American successful football coach? No, not yet Jesse Marsch won 3 league titles as a player before going with Bradley and in 2010 took the USA to the last 16 of the World Cup. When he took over at NY Red Bulls he won more games than anyone in MLS history and won back to back league and cup doubles. He was then relocated by Red Bull to assist Ralf Rangnik at RB Leipzig. Ralf Rangnik was moving up in the Red Bull food chain and went on to become group sporting director. RB Group were worth £120m when RR took over but now worth £1.2bn. JM was relocated again within the group to RB Salzburg as Head Coach and he again broke records by winning back to back league and cup double's and was the dogz bollox. RB moved him back to Leipzig as they were losing Nagelsman to Bayern Munich, however Nagelsmans team was being broken up and best players sold. There was also some upset as Rangniks backroom team were still in place and the atmosphere was crap, so JM said he wanted to leave and they agreed to part company in December. Under Ralf Rangnik there was a blueprint for everything, so JM was taught everything from scouting youth, tactics, formations and football business. Rangnik in Germany is known as the Professor and his way of playing was copied by Klopp, Tuchel, Haenhuttl and of course JM. Klopp calls it Heavy Metal football. Its actual name is Gagenpresse. Rangnik actually devised his high press game after witnessing Bielsa in conference, he just made a different version, just like Pep did and Simeone etc As part of JMs youth policy and his scouting network he brought through some players you will have heard of: Patson Daka, Brut Haaland, Szoboszai Adeyemi, Minamino, Orban, Danni Olmo, Sabitzer and quite a few more. So once he gets his teeth into what Orta has provided we shall see what he makes of them. There has also been talk about how bad his teams are defending? Well the reality is that at NYRB he conceded 1.3 goals per game but scored 1.6 goals per game. At RBS he conceded 0.7 goals per game but scored almost 4 goals per game. So the reality is that his teams score way more than they concede. His time at RBS demonstrated his tactics worked, but his overall win ratio since he started coaching has been corrupted by his last post at RBL with a depleted team and a backroom staff revolt. His win ratio at RBS was almost 70% so lets pray he brings his A game. So right now none of us know how this dozen game venture will end. We can only trust that the Board got it right and lets face it we now know Bielsa was leaving one way or the other at the end of the season? We know Orta had spent 2 years on recruiting Jesse Marsch, thats a big investment in time to get the man. Giving him a 3.5 year gig is also a big financial investment. Its also going to be a massive embarrassment if JM fails and we get relegated and I would imagine there will be people upstairs having to fall on swords. The question will never go away though, would Bielsa have saved the season? So lets hope Marsch turns out to be the best American football coach in history, in fact the only US soccer coach to have made a name for himself outside America. (He already has in Austria) He can do that by saving our season, so what better incentive to enhance his reputation, win enough points in only 12 matches to earn a big reputation, and the thanks of a City. It will also stop the inevitable comparisons with Bielsa and give JM a clean slate for next season. This weekend and especially next Thursday when we play Villa at home, the fantastic Leeds fans are still going to shout Bielsa’s name, its inevitable and JM should try and block it out by putting on a performance, and in fairness if JM is going to do the job, he needs to put into practice the style of play he professes to employ. Will we see heavy metal Klopp style, maybe bit of fast wing back Tuchel play, a bit of Pep or a better version of the way Southampton play Good luck Jesse Marsch, and in the words of Maximus: “entertain the crowd and they will love you for it” because thats why the fans still love Bielsa. I know I speak for everyone when I say good luck Jesse we all to a man want you to smash it. Some fans will call Bielsa’s name but when they start chanting your name, you know you are going to make it
Read a piece yesterday about how he wanted to use his 2 strikers. He basically sat them down and explained something he was thinking and wanted them to practice it. He said when we train 11 v 11 play as normal but after training go away and practice by yourselves we introduce it on Friday in training without telling anyone. The strikers put practice into reality and it worked because defenders were not expecting it. So match day comes and it worked again and carried on working until the opposition adjusted to counter it. So hes not averse to changing tactics and sounds like he has more than Plan A?
I like what Marsch has said so far, mainly because it makes sense. He's not trying to reinvent the wheel or came up with a revolutionary new method; its all pretty grounded stuff. Its great that we are not going to lose all the hard work Leeds and Bielsa have put in place over the last four years, just alter bits and pieces. The truth of the pudding will be in the eating, though if Leeds win at Leicester it will be because of Bielsa, and if they lose it will be Marsch's fault.
Coaching staff announced. Leeds United are pleased to confirm Jesse Marsch’s backroom team that will be in place until the end of the season. Franz Schiemer joins the Whites having previously worked with Marsch as his Assistant Head Coach at Red Bull Salzburg. As a player, the 35-year-old made over 150 appearances for Salzburg winning 25 caps for the Austrian national team. Former Swansea City coach Cameron Toshack also joins the new-look set up having left his role as Head Coach at Cypriot First Division side Pafos FC in October 2020. Toshack brings a wealth of experience to the role having worked at both Academy and first team levels since 2011. Finally, Jesse will be supported by our current Under-23s Head Coach Mark Jackson who will move up to first team duties. Jackson is a popular figure at Elland Road and has overseen the development of various players who are now involved with the first team squad. Former Middlesbrough and Cardiff City player Andrew Taylor will step in as interim Under-23 Head Coach. Taylor joined Leeds United from Sunderland in 2021 after spending several years as part of the League One club's first team staff.
He used something like 11 different formations at Salzburg. He doesn't like to play a "formation". He calls it the 'web' which is all about setting up the press on the opponents positions. The 'web' is fluid and players have to be able to play different roles within it.
Saw the presser and I can say that the guy is very impressive. Confident, respectful, polite and knowledgable. Hes doing the tactics and changes in bite size chunks because he doesnt want to overload the players. Every day they get fed a bit more and practice it and he says by the time we get to the last half dozen games the players will have it. Pre season is when the real work starts and players given specific roles in a rotational tactical plan, but he needed the players this week to stop man for man and defend in packs, at the same time not leaving holes in transition that can be exploited as they have been recently. Yes a nice fella and he knows he has a job to win the fans over after Marcelo. Lets hope he does the biz
One question he fielded is worth talking about. He was asked about what happens if we get relegated. His answer: “i had agreed to come to Leeds, no matter what in the Summer, so when things were accelerated I had to say yes, so if we go down we go down but we rebuild and go again”. We are only focused on securing enough points to stay in the Premier League
Idiotic thick bimbo strikes again Karen Carney makes Kalvin Phillips assessment as Leeds United part ways with Bielsa Karen Carney believes that Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips is sulking after Marcelo Bielsa’s sacking.
I know some on here dont mind womens football, but Im just going to say it, I was offered tickets to go to the Internationals this coming Summer and told them to fk off. Last week there were some womens Internationals and guess what, these non footballers wanted parity of wages with men, but they had 229 fans into a stadium to watch them. I respect some ex players like Lucy Ward The caker Emma Hayes and even Alex Scott, but fk me most talk bollox and havent a clue
I've said it before that I have no problem with women in sport or playing sport, but I would never watch them, except in boxing. I see the women in football in America are getting paid the same as the males and have got the money back dated which is in the millions. As for Sky sports ticking boxes by showing womens football, rugby and cricket to name just a few, who actually watches it and how much money are Sky losing by showing the ****e.
