Brad Friedel has been full of praise for fellow American Jesse Marsch amid Leeds United’s ongoing battle against relegation from the Premier League. The pair managed in the MLS at the same time between 2017 and 2018 and the ex-Blackburn goalkeeper has seen the Whites manager’s work up close.
While Marsch was in charge of New York Red Bulls, Friedel was in the technical area for New England Revolution 215 miles further up the East coast. Speaking on Sky Sports News’ ‘The Football Show’, the 50-year-old had nothing but good things to say about his former counterpart.
“I’ve known him for years, he’s a very calm, methodical individual off the field,” said Friedel. “He was very intense when he was a player, he’s intense as a head coach, he likes his teams to have high energy, he likes high-pressing football, he’ll be compassionate to his players.
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“He has learned for a long time under a lot of very good coaches. He’s well-seasoned as a head coach for his age and he’s got a lot of good results.”
Marsch’s results haven’t been bad at all since arriving at Elland Road with 11 points added to Leeds’ Premier League points tally in his eight games. He will need to significantly add to that total in the final four games of the season if he wants to keep the Whites in the Premier League.
Friedel is hoping, for the sake of the man he knows very well, that Marsch’s side are able to avoid the relegation zone in what remains of the campaign. The former goalkeeper added: “I think the players will enjoy playing for Jesse, I know the players at New York Red Bulls did.
“I don’t want them to get relegated for him, he deserves to stay up for his hard work. I’m just looking at Burnley’s form and looking at the fixtures, it’ll be tight.
“I hope they do stay up, not because I have any affinity with Leeds, but I would like to see Jesse stay in the league. It’ll be hard.”
There will be plenty of other Americans desperate to see Marsch do enough to remain in the Premier League as he is representing the US as a footballing nation. It is pressure that he has previously admitted he thrives on but, for now, the pressure of the relegation battle will be the one he is focused on.
