The Leeds United supporters who watched Jesse Marsch’s first game in charge will have been impressed what they saw despite coming away empty handed.
The Whites should have got their hands on, at least, a share of the points against Leicester but Harvey Barnes was once again the tormentor.
Ex-Leeds goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel also turned in a fine display as the travelling fans’ best efforts to put him off throughout the game were unsuccessful.
He was able to deny his former side on a few occasions with some strong saves and, speaking on Match of the Day, Ian Wright was impressed by what he saw from the away side, even if he was frustrated by all the missed chances.
“[Schmeichel] did do very well but Leeds will be disappointed with the chances, simply because they did play very well,” he said.
“I thought they denied Leicester in the first half but when they got into situations where they created chances, Kasper Schmeichel was very good and made some very good saves.
“But for Leeds, there was very good pressing, they had a good shape. I think, the way Leeds play, they’ve got to take a lot from it.”
There was one Whites player though, who had a golden chance to open the scoring prior to Barnes’ goal, that came in for criticism from Wright after another underwhelming performance.
“For me, this is the chance [the Raphinha miss],” added the former England striker. “I think Raphinha is someone who’s got to do a lot more, I’m very disappointed with the way he played.
“I think he’s got to score that. He is someone that needs to do more, a lot more. He’s got too much [ability] to be playing as poorly as he did today.”
There was plenty of praise amongst the Match of the Day panel for Marsch after a much-improved Leeds performance.
Both Wright and host Gary Lineker were encouraged by what they saw with the latter claiming that there were already visible differences from the recent showings under Marcelo Bielsa.
“I thought, tactically, Leeds were very good, very different in some ways,” said the Leicester-born ex-Foxes frontman.
To which Wright replied: “Very positive, I’m sure the fans and the players are liking what they’re hearing, they’ve got to get used to a new manager because they’ve had such a talismanic one before.
“The Leeds fans were brilliant today, they sung for Jesse Marsch and Bielsa, it was brilliant.”
While they were extremely complimentary, both Wright and the other pundit on the panel, Micah Richards, were baffled by Marsch’s ‘performance more important than points’ comment after the match.
Wright said: “I’ve never heard that before, I’m sure the Leeds fans would have taken a poor performance and the three points today.”
Richards responded: “I understand what he’s trying to say but he’s got a bit carried away, you take the points!”
