Winning is a habit in football. It’s hard to learn and master, but once you have it in your squad, its growth through the entire club can be exponential. Leeds United are in dire need of that winning feeling.
It does not matter if it’s in the FA Cup. It does not matter if it’s a struggling Championship side. It does not matter if it’s a managerless squad. Jesse Marsch has to deliver a victory at Elland Road on Wednesday night.
More than anything else, it simply takes the edge off the current state of affairs at Leeds. Two wins in 17 matches, no matter how invalid Marsch feels that perspective is, is a statistic which needs to be stopped in its tracks.
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Nerves are already raw in some quarters about Brentford visiting Leeds in the Premier League on Sunday. It may only be Cardiff City, but getting the job done, no matter how straightforward it may be, will make an infinite difference to the mood at 2pm on Sunday when points are at stake.
Marsch knows it too. The tone of Tuesday’s press conference stressed the importance of selecting a strong team and seeing to business.
Rodrigo was virtually handwritten onto the teamsheet before our eyes, while his final answer of the briefing left spectators in no doubt where his head was at. He said: “We need another complete performance. We need conviction. We need a win. I hate being result-based, but that's where we are.”
That really is where they are and if Marsch is going to get the club out of this slide, he needs the players onside. Friday’s performance only underlined how invested this group remains in the Marsch project.
The American was only too happy to stress that fact with a revelation about just how intense Friday’s performance had been at Villa Park. This is a head coach only too aware outsiders may be looking for chinks in that relationship between manager and players.
This is a team still running a long way for its head coach.
“Friday was the second most high-intensity running performance in the last five years of the Premier League,” said Marsch. “It was a match that showcased the way I would like our team to play.
“It was, from a physical perspective, from a tactical perspective, from a mentality perspective, a really strong, strong statement for what we want to be. Frankly, if I'm critical of myself, I'm frustrated I haven't been able to access that quicker.
“There was discussion a week ago about some of my frustration I was showing on the bench at different times. The source of my frustration is trying to figure out how to help the players execute more clearly what we want it to be.
“I'm happy we did that. I wish they would have been rewarded with the result because it would have created ease in everything we're doing.
“However, it gave me real belief and, more importantly, the players right now have real belief. They now have a very clear example of the potential they have and what I said to them is now's the chance for us to really start a process to become better.”
If it’s not the link to the players that does for a manager, it’s the link to the boardroom, but Marsch was once again keen to publicise just how unified everything remains at Elland Road. While the running intensity was volunteered by Marsch, he was at least pushed on how transfers illustrate the ownership’s faith in his vision.
“Like I said, after the game, I accept the pressures of what's happening in my role at this club right now,” he said. “I accept that and I understand it.
“The only thing I can say is I'm doing everything I can and we are doing everything we can together and we believe in this project. That's clear with the transfers we make, with the decisions we make, with everything we've done.
“It's shown unity. I'm disappointed with the fact we haven't developed faster and better.
“That's my responsibility and I have to continue to find ways to push buttons to what we do in training, what we do in tactical sessions, what we do with video, what we do with everything so we can get better at a quicker rate. I feel like this was a massive step in the right direction.
“I'm more energised and I'm stronger in my belief than I've ever been before that we're going to be a good team and we're going to be a good team soon. Now we have to show it, now we have to show it specifically tomorrow night.”
Tomorrow night is used as the sign-off once again. The urgency of victory tomorrow night ran through every answer the American gave. It’s not a night which directly halts the Premier League slide, but it’s the result Marsch needs now.
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