Executing a new system
On more than one occasion in his post-match press conference, Leeds United head coach Jesse Marsch used the word execute to describe his players’ effectiveness within their new system.
Yes, refinements are of course needed after just four days on the training ground with Marsch, but this was a hugely important first step.
If Leeds were not going to win yesterday, away at a club inside the Premier League’s top five for the past two seasons, they at least needed to stop the rot.
In escaping a nervy opening 15 minutes with their clean sheet intact, confidence grew and grew, as did the familiarity with this system and how they were now going about creating chances.
To come away with only one goal conceded, against the run of play, within a wider team display which delivered 19 shots to Leicester City’s seven and their second-biggest expected goals tally (2.14) of the entire season, has to provide crucial foundations moving forward.
Yes, this was another of their vital 12 final matches consigned to history without a point and that cannot be ignored with time against Marsch, but this at least showed progress in a very small amount of time.
Some could have foreseen this being another messy display within a heavy loss, but it was so, so far from that.
As the xG tally shows, the chances created in this game were excellent. So often we have seen Marcelo Bielsa’s system serve up difficult chances or shots from range this season, but there were so many good opportunities in and around the box at King Power Stadium.
Finishing, some bad luck and a man-of-the-match goalkeeper all conspired to undermine Leeds.
Bamford nears
While the England international did not play, three months after that ill-fated Brentford celebration, to see Patrick Bamford warming up down the touchline was a step forward.
Marsch confirmed the number nine could have only been used for a maximum of 10 minutes and, as it was, the flow of the game did not allow for that to happen.
Starting on Thursday against Aston Villa remains a tall order, but Marsch intimated there would be a window for perhaps more than 10 minutes from the bench that night.
What’s more, the thought of Bamford being in the box on the end of the plethora of chances which were created only whets the appetite for the run-in.
Marsch’s debut and making his mark
There was always going to be plenty of attention on the new man in the dugout and how he would conduct himself before, during and after the match.
You cannot knock the American’s confidence. He believes wholeheartedly in what he is doing and leaves nothing out there when it comes to drilling his players.
With so little time on the training ground together, Marsch was learning on the job and having to make alterations on the fly as he saw his tactical plan unfold before his eyes.
There will still need to be some ironing out of the kinks there inevitably will be as part of a new system the players are largely unfamiliar with.
Marsch was animated throughout. In the first half, he would drag over Junior Firpo for instructions to dish out to the team, and then in the second half, it would be his right-back Stuart Dallas.
He bent over and pointed at Leicester players needing pressure, he celebrated crushed Leicester counters like they were goals and he showed the emotion of every chance missed.
The pièce de résistance was his decision to ensure every player and member of staff was gathered into a very public huddle within the centre circle after full-time.
Illan Meslier even chased after Dallas, well en route to the away corner, in order to drag him back into what was evidently an important gesture for Marsch.
He said he was keen to ensure he told the entire group, at the earliest opportunity, this was a performance to be proud of and a positive experience, no matter what the result might say.
It may be considered a little public or on the nose for some managers, but you have to admire Marsch’s belief in what he believes is the right way to manage people, whatever criticism that may draw from onlookers.
The must-win games are upon us
They have been talked about since long before Bielsa was sacked and looked upon as the light at the end of a tunnel of difficult fixtures in February.
Aston Villa and Norwich City visit Elland Road next week in a three-day double header which will have a major say in how the team looks at the final nine games of the season.
This was a promising opener from Marsch’s side, but ultimately they have no points to show for it and they badly need them on the board sooner rather than later.
Losing in Leicester only piles more pressure on these next games and there are no prizes for doing well with the very little time on the training ground you have had.
This is coming down to brass tacks now and if United want to be in this division next season they have to take a minimum of four, if not six, points in front of a home crowd next week.
Deliver any less and they are faced with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton sides having good seasons, before another six-pointer at Watford.
Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal stand between Leeds and the end of the campaign too. They have to beat the teams in and around them.
Bielsa’s exit is acknowledged
This was the first match since Bielsa’s exit and it was only right the away support acknowledged him with several chants throughout the afternoon.
Do not be surprised if they surface in the first home match since his departure on Thursday too. There was support for Marsch with a brief chant of his own, but Bielsa’s shadow will not disappear quickly.
