Respect for Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United philosophy was dripping from Jesse Marsch’s words in his first press conference, but there was no hiding from the uncomfortable truth big changes are now needed.
The American faced the media for the first time on Thursday afternoon and was keen to stress there was a lot of good in his predecessor’s work.
“In all moments what will be apparent with me is I will always be respectful of what has happened here in the past three-and-a-half years because of the accomplishments the club has had and the type of coach Marcelo is,” he said.
There was an edge to Marsch’s comments, however. He was not afraid to say the team had become exposed in recent weeks and there would be no sense in him trying to copy Bielsa.
Marsch said: “[I need to understand] the things he (Bielsa) did well and how to stay true to some of those things, but in the end, also knowing I don't have to be Marcelo Bielsa.
“It's more important for me to be me and to provide what this team needs in order to continue to get better and to grow.”
Man-marking had become the stick many had beaten Bielsa with in recent weeks and how that was now exposing Leeds far too easily.
Marsch referenced it more than once and the need to now pull away from that approach.
“A lot of teams had developed match plans against the way the team had played here that was starting to become very successful and easier and easier to implement,” he said.
Later, he was asked what he had done tactically in the first few days on the training ground. Again, transitions and man-marking, the way Leeds were being hurt, was raised.
“Certainly getting away from the man-marking,” he said. “Also with the ball, creating tactics that don't expose us to transition moments as much.”
He added: “I've played against teams that are man-marking tactically and what we've tried to do is create counter-movements and play behind and this is what you've seen, the strategy of playing against Leeds in the past weeks.
“The way we play, it won't be as simple, it won't be as easy and we won't rely on one player to follow one other player, it will be about how we adjust and shift as a group and still come down to defensive moments that we can come up big.”
Fight, desire and that ingrained ability to lock onto an opponent in a one-on-one situation were also raised by Marsch as strengths he will look to draw on from the Bielsa era.
“The thing I loved about this team in the past is their fight, their ability to run for each other, to do whatever it takes on a day no matter what the result was,” he said. “This will have to remain a big part of our DNA.”
What’s more, Marsch has already been encouraged by what he has seen on the training ground. The former RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg boss saw the team deliver results, within three days, which he had not seen in six months with his previous sides.
“I told them yesterday after training, some of the things we did in training, I'd worked with teams for six months and they didn't perform the topics on the pitch as well as this group had done,” he said. “That's a very positive sign.”
