It is Liverpool on Saturday and Liverpool, for Leeds, can mean beginnings and endings. Brian Clough’s reign kicked off with a Community Shield against Bob Paisley’s team. Billy Bremner was sent off for fighting and it didn’t get much better than that for Clough in a 44-day stay. Leeds’ current spell in the Premier League started at Anfield, a 16-year exile ended in spectacular style as Marcelo Bielsa’s cavaliers went down 4-3, the high-speed excitement enough to put Leeds in the unfamiliar position of being the neutrals’ favourites.
Some 17 months later they returned to Anfield. The excitement was of a different kind, the six goals all scored by Liverpool. Bielsa’s man-marking system was falling apart; it transpired there was a reason no one else played like that. It was not quite the end for the Argentinian, who limped on for one more game, but there was no way back.
Perhaps just a third top-flight trip since 2003 will have a finality for Jesse Marsch. The Leeds board, he said, have been “very supportive, but of course I’m not dumb, I understand exactly that if we don’t win games I put them in a very difficult situation to continue to support me.” Others have already changed their tune, the Leeds supporters turning on Marsch the same night the Aston Villa fans told Steven Gerrard to get out of their club; Villa’s executives granted their wish some 90 minutes after the final whistle.
Marsch’s last Premier League point came against Gerrard; indeed, seven of his nine points this season have come against sacked managers, with his wins perhaps factors in the fall of Bruno Lage and Thomas Tuchel. Rewind to the heady August day when the German’s Chelsea were demolished at Elland Road and Leeds surged into third. Elland Road briefly echoed to the sound of the American’s name, and without a suffix of “out”.
It was the high point of his reign, and it may remain so. Afterwards, Marsch was in reflective mood. “There are people that like me and people that hate me,” he said. Those in the latter category outnumber those in the former group now. There were plenty who loved Bielsa and maybe Marsch’s probable demise will be attributed to the simple fact he isn’t Bielsa, though no one else is.
The reality may be more complicated. The speed with which some have turned is nevertheless notable, though a run of four straight defeats is why Leeds, in the top three in August, are in the bottom three now. For him, it represents uncharted territory. “I was 14 years a player and now 13 years a coach and I’ve never lost this much in my career,” Marsch said. “I’m sick of it. I’m kind of angry right now.”
His argument is that his side have not been outclassed. “I’m tired of playing matches where we are in the match and in many cases better than our opponents and walking away with nothing,” he added. “I’m tired of not capitalising on moments when we are the better team in matches and I’m tired of giving away goals too cheaply. And I’m tired of not getting results we should be getting.”
But a self-destructive streak has been apparent, with leads lost against both Crystal Palace and Fulham. If there is a question if pressing teams can run out of steam – and, 2-0 up at Southampton in August, Leeds were pegged back in the last 20 minutes – they have squandered advantages in the first half-hour against the two London teams.
The 5-2 evisceration at Brentford was a horror show, a chaotic farce. The 0-0 draw with Gerrard’s Villa had a certain respectability, with Leeds playing almost all of the second half with 10 men, but Luis Sinisterra’s red card was senselessly stupid. Marsch’s attempts to gee up the crowd may have backfired if one of his players was overhyped, just as he was when he was sent to the stands at Brentford.
His persona on the touchline may have made him few friends, and could be a case of Marsch trying too hard to generate a bond with the crowd, whereas Bielsa had an enigmatic allure while he remained sat on a bucket.
But there are footballing factors. Patrick Bamford’s litany of misses have come at a cost; Leeds were a top-10 side in the season he was prolific and relegation strugglers since. Rodrigo’s brilliant August form now looks a mirage. Marsch was handed the hospital pass of losing the two best players from a team who barely stayed up, in Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips. In Sinisterra, Brenden Aaronsen, Marc Roca and Tyler Adams, there have been signs of encouragement amid a rebuild. That the two Americans, like Rasmus Kristensen, had played for Marsch before shows the extent to which Leeds backed him and bought into his ideas. Director of football Victor Orta had long eyed him as Bielsa’s successor and their conversations began years ago. Sack him and Leeds’ next manager might have to be suited to Marsch-style players.
As it is, the incumbent’s task is complicated by the reality that no one is a like for like replacement for the idiosyncratic Argentinian. Marsch has a similar fondness for high energy but he may be running out of time. He can argue that individual errors are the cause of recent defeats, whereas Bielsa’s entire system was malfunctioning by the end, but in the eyes of his critics, that could be academic.
Marsch may have some credit in the bank for keeping Leeds up, though some may deem that a fine salvage job and others a fortunate reprieve, but the fixture list now comes with a hint of respite but a chance of cruelty. Survive Liverpool and he has Bournemouth at home, then Tottenham away. “If we continue losing then everything is in jeopardy,” Marsch said, and the World Cup break could yet be a permanent fissure for the globetrotting American.
