Here are your Leeds United morning headlines on Wednesday, March 9.
Cole delivers Leeds verdict
Former Manchester United forward Andy Cole believes that Leeds United should organise themselves like Newcastle United have done in the battle to stay in the Premier League.
The Whites are currently going through a tough run of form having lost their last five matches, leaving them 16th in the table, just two points above the relegation zone.
Meanwhile, Newcastle have managed to climb away from the bottom three after winning five of their previous six games and Eddie Howe has done a terrific job at getting them into form.
And Cole has admitted that Leeds should try and replicate the way Newcastle have managed to pick up results at the right time. Jesse Marsch's side are next in action when they host Aston Villa on Thursday night.
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"Everything is about the organisation," Cole told Sky Sports. "You talk about Newcastle, everything is organised now. He (Eddie Howe) has had the opportunity to bring in players in January. They spent a lot of money. But they are organised.
"I think with Leeds, they need to organise themselves. The way they played in the first season under Bielsa was fantastic. The second season was always your toughest season.
"They have been caught out so many times. That’s why they find themselves in the situation they find themselves in. I think the new manager coming in, Marsch, he has to address those.
"You saw it (against Leicester). There are little, little tinkers now, whereby Leeds are going to tighten up. If they took their chances, they could have won the game."
Bridges makes Marsch and Postecoglu claim
Former Leeds United striker Michael Bridges believes Jesse Marsch can defy the critics over him being American in a similar way to Ange Postecoglou at Celtic.
Celtic were heavily criticised over the appointment of Postecoglou last summer – who, arriving from Australia, was viewed as coming from a country where the standard of football is often disrespected.
Postecoglou, though, has done an excellent job at Celtic Park as he has his side sat top of the Scottish Premiership – ahead of a Rangers side who finished 25 points clear of them last season.
Speaking on the Gegenpod, Bridges believes that English football fans take an ‘arrogant and egotistical view’ when it comes to Americans in the Premier League and is hopeful he can prove them wrong.
He said: "Of course, but it’s an arrogant and egotistical view. I’ve got agree with you - to think just because we created the game, we invented the game means we know everything about the game is not the way.
"So, the Ted Lasso documentary, I don’t think that helped any of the American coaches and there’s also a programme in England called Soccer AM that used to a skit about an American called Bob Bradley which was just a total wind up, so that doesn’t help.
"I think you’ve got to look at Ange Postecoglou and I still tell the story about Sunderland, I wanted Ange to get the job before Chris Coleman did. I was speaking to Martin Bain about him, I said he’ll change the culture of your club, he’s a serial winner. His comments were: ‘I’ve never heard of this guy’. He’s won things - the Asian Cup. That just shows you the bubble that they’re living in without looking at the bigger picture.
"I’m delighted that Ange has gone and broken the trend. He’s gone to Celtic, a massive club - the media gave him c*** from day one and Ange handled it like you wouldn’t believe. He swatted flies left, right and centre and said I’ll do the talking on the field. He’s done that."
Six Under 23s promoted to first-team squad
One of the tenets of Marcelo Bielsa's coaching tenure at Leeds United was his insistence on a thin first-team squad of no more than 18 to 20 senior players.
In the opinion of the Argentine, it was suitable for Leeds' 25-man Premier League squad to contain a skeleton crew of first-team bodies, bulked out by several U23 players.
It transpired over the 2021/22 season that even with several injuries to key first-team personnel, Bielsa's reluctance to field those same young players led to the likes of Cody Drameh and Crysencio Summerville requesting loan moves.
Within the U23 group routinely involved in senior matchday squads, Joe Gelhardt featured most frequently for Marcelo Bielsa, playing just shy of 400 Premier League minutes.
Leo Hjelde, Crysencio Summerville, Cody Drameh, Charlie Cresswell, Lewis Bate, Sam Greenwood, Liam McCarron and Stuart McKinstry all made Premier League debuts this season, but none managed more than 150 minutes under Bielsa.
Following Leeds U23s' 1-1 draw with Mansfield Town's youngsters on Monday afternoon, LeedsLive spoke to new U23s head coach Andrew Taylor.
"Hopefully you do [have them with the U23s], but hopefully not, because that'll mean they're playing for the first-team and that is the ultimate goal," Taylor said.
"From a selfish point of view, I'd love to have [Crysencio] Summerville, Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood, Cressy [Charlie Cresswell], Lewis Bate, Nohan Kenneh but at the same time from a club's point of view, the whole aim is to have a pathway and show that progression.
"The fact they're involved with the first-team, okay it makes it difficult for us, [but] fantastic for them, and gives younger players the opportunity to go and step in."
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