Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford says manager Jesse Marsch has many of the same principles as his predecessor Marcelo Bielsa despite them being “very different” as people.
Marsch heads into his first full season as Leeds coach after guiding them away from the relegation zone on the final day of last season after stepping in for Bielsa with 12 games left in the season. The Argentine held the managerial position at Elland Road for almost four years, his longest stint at one club in his career as a manager before he was sacked in February.
Marsch now has the challenge of showing the Leeds faithful that he is the man to take the club forward, taking over from a man that had the admiration of the entire fanbase for bringing them back to the topflight after 16 years in the Football League. In one summer, the squad has already changed a lot with the American coach at the helm, with seven new signings through the door and some high-profile outgoings with Kalvin Phillips leaving for Manchester City and Raphinha moving to Barcelona.
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Bielsa is famous for his high demands on players in training, which has often fed into their playstyle and did so at Leeds. This approach brought them a lot of success but also inadvertently may have led to their recession last season with the club struggling with injury problems all year.
The style Bielsa employed is not too dissimilar to Marsch’s tactical philosophy as a product of the Red Bull coaching academy that values the high-tempo approach that the Leeds squad had become accustomed to under Bielsa. Bamford was one of Bielsa’s first signings as Leeds boss and often openly praised his coaching style. Comparing him to Marsch, the 28-year-old acknowledged that the pair have very similar demands as coaches while contrasting people off the pitch.
"They're very different but also very similar in some ways," said Bamford, speaking to BBC Sport. "They have the same intensity and work ethic, and they both demand 100% on the pitch and on the training ground. But you can also sit down with Jesse and have lunch with him.
"If you've done the hard work, the football training is out of the way and the videos are done, you can sit and have a chat about something totally random or nothing to do with football."
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