Leeds United completed their third deal of a busy first few weeks of the summer on Friday, as Marc Roca joined the club from Bayern Munich. Victor Orta is working hard to give Jesse Marsch a squad better suited for the rigours of the Premier League, after the club came so close to relegation in 21/22. As well as filling out the squad with numbers and raising the quality level, Orta is bringing in players which will suit particular roles within Marsch's preferred tactical system and philosophy.
That's due to the fact that whilst Leeds were successful in maintaining their top-flight status under Marsch, the American was clear on several occasions that the way in which the team had played during the 12 games he managed this season was not the way he would have liked, as he was forced to priortise results over process in the fight for safety. Meanwhile, the players themselves weren't always able to grasp the new tactical concepts amidst the nerves of the situation.
With a pre-season, many of those players will likely be able to adjust better but it's clear that the new players brought in will need to have the atrributes and some familiarity with the kinds of principles Marsch would like Leeds to follow. In the cases of Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen, it's very easy to see how this will work, as both played under Marsch at RB Salzburg. They will have obvious roles in Leeds' manager's tactical set-up.
Read more: Jack Wilshere wants Arsenal to secure summer move for Leeds United's Raphinha
When it comes to the newest signing, Roca, we need to dig a little deeper to understand what his role will be in Leeds' new system. It is clear that he will play in the midfield two that Marsch favours in almost all of the formations he likes to use, but he will be given particular responsibilities in the team.
Ball progression through the centre
One of the struggles of the Leeds squad's transition to playing the way Marsch desires is the vast difference between Marcelo Bielsa and Marsch's in possession principles. Bielsa liked to make the pitch as wide as possible, providing space for players like Raphinha to attack, whilst Marsch prefers his teams to attack through the centre.
However, the attackers he had to work with were primarily wide players, whilst his main defensive midfielder, Kalvin Phillips, excelled under Bielsa in distributing the ball to wide areas. The England international was not so comfortable playing the ball through the middle of the pitch.
Although Roca is not a replacement for Phillips, as such, with another arrival expected if the Leeds academy product leaves for Manchester City, he will likely be the replacement in terms of being the midfielder tasked with taking the ball from the defence and playing forwards. Unlike Phillips, Roca is more comfortable passing through midfield lines rather than over and around.
This will be important for Marsch, as a key component of his philosophy is passing the ball into the central area just outside the opposition penalty area. From there Leeds' attackers can create shooting opportunities or, if they lose the ball, initiate a counter-press from a dangerous position.
Pressing
This is an obvious one. Under Bielsa, pressing was essential and it remains so under Marsch, even if it looks different. In Marsch's system, the midfield two is expected to cover the space in front of the back four in the defensive phase but they are also expected to push up behind the attacking four to squeeze space and quickly win the ball back if it is turned over. Roca did that well for Bayern, in the few minutes he played, as he put in 24.85 pressures per 90, according to fbref.com. That was enough to rank him in the 93rd percentile for midfielders in Europe, which is particularly impressive, given that Bayern were one of the top possession teams in the top five leagues. Him ranking so highly, despite his team dominating the ball, demonstrates how busy a defender he is.
One thing to be wary of with him is that whilst he is busy in his attempts to win the ball, he can be a little slow to get to it if he has some ground to make up. As an example, when Roca faced Marsch's RB Salzburg in the Champions League in 20/21, the Spaniard was sent off for two bookable offences after he was twice late getting to his opponent.
Set piece taking
With Raphinha highly likely to leave, alongside Phillips, the Whites will be losing two of their set piece takers. Roca took all of the set pieces at Espanyol and has an excellent delivery with his left foot. It's highly likely that Marsch will look to utilise that, particularly as the American seems to prioritise working on set pieces far more than Bielsa ever used to.
He will need a ball winner alongside him
With all that said, it seems that Roca's best chance of shining for Leeds in the Premier League will be with a high stamina ball winner alongside him. As mentioned above, Leeds will look to replace Phillips should he leave, and they will want to bring in a player with many of his physical and defensive attributes. That will be particularly important, given some of Roca's weaknesses. If they get that signing right, or if Phillips remains at the club, the ex-Bayern midfielder will have some of his weaknesses covered for and Leeds will have a much stronger midfield than they did last season.
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