Chatting with the youths
As Jesse Marsch heads out from the main building at Thorp Arch to the training pitches he walks alongside Dani van den Heuvel, Leeds United's third-choice goalkeeper.
The 18-year-old has rarely been named in matchday squads with the first team, but has been seen more and more often this term in the travelling party to games.
van den Heuvel, or any players for that matter, were rarely seen walking and talking with Marcelo Bielsa, if ever.
Bamford in the mix
Thursday’s open training session and Marsch’s press conference made it clear Patrick Bamford was suddenly in the mix for a place on Saturday’s bench.
One week earlier, Bielsa had said the striker was barely back on the grass and yet the American had him in front of the cameras.
In this package, you can see him mixing it in the rondos with his teammates, though evidently he was not included in the harder running and match practise Marsch put on.
Sharpness and counter-pressing
There was no dance music taken from a 2008 nightclub laid over the top of this video, which allowed us to hear Marsch’s instructions. It was enlightening.
He was keen to slow the players down if they got too keen or into too much of a rush. That's something he warned of in Thursday’s press conference.
“Come on, concentrate. It doesn’t have to be 100mph, but we’re sharp,” he said as he spotted something he didn’t like during a passing drill.
As the wider group went into a match situation, Marsch touched upon that counter-pressing trait which has become so widely associated with football in Germany because of Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and Ralf Rangnick.
“Let’s see how sharp we can be with the ball and then let’s see how committed and hungry we can be to counter-press,” he said.
During a break in play, he commented on Junior Firpo’s positioning and was happy to praise him. “Junior, really good positioning,” he said.
Players trying to make an impression
Marsch had commented on the fact his players had been keen to stand out and make a good impression this week.
Through the intensity of the match scenario included in the training video, you can see just how little the players are holding back.
On one occasion, Jamie Shackleton emerges from a crowd of bodies with the ball and soon find Robin Koch going in hard with a fairly high boot, though there is no connection.
Missing faces
Marsch had alluded to some problems beyond the main three we have been aware of at Thorp Arch.
He admitted Diego Llorente was a fairly significant doubt, but said there were a couple of other issues to monitor.
In this particular video package the only players not spotted, who we may have expected to see, were Luke Ayling and Adam Forshaw.
