Paul Robinson believes people criticising the decision to appoint Jesse Marsch as Marcelo Bielsa’s successor is narrow-minded.
The new boss showed in his first game the immediate changes he has been able to make, something he will be hoping to further enhance in the clash with Aston Villa.
The cohesion in the backline was much improved from Bielsa’s last few games in charge and, had it not been for some poor finishing, the Whites could have quite easily come away from Leicester with all three points.
Speaking ahead of the visit of Aston Villa on Amazon Prime Sport’s coverage of the match, Robinson gave his opinion on the club’s managerial choice.
“They’re very, very big shoes to fill [taking over from Bielsa]. The man is held in such high regard for what he has done for this football club, it’s incredible,” said the former Leeds goalkeeper.
“Whoever was going to replace Marcelo Bielsa, it was always going to be a massive, massive job. Marsch has come in, he’s been the chosen man.
“It’s very narrow-minded to think he’s coming into the Premier League, you know, the hardest league in the world as a foreign coach who has little experience of a relegation fight.
“He’s come in at the hardest point he possibly can. But, one thing he has got is a willing group of players. He’d have seen how hard these players work, he’d have seen how exposed they were defensively.”
The trip to face Leicester at the weekend gave Leeds fans their first glimpse of life under the new manager and despite it proving ultimately fruitless, there were plenty of positives.
Robinson added “They looked better defensively. They weren’t so gung-ho in their pressing. They were in a unit, normally they’d press higher up the field, they’re moving cohesively.
“There’s a trigger, it’s not go gung-ho when one goes, they all have to go and press. They wait, they take their time, they pass the man on and don’t go with their individual men. When the time is right, they go in and try and win the ball.
“There was just more understanding about being a unit across the field. You can see the willpower they have to get back in and defend to stop opposition attacks.
“The most important thing is now he’s come in at Leeds is to not try and emulate Marcelo Bielsa, it’s to take the best bits of what Bielsa did and bring that into his own game, and that’s what he’s started to do.”
Marsch will be hoping for a similarly strong performance this evening against Aston Villa in the knowledge that his side have a great chance of taking all three points with a repeat of Saturday’s showing.
Like everyone that watched the match, he will be more than aware that the finishing must be improved if he is to oversee his first victory as manager in his first home game.
