What changed in Marsch’s first game with Leeds – 4-2-2-2, the huddle and contesting a decision for first time in four years

In the middle of a full-on managerial baptism, somebody found the time to teach Jesse Marsch the Leeds salute and his opportunity to give it a go came as he and his players slipped out of an on-pitch huddle at Leicester City.

His fist was aimed towards the away end but aimed there in defeat and in the huddle he called after a 1-0 loss to Leicester, Marsch told his squad to exit the ground thinking about the best parts of the game. “It was a real simple message,” he said. “That was very positive and a big step in the right direction. I told them that if we keep playing like this we’ll get all the points we need.” Which, here and now, is the promised land as it looks.

There ended his first week with Leeds United, his first week as the man who followed Marcelo Bielsa. A baton change as hard as that made Saturday’s game an unknown quantity, tactically and emotionally, and there was no-one who expected Marsch’s start as head coach to promise the Odyssey dangled by Bielsa’s mind-blowing bow in 2018; different managers, different arrivals, different vibes and a very different stage of the season. Bielsa, ever the non-conformist, broke the rules about coaches needing time. Marsch came into the job with less of it than he would like.

The mystery of Bielsa in 2018 was how so much changed in the space of five or six weeks, the equivalent of an overnight revolution. It was asking an unreasonable amount of Marsch for him to completely redraw the most defined tactical plan anywhere in the sport in the space of five or six days but the sight of Leeds bringing together some of his at Leicester allowed him to reflect on it without clutching at straws. Leeds were organised and comfortable in their shape, suggesting Marsch can teach quickly and clearly. Leicester merely got the break with the result and a Harvey Barnes strike. Leeds’ expected goals difference was their highest and most positive of the season, if only an expected goals difference was worth any points.

Marsch was pleased with how his side played despite the defeat (Photo: Getty Images)

The on-pitch huddle, the stone-washed jeans worn by Marsch; Leeds have swerved sharply from one generation of manager to another but beneath the superficial irrelevances was evidence of the shift from coach to coach. There was a 4-2-2-2 system, favoured by Marsch at RB Salzburg, in which Jack Harrison and Raphinha played as inverted wingers behind Rodrigo and Dan James. There was something more akin to a 4-2-4 off the ball in which the front four stood off — often conducted by Rodrigo’s outstretched arms — and reduced Leicester to going long.

The press, far from being breathless and man-to-man, occurred in groups and seemed to be triggered whenever the ball ran to Brendan Rodgers’ full-backs. The approach to defending set-pieces, the thrust of training on Thursday, made most of Leicester’s redundant. And, as something to follow over the next few weeks, there was a strange goal-kick routine started by Luke Ayling.

Marsch said on Thursday that he wanted to avoid going into “millions of things” too quickly but in less than a week, he had gone into plenty. And his reward was a game that was there for the taking, especially once Leeds had seen off the returning Jamie Vardy on the hour. Vardy was Vardy, hovering and loitering, on the last shoulder and asking for passes for him to sprint onto but 60 minutes was as much as he was able to give Rodgers. With him gone, Leeds’ prospects should have increased but six minutes later, Barnes played a one-two with Kelechi Iheanacho and beat Illan Meslier before a static defence could ambush him.

Bielsa’s final days were a maddening slew of horrible goals conceded. Little help was coming his way at the other end of the pitch either. On Saturday, Leeds felt their way into the match and then started to give Marsch the same feeling; the feeling of wanting to stick the ball away himself. Harrison was denied by Kasper Schmeichel’s legs. Junior Firpo’s shot from close range struck Caglar Soyuncu a few yards in front of Leicester’s goalline. Schmeichel made the biggest intervention of all just before Barnes’ finish, sticking out a foot to stop Raphinha tapping in. VAR went flip-flopping again after Soyuncu’s kick took down Rodrigo in the home box before half-time. “We thought that was a penalty,” Marsch said, the first time a Leeds’ head coach has contested a decision in almost four years.

The American, after landing in the job so suddenly, was entitled to feel satisfied with what had played out in front of him; not delighted but satisfied. Leeds were significantly more compact without sacrificing everything up front. There were counter-attacks which leaned on some of the old habits under Bielsa and kept Leicester on their toes. They might have found a result had Marsch called for Patrick Bamford from the bench but he has not played since Christmas and Marsch was reluctant to take a risk by asking more than 10 minutes of him. Instead, Tyler Roberts got the last 15 but pulled a hamstring immediately, reducing him to the movement of a mannequin. For all the differences elsewhere, plus ca change on the injury front.

“I can see little things where we can be sharper with our tactical understanding and movement,” Marsch said. “But for the most part, the basics, it was quite good. If we find the first goal it’s a different match. A little bit clearer with some relationships and maybe we get a result.”

Latterly, and through some brutal days in February, Leeds’ defeats were no longer marginal. It was harder to push the argument that a sliver of luck or quality here or there would have lifted the clouds. Nonetheless, 18th place is still too close and this is the stage of the season where talking good games rather than winning them drags a team down. Marsch’s insistence that Leeds would “get the points we need” was a nod to the importance of an encouraging display at Leicester properly opening some floodgates.

Afterwards, he talked a little about basketball and the fact that in basketball, end-to-end scoring tends to ensure the right result at the buzzer. “I’ve learned that (football) isn’t the fairest,” Marsch said and the past week at Leeds United has forced everyone to reflect on that. But in showing the capacity to make a team look like his, it was one hurdle cleared.

(Top photo: GEOFF CADDICK/AFP via Getty Images)