Sky Sports presenter Joe Thomlinson has been speaking on the Football Daily YouTube channel about the main worry he has with Jesse Marsch at Leeds United.
Leeds tasted defeat under Jesse Marsch in his first game in charge, but did appear to fix some of their problems from Marcelo Bielsa’s tenure as they lost just 1-0 – a marked improvement for a side that shipped 20 goals in February.
Will Leeds be relegated?
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The Whites restricted Leicester City to an expected goals value of just 0.5, but still ended up losing the game despite taking 19 shots, so a big test will come this midweek for Marsch when they face Aston Villa at Elland Road, with the home crowd potentially expecting an attacking display, but balancing that with having a solid defensive base could be tricky.
Thomlinson, who spoke ahead of Leeds’ latest defeat, admits he’s worried about Leeds defensibly under Marsch.
“Leeds’ defence is an absolute catastrophe at the moment, and when Marsch left Leipzig, their defence wasn’t much better.
“I think it was sort of 13th-worst in Germany, wasn’t it, like the expected goal difference has jumped dramatically since [Domenico] Tedesco’s come in, from sort of 10th to second. He was all over the place coaching that defence at Leipzig.”
TIF Thoughts on Marsch at Leeds…
Marsch will have got a good taste of the Premier League on Saturday as his side dominated Leicester City, but were hit with a sucker punch when his defence switched off very briefly, allowing Harvey Barnes to play a one-two and bend an effort into the far corner.
Despite looking solid for the majority of the game, Marsch will have to ensure his back four stays switched on all game and rid them of the flakiness they’ve shown too many times this season when it comes to defending as they’ve shipped the most goals in the league.
In other news: ‘You’ll see’ – Phil Hay hints at big tactical switch under Jesse Marsch at Leeds