Journalist Beren Cross has said Jesse Marsch reminded him of former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa for the honest way he spoke in a recent post-match interview.
Over the weekend, the Whites drew 1-1 with Southampton in the Premier League after James Ward-Prowse’s free-kick cancelled out Jack Harrison’s opener.
Despite the point, which now means Leeds are eight points above the relegation zone, it seems as though Marsch felt the game didn’t make for particularly pleasant viewing.
Indeed, speaking to the press after the game, he said: “They [Southampton] decided on the day that their match plan was going to involve playing a lot of long balls, trying to pick up second balls, putting a lot of throw-ins in the box, putting a lot of set pieces in the box.
“[It] makes for an ugly match, makes for a difficult opponent at times.”
While talking about the manager on a LeedsLive Facebook stream following the final whistle on Saturday, Cross explained why Marsch’s comments reminded him of Bielsa.
He said: “There were a lot of second balls, weren’t there today? Marsch was quite happy to put the boot in post-match and sort of say it wasn’t a particularly pretty game.
“So tones of Bielsa there in terms of talking about as a product and as a spectacle, in that Southampton were quite happy to go vertical, to go long, to pump balls into the box towards [Armando] Broja. There were an awful lot of second balls.”
TIF Thoughts on Jesse Marsch and Leeds…
It’s interesting to see Cross compare Marsch with Bielsa for the way he spoke about the game in this particular instance. Perhaps this is because are seemingly plenty of similarities in the way the two set up tactically, too.
Indeed, Marsch even spoke about this in the past, telling Sky Sports (via the Express): “I have a lot of similarities to the playing style of Marcelo Bielsa, in terms of the aggressiveness, the intensity and the run performances.”
Is Illan Meslier good enough with his distribution?
Yes
No
Of course, the two will diverge in their choices when you go deeper into the analysis of things. However, as the new manager has only recently taken charge, it may take a little while yet before we get a clear idea of what Leeds’ identity will be in the future.
In other news: ‘His arms were aloft’ – Journalist claims Leeds star was ignoring teammate