George Overhill

Sat 11 February 2023 22:10, UK

Leeds United were wrong to sack Jesse Marsch when they did because they had played well against Nottingham Forest says Mark Lawrenson.

The American was fired on Monday (6 February), a day after losing 1-0 at the City Ground to make it seven Premier League games without a win, but the club have since struggled to appoint a successor.

Lawrenson is amazed at how “mad” the Whites are on the pitch and does think Marsch should have been sacked eventually, but not for another couple of games.

Speaking on Off The Ball Sport with Sky Ireland on Saturday (11 February, 43min 50 sec) he said: “I’d have kept him… I watch Leeds all the time because it just amazes me what they do, it’s just like bees let out of the hive, they’re all over the place.

“But in the game against Forest they should have been four up at half time and I think that was actually quite a good performance. Alright, second half ran out of steam a little bit, ran out of ideas, but I would have kept him in for another couple more games.

“Long-term, no. He is Ted Lasso I’m afraid. He is, some of the things he used to say after games. I also thought if they’d just kept him for a couple more games [Patrick] Bamford would have got fitter by the game and he would score for them.

“I’d have kept him. I’ll still watch them because they’ll still be mad for a while won’t they?”

Thanks Lawro

If Marsch was getting sacked at all there was little benefit to delaying it, and some will argue that it should have been done a long time before.

Considering how difficult it has turned out to be to land a desirable replacement the real issue looks to be the lack of prior work done behind the scenes to line one up.

The overall timing, one game and less than a week after the close of a big-spending January transfer window, is somewhat confusing, especially now it has turned out there was no contingency in place.

Surely, plans should have been made back before the World Cup when Marsch came close to being fired the first time, and then solidified once it was decided he was one game from the chop.

Having now missed out on West Brom’s Carlos Coberan, Rayo Vallecano’s Andoni Iraola and Feyenoord’s Arne Slot the club are scrambling, and the next set of candidates will know they were far from first choice.

That is not an ideal situation to be in by any means, and so the club are open to criticism for the way it is being handled, but if Lawrenson believes Marsch had to go sooner or later then clinging on for a bit longer without winning games would have just put off the inevitable.

In other Leeds United news, click here to see breaking, around-the-clock updates on Leeds’ search for a new manager in our interactive live blog.