Paul Merson blasts Leeds United for lack of game management after defeat v Crystal Palace
Paul Merson has taken a swipe at Jesse Marsch after blasting Leeds for their poor game management following a 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace on Sunday.
The Whites took the lead thanks to a well worked goal by Pascal Struijk in the first half, but ultimately fell to defeat thanks to strikes from Odsonne Edouard and Eberechi Eze either side of half-time.
And speaking live on Sky Sports [9 October, 16:00] after the full-time whistle, Merson criticised Leeds’ approach to games and said something must change or it could be a “long season” for them.
“I just think their game management is not great Leeds,” he said. “I just think they’re eral gung-ho, everything is done at 100 miles an hour.
“It’s never, even when they go in front, they never calm the game down do they? They’ve got nobody who is going to put their foot on it and just control the game.
“1-0 up or 1-0 down it’s 100 miles an hour and I think that they need to change that up a bit otherwise as the season goes on it could be a long season for Leeds.”
Change
We all loved the approach that Marcelo Bielsa took to football and ultimately it brought us back to the Premier League, but we saw that it didn’t work way before he lost his job.
The same can be said of Marsch now, with his approach of high intensity pressing and quick transitions being picked apart by the more solid teams.
The manager needs to show an adaptability that his predecessor didn’t have in order to survive at Elland Road, because what was an excellent start to the season has now turned into a poor run of form that sees Leeds winless in their last five games.
With Arsenal and Liverpool to come in the next four fixtures, things aren’t looking much easier and Marsch must find a way to be able to control games and change the gung-ho approach or suffer more losses of this kind.
He’s been warned and now he’s been called out for it, so hopefully he takes heed and does something about it before it’s too late.
In other Leeds news, boardroom boost for the Whites after major Euro news dropped