Jeff Stelling and Paul Merson shocked by Leeds United manager saga live on Sky Sports
Jeff Stelling and Paul Merson have been left shocked by the Leeds United manager saga live on Sky Sports on Saturday 11 February.
Leeds took the decision to sack Jesse Marsch at the start of the week, and are yet to replace the American, with trouble coming from Arne Slot, Carlos Coberan and Andoni Iraola.
Merson believes that Marsch was unlucky to lose his job in the end, with Stelling more surprised at the timing of the decision after the January transfer window.
Speaking live on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday, as shared on Twitter, Stelling kickstarted the debate over the American, who has still not been replaced.
“What about the timing?” he said.
“The transfer window is closed, whoever comes in has got what he’s got and they don’t seem to have had anybody lined up as a replacement.”
Merson also couldn’t believe it, admitting it was nothing short of a shock with the job as attractive as any out there despite the struggles to replace him.
“No, because I think it was a shock. Surely, the one that done me, this is probably Leeds’ biggest game against Man United, and they sack the manager before they play Man United twice in four or five days.
“It was like they have written off the Man United games. I think the lad is bang unlucky. You look at the results, the odd goal here and there, it’s just a little bit of luck.
“Every manager needs luck, it wasn’t like they were going to places and getting beaten four or fives, they were in every football match – I was shocked.”
Unlucky?
Football is a business, at the end of the day.
You get judged off results, not performances, and winning only two games out of 17 is a shocking return, and something that had to be addressed.
Of course, some of those games were tight and if the players actually put away their chances and learned to defend simple transitions, more victories would have been picked up.
That wasn’t to be though, and we heard those excuses far too many times every single week.
Andrea Radrizzani and the board acted quickly, but their search to replace Marsch has been anything but at Elland Road, with Michael Skubala and his team set to take charge against Manchester United again tomorrow.
Stelling and Merson may have been shocked, but no one with closer ties to the Whites who watch every single week were surprised, and that says it all.
Time to find that replacement.
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