Leeds players gave Jesse Marsch ovation after first speech – report
Leeds United players gave Jesse Marsch an ovation following his first speech addressing them at Thorp Arch, according to the Daily Mail.
The American coach was hired as the replacement for the highly loved Marcelo Bielsa, who was sacked following a run of nine defeats in 12 games that led them to be just two points above the relegation zone.
But after coming into the club under huge pressure to save the club, Marsch gave a rousing speech at the club’s training ground upon first meeting with the squad and earned a big ovation from the squad.
According to Mike Keegan, Marsch took all the pressure off his players by telling them they’re more than good enough to avoid relegation.
They started their Marsch era with a 1-0 defeat to Leicester on Saturday lunch time, although their performance was encouraging to many fans at Elland Road.
Running start
Marsch needed to make a quick start with points in his first game, and while he failed to do that his footprint was on the team early on.
The team maintained a lot of the qualities that fans loved in Bielsa’s style – high pressing, high intensity and fast-paced attacking football.
But he also installed some defensive structure without the man-to-man style that we’d become accustomed too under the Argentine, and also tweaking things to suit his style a little more.
It was an encouraging sign from the club to go toe-to-toe with Leicester and while they ultimately fell short, they have got the ability to be able to pull themselves out of the hole they have fallen into.
The players are obviously behind him, the fans are growing to like him and he is saying the right things, so now we need the performances to follow suit.
In other Leeds news, ‘Naive’ – Danny Mills takes aim at stubborn Marcelo Bielsa after Leeds sacking