Leeds United’s Raphinha shares key thing Jesse Marsch didn’t do for team to ‘escape’ trouble
Jesse Marsch “brought belief back” at Leeds United when he replaced Marcelo Bielsa and “didn’t criticise” according to star man Raphinha.
The American replaced the much-loved Argentine at the end of February with the team looking broken amid repeated heavy losses, and has put together a five-game unbeaten run after a pair of early defeats.
And the Whites’ Brazilian winger has credited the understanding methods of the new man for restoring confidence among the players as they fight the relegation battle.
Speaking to talkSPORT he said: “The most important thing that he changed was our mentality.
“We’ve managed to escape from the situation that we were in and turn results around.
“He brought belief back, which is what we needed and that’s really helped because he didn’t criticise, it was more of an arm around the shoulder situation to give us our belief back again and that’s helped us to turn the season around.”
Carrot and stick
Any difference between Marsch and Bielsa that is praised has the potential to be seen as criticism of the great former boss.
His successor found that out himself recently with the reaction to his view that the players had been “overtrained” (talkSPORT), but sometimes the thing a team needs is just whatever is different to what they current have.
The intensity of the previous reign brought about great things at the club, but when fortunes headed south it proved not to be capable of arresting the slide.
But the job isn’t over yet, thanks to Burnley’s revival, so the manager is going to need plenty more arms round the shoulders to make sure this gets over the line.
Those methods won’t last forever, but an an ability to adapt to different needs with different players looks to be a key feature of modern management.
If the former Red Bull manager is ultimately successful in preserving the Premier League status of the club, he will surely expect his squad to learn from the mistakes of this season, and wouldn’t be so understanding if there was a repeat.
In other Leeds United news, a young talent recently told to leave in search of game time was nowhere to be seen as the under-23s took to the field.