Phil Hay shares what Jesse Marsch told him about Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United training ground
Jesse Marsch has told Phil Hay that he was under no illusions as to how hard it would be to replace Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United.
Bielsa was sacked by the Whites at the end of February and instantly replaced by Marsch, who was initially sounded out as a successor for the Argentine in the summer.
Since then, Leeds’ form has improved and a seven-point gap has emerged between themselves and the Premier League’s relegation zone.
Speaking in an interview with The Athletic’s Hay at Leeds’ Thorp Arch training ground, Marsch spoke a bit about Bielsa and while he has the utmost admiration for the ex-Leeds boss, he’s still backing himself.
“Oh yeah, it really was,” Marsch told The Athletic when speaking of Bielsa’s extraordinary time at Leeds. “He’s had a massive impact. There was talk about me possibly doing this in the summer (to build for 2022-23) and even then, I knew it would be difficult replacing a legend like him.
“It was never going to be easy, but I believe strongly in who I am. There were challenges, but there were major opportunities too. That’s the way I looked at it.”
Two greats
Bielsa is gone now, he’s in the past. However, that doesn’t water down his achievements at Elland Road by any means.
He’s a modern-day great and, in fact, could be seen as an all-time great if Leeds are able to use the foundations he built to become one of England’s best football teams once again.
We’d spent way too long outside of the top-flight and we have Bielsa to thanks for making fans love this club again and also taking them to a ninth-placed Premier League finish.
Unfortunately, his second season in the Premier League didn’t go as planned and based on what we’ve seen so far, the decision to replace him with Marsch is working out well.
We love Bielsa – but we want Marsch to become more of a legend at Elland Road than the popular South American.
We’re desperate for the ex-RB Leipzig boss to succeed here and we really hope that he gets backed by the board as much as possible over the coming months and, hopefully, years.
Leeds are still a re-build project.
Let’s hope this American manager can prove a lot of doubters wrong and finish off the job Bielsa started.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites could make an offer to sign an English midfielder’s who’s a “joy to watch” in the summer.