Livescore
“Leeds United can confirm head coach Jesse Marsch has been relieved of his duties. Jesse joined the club in February 2022 and was instrumental in keeping the club in the Premier League on the final day of last season. We would like to thank Jesse and his backroom staff for their efforts and wish them well for the future.” With Leeds sitting in 18th place, just one point from the relegation zone, the Yorkshire club decided to end their one-year association with Jesse Marshe on Monday. Despite his best efforts, the American was deemed not up to the task of taking the club forward.
Now, two days on from Marshe’s axing and after an impressive 2-2 draw away Manchester United on Wednesday night, the general feeling is that the decision was the right one. Leeds fans were beginning to grow tired watching their team’s extended poor run of results and there were signs of mutiny when in their most recent two away games, fans could be heard singing that they “wanted Marshe out”. From a football perspective, you can understand why they weren’t happy: the ‘whites’ won just four of their 20 games under the American this season, losing 10 and conceding a staggering 34 goals. In percentage terms that’s just a 20%-win rate. Not great.
In the end Marshe’s ‘American project’ was extremely disappointing. The American arrived at Elland Road with a strong reputation having impressively made the jump for the MLS to Europe: he was largely considered an exciting and up and coming manager. What’s more, Leeds director of football, Victor Orta, made it no secret that he was big fan of the former RB Leipzig and Salzburg coach and was in regular contact with the American years before he was actually appointed (this was also because of Bielsa’s insistence on signing short term deals). The dramatic rollercoaster second half 2021/2022 -with the team avoiding the drop on the final day- brought more good feeling to Elland Road at the start of this season. They also had had an impressive summer transfer window, spending almost 80 million pounds on young stars like Brenden Aaronson, Luis Sinisterra, Tyler Adams and Marca Roca. Fans were particularly excited by the young talents from the US, who together with Marshe, were expected to help Leeds live the ‘American dream’.
Leeds signings under Marsche:
- Brendon Aaronson: 32 millions
- Georginio Rutter: 28 millions
- Luis Sinisterra: 25 millions
- Tyler Adams: 17 millions
- Rasmus Kristensen: 13 millions
- Maximilian Wober: 12 millions
- Marc Roca: 12 millions
- Wilfred Gnonto 4.5 millions
- Weston McKenie: 1.5 millions loan fee (30 millions in summer)
Fast forward to January and things weren’t looking so positive but despite the team’s poor form, the Leeds board were still convinced that Marsche was the man to take the team forward. The loan signing of Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie, with a 30 million permanent deal likely in the summer, was testament to that. McKennie’s arrival provoked more comparisons with Leeds and the USMNT given the team’s young, exciting and above all talented “all-American” in the heart of midfield. The manager was also provided with a new assistant, Chris Adamas, in an attempt to turn things around. But the bad results just kept coming and despite the board’s recent gestures of support, Marshe was ultimately shown the door.
“Despite his best intentions it didn’t work for Jesse Marsch at Leeds. There was a perception among regular spectators of his team that he was wedded to a particular style which after 11 and a half months still didn’t yield results. Fans found the side’s lack of width uneasy to reconcile with and ultra-positive press conference declarations – such as saying a 4-0 defeat ‘felt like a win’ and a 2-1 loss was ‘the complete performance’ – rankled with them further. On more than one occasion, Leeds’ away support vocalised their discontent, most notably away to Nottingham Forest where they audibly chanted for him to be removed at full-time. The board had backed him to the tune of 160m in the transfer market, signing players he had worked with previously (Aaronson, Adams, Kristensen, Wber) but a run of two wins in 17 games meant patience wore too thin. Marsch insisted he and the club hierarchy were aligned, which explains assistant and long-time friend Chris Armas’ arrival in late January, until they weren’t,” summarized Leeds expert and Yorkshire Evening Post journalist, Joe Donnohue
Despite his burning desire to be a successful coach in England and prove that the narrative in England that “Americans don’t know anything about football- they call it soccer” is wrong, he sadly didn’t manage it.
The hunt for a new manager is now on. While Michael Skubala oversaw an impressive performance on Wednesday night against Manchester United, Andrea Radrizzani has made it clear he’s after a new manger to take the reins. Leeds were dealt a blow when Rayo Vallecano’s Andoni Iraola turned down the offer. They will need to find someone who can get the best out of the extremely talented squad get the team dreaming again.
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