What went wrong for Jesse Marsch at RB Leipzig and is he a good fit to replace Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds?

Work smarter not harder.

That is the takeaway from an interview that American manager Jesse Marsch conducted with the Athletic in January, a month or so after his firing from Bundesliga side RB Leipzig.

It’s an interview most Leeds United fans have probably poured over, especially now Marsch has now replaced Marcelo Bielsa, who left on Sunday with the Yorkshire club 16th in the Premier League, just two points above the drop zone.

Like the hiring of Bielsa in the first place, going for Marsch is certainly a gamble, an outside-of-the-box appointment.

With the help of Robert Bauer from Eurosport Germany we take a look at what it might mean and, first of all what went wrong with RB Leipzig.

So what did happen there?

The real issue with Marsch and Leipzig is really as simple as 'right manager wrong time'. Anyone replacing a manager as talented as Julian Nagelsmann was going to struggle and with no real leadership structure at Leipzig it was quickly clear that Marsch was a not fit with a playing squad that had moved away from press and more into possession.

“As Nagelsmann's successor, Marsch wanted to play switchover football with counter-pressing again,” explains Bauer.

“Pressing and counter-pressing didn't always work, and counterattacks were often not secured.

“Numerous absences at the beginning of the season (Marsch was also missing due to a Covid infection) meant that trust was dwindling, which was also due to the fact that Leipzig were only 11th after 14 match days.

“There were moments, such as offensively in the 5-0 win in the Champions League against Bruges and the 2-1 league win against Dortmund.”

Anyone who watched Leipzig this season can’t have missed the warring ideals at play on the pitch.

As goalkeeper Peter Gulasci said: “We were used to playing like that [possession-based fooball], and there were always small moments in each game when we instinctively did things contrary to the way the coach wanted them.”

The Hungarian international added that “many players were brought in for possession football.”

The question of how much blame should be placed at the door of Leipzig and how much with Marsch is one we probably won’t know until we’re a couple of months into the Leeds experiment. On the face of it, Leeds, a squad that is coming from a pressing system, seem better suited to how Marsch wants his teams to play.

Yet at times with Leipzig Marsch seemed to be lost, flitting between his philosophy and one that the players seemed to prefer. He admitted as much during the Athletic interview.

“Maybe that is a lesson I learned — that you have to stick to the things you believe in, from a leadership and training perspective. Everything you do, you have to be fully convinced.

“I felt like I was working three times as hard but accomplishing three times less. You could see in a lot of ways there was an impasse. Of course, there were moments when I thought maybe it was heading in the right direction, but in the end I’m perfectly fine with accepting it just wasn’t the right time and the right fit.

“I would have been better off succeeding Rangnick than Nagelsmann. The roster had also changed. There is incredible talent in the team but some of the players’ ability to play the way I wanted wasn’t as good as playing the way Julian did. Naturally, if their qualities suited his way, then they wanted to play that way more.”

In that interview Marsch admitted that he was, if not surprised, but certainly pleased to see how many clubs had reached out to him after the sacking. He was still firmly on their radar and that certainly has proven to be the case given some reports have said that he had been sounded out by Leeds before they decided to sack Bielsa.

Bauer thinks he definitely deserves another chance.

“Marsch's involvement in Leipzig was a classic misunderstanding. His game philosophy just didn't fit the squad. Of course, you don't have the best reputation when you get fired from a top team that's only 11th, but Marsch hasn't been heard from since.

“But I think that he could certainly be successful elsewhere with his philosophy. Provided he gets stability on the defensive side of the game.”

Bauer did also point out that he felt that RB Salzburg, Marsch’s former club, are still reaping the benefits of the American’s work.

Marsch will almost certainly move to a system that has two up top at Leeds, rather than Patrick Bamford leading the line by himself, but in theory there shouldn’t be too much change. Whilst Marsch is from a different school than Bielsa the general principles are the same.

The question for Leeds fans will be what difference to Bielsa can Marsch provide? As mentioned earlier this should be a better situation for him on the pitch, even if it is arguably worse off it given how close the team is to relegation. He is certainly going to be less tactically-minded and less intricate than Bielsa but might ease some of the demands on them, so will that help or hinder the Leeds players? For this author at least it feels like it will help. It won’t be long until we find out.