‘Certainly a possibility’: Journalist tips Marsch to make one instant change at Leeds

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Leeds United have made a huge change in the dugout, replacing Marcelo Bielsa with Jesse Marsch.

The 48-year-old’s immediate task will be to steer the Whites further away from the Premier League relegation zone.

Leeds have struggled for most of the season and have been sliding towards the bottom three in recent weeks.

According to The Athletic, the Elland Road hierarchy doesn’t expect Marsch to overhaul what Bielsa did at Leeds.

Leeds reportedly plan to continue tapping into the Bielsa blueprint, albeit with some tweaks.

One of those is likely to be the formation.

While Bielsa opted for a 4-1-4-1 setup, Marsch’s preferred formation is 4-2-2-2.

This setup would see Leeds playing with two holding midfielders rather than just one.

And rather than two wide forwards and a central striker, Leeds would line up with two wingers and two attackers.

“Philosophy is not too dissimilar to Marcelo’s”

On Wednesday, Leeds Live journalist Beren Cross answered questions from Whites fans regarding the new arrival.

One fan asked Cross whether he felt Marsch would line up in a 4-2-2-2 this Saturday at Leicester.

The fan also suggested a line-up of Meslier, Ayling, Llorente, Struijk, Firpo, Forshaw, Koch, James, Raphinha, Rodrigo and Gelhardt.

“From what I have read 4-2-2-2 is certainly a possibility,” replied Cross.

“I’d be tempted to have Dallas at left-back in that formation or as one of the two mids behind the strikers who can drift wide, seeing as he did that so well before.

“Wouldn’t mind seeing Raphinha as one of the two strikers too.”

Cross later replied to a question asking whether Leeds’ players would be suited to Marsch’s tactics.

“It seems like the philosophy is not too dissimilar to Marcelo’s, so the squad should be well-suited to it, in theory,” he said.

“Leeds is a winger-heavy squad and if they do play the 4-2-2-2 we are expecting then yes, there is going to be some retraining for the likes of Harrison and James to do.

“We will have to wait and see what shape he goes with.”

Under Marsch, there could also be a big change in terms of how Leeds play out of possession.

Bielsa’s pressing philosophy was man-marking, while Marsch focuses on ‘ball-oriented‘ pressing.