Matchday With The Manager – Adapting For A New Leeds Test

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Matchday With The Manager – Adapting For A New Leeds Test

Brendan Rodgers is looking forward to seeing Leicester City come up against a Leeds United side with a modified tactical stratagem.

2022-03-05T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Adapting For A New Leeds Test

Brendan Rodgers is looking forward to seeing Leicester City come up against a Leeds United side with a modified tactical stratagem.

2022-03-05T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Adapting For A New Leeds Test

Brendan Rodgers is looking forward to seeing Leicester City come up against a Leeds United side with a modified tactical stratagem.

2022-03-05T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Adapting For A New Leeds Test

Brendan Rodgers is looking forward to seeing Leicester City come up against a Leeds United side with a modified tactical stratagem.

2022-03-05T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Adapting For A New Leeds Test

Brendan Rodgers is looking forward to seeing Leicester City come up against a Leeds United side with a modified tactical stratagem.

2022-03-05T07:00:00.000Z

Much of Leeds' identity over the past four years has been defined by the management of Marcelo Bielsa – the Argentinian whose highly fluid, man-marking playing style led the Yorkshire side to promotion after 16 years of exile away from the Premier League.

That tactical idea earned wider plaudits last term as Leeds finished ninth in the top tier, but a damaging run of form during 2021/22, in many ways attributable to injuries in key areas of the field, has seen the Elland Road outfit sink into the relegation picture.

A decision was made by the three-time English champions this week to replace Bielsa with American manager Jesse Marsch, famed for an equally notable approach to the game at New York RB, RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig.

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It's a clash which comes four days after a morale-boosting 2-0 victory for Leicester at Burnley – courtesy of second-half strikes from James Maddison and Jamie Vardy – and Rodgers was keen to highlight the value of having the latter back from injury.

"He’s a huge influence," the Northern Irishman said. "I think that the cameo that he gave in the game was everything that he’s shown over many years. He’s one of the Premier League’s greatest strikers and, of course, when you have that in your team, then it makes you a better team.

"If you watch his movement for the first goal, his anticipation that Kasper’s going to get there, so he sprints to be onside, so when the ball’s played, he can get the second ball. Then, he sets up James, who has a brilliant finish.

"[For the second goal], just his awareness in the box to be there in the right place… when you’ve got Jamie Vardy in your team, clearly you’re in a much better moment with what he brings the team. He’s got that leadership quality as well.

"His cameo was great. He came in and affected the game, which is what we wanted, and it just continues a much better level of performance from us as a team. In the game, we showed what we’ve probably done for a couple of years, and not so much consistently this year.

"We were defensively strong first and foremost, we were aggressive in the game, we pressed the game well, and then played our football. We created opportunities and then got two wonderful goals. It was a real collective effort and we were really pleased with that."

Former Leeds head coach Bielsa is a man who Rodgers admired greatly and the former Liverpool and Celtic manager was keen to pay his own tribute to the 66-year-old's impact on English football.

"I think it will be different," Rodgers added. "I’d like to mention Marcelo before I say anything more about Leeds. It’s a big loss to the Premier League with Bielsa not being there, as much for the human qualities he showed in his time there. It’s a huge loss for Leeds, not only the club, but the city.

"When everyone was going through the pandemic, he was a real father figure. The aftermath of him going won’t be easy for a number of weeks because he was admired there by many and, of course, myself along with other managers.

"I was lucky enough to spend some time with him while he was here [working in England] and I’ll always feel very privileged to have done that. In the modern game, where the game is a circus at this level, he brought a lot of what would be old-school values to the game.

"It was a joy watching him operate and not be taken in by everything that goes around the modern game of football. Watching his team and watching him, it was just a sense of what football used to be like – just enjoyment, fun – and always with respect and humility.

"For me, he will be a loss, but Leeds will go again. Jesse will come in, he’ll get a new experience here in the Premier League and he’s taken over a great group of players. They’re players who are very honest and have been very good in these last few seasons in the Premier League.

"He’ll want to give them a lift and challenge to stay in the Premier League. Jesse’s style will be more zonal, I think. Marcelo was an outlier in a lot of what he did in terms of his man-to-man marking.

"There’s not too many coaches around the world who will do that, but when they’re at their best, it’s very difficult to play against. I think they’ll go more zonal now in their game and more traditional in terms of pressing."

Adapting to the new challenges with Marsch's Leeds will pose is now top of the agenda for Rodgers, who believes the new man in charge at Elland Road will look to make changes to the system deployed.

"When there’s a new manager coming in, you tend to try to look at their previous clubs," the 49-year-old continued. "Obviously, when I was at Celtic, we played against Salzburg and Leipzig, so I understand the model of how they want to work.

"They’ll be more traditional in terms of pressing and their game which is based around that and counter pressing. I’ll expect that style of football. I don’t think there will be too much that we don’t know. It always takes a period of time to really implement your ideas [as a new manager].

"Jesse has inherited an honest group of players who will be physically in really good condition.

"They work well, they give everything to the game, and they’ve got some really talented players. In the base of it, they’ve also got some really top professional, British players that have formed a foundation of their success over this last four years.

"They’ll want to work, it’s just going to be more traditional, in terms of the set up of the team. The man-to-man marking, with eight players, that’s fairly unique in the modern game. Having seen his teams play, it’s more zonal pressure on the game, which is what it is for most teams.

"There’s so much footage now of players and teams, so you have a good idea of how they’re going to work, but over a period of time, he’ll be looking to impose his own signature on the team."

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