Leeds United ‘surprised’ Jesse Marsch with how ‘disjointed’ their display produced was against Aston Villa during his Elland Road debut in charge on Thursday, he told BBC Sport.
The Whites welcomed Villa to West Yorkshire for the American’s second match at the helm after replacing Marcelo Bielsa. Marsch opened his tenure with a 1-0 defeat at Leicester City on Saturday. But he was unable to end Leeds’ losing streak in his first home fixture, either.
United are now six games without a point and eight without a win since beating West Ham on January 16. No top-flight side has taken fewer points than Leeds since they won in east London. They have also conceded a league-high 25 goals, eight more than any other team.
Leeds shipped three at home to Aston Villa with Philippe Coutinho, Matty Cash and Calum Chambers beating Illan Meslier. The Birmingham side broke the deadlock after 22-minutes in West Yorkshire when Cash fed Coutinho. The full-back then fired himself on 65-minutes.
The Whites gave Marsch plenty of cause for concern for their Premier League survival with the display produced on Thursday. United started sluggishly and failed to forge any scoring chances in the first-half. And they ended the night with one shot on target from just four.
Marsch claims ‘disjoined’ Leeds ‘surprised’ him during Elland Road debut
Defending was not Leeds’ best trait in Marsch’s home debut against Aston Villa, either. The Villans spread play at will at times as they found space across the Elland Road pitch. United are now 16th in the table, having also played three more than Everton and two to Burnley.
Marsch has his work cut out at Thorp Arch to force a response at home to Norwich City on Sunday. Defeat to the basement boys Canaries can see the Whites end the weekend in the drop zone. But even Thursday’s display caught Marsch out with the issues Villa exploited.
“Disjointed,” Marsch said. “A little bit surprised not to be as clear as we were at Leicester.”
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