Brendan Rodgers is expecting Leeds United to be ‘different’ after replacing Marcelo Bielsa with Jesse Marsch, speaking to the Mercury ahead of the Premier League clash with Leicester City on Saturday.
Marcelo Bielsa certainly lived and died by his man-marking sword.
The principles that made the enigmatic Argentine Leeds’ most iconic manager since the legendary Don Revie were also his undoing, his reluctance to budge on the tactics that served him so well leading to his eventual and gradual downfall.
And Marsch, brought in on Monday as Bielsa’s successor, has already admitted that he plans to do things his own way.
In comes a more controlled, reserved ‘zonal’ system. One that, as the former Red Bull Salzburg coach explains, should avoid leaving Leeds ‘exposed on the transition’ quite so often.
Will Leeds beat Leicester City?
“I think it will be different,” says Rodgers, who’s Leicester side welcome Leeds to the King Power on Saturday afternoon.
“Leeds will go again. Jesse has taken over a great group of players, who have been very good.
“His style will be zonal. Marcelo was an outlier in terms of man to man. They will be more traditional in terms of their pressing.
“It will be more traditional. Jesse has said himself, it will be more zonal pressure. There’s so much footage now, so you have a good idea of how they will work.”
Widows of Bielsa
Bielsa’s sudden departure robs English football of one of it’s most intriguing, mercurial characters. A man who not only transformed Leeds United but did so with a humility and class.
The most reluctant of Messiahs.
“Marcelo is a big loss to the Premier League,” Rodgers adds. “As much for the human qualities he showed. It’s a big loss for the city, he was a father figure. He was admired there, and by managers. (Bielsa) brought old-school values.
“He was not taken in by everything that goes around the modern game. It was what football used to be like. He will be a loss.”
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