Shaun Wright-Phillips has claimed that he has ‘never trained’ so hard in his life as he did with Leeds United’s new boss, Jesse Marsch, as he told BBC Radio 5 Live Sport.
The former Premier League winger worked with Marsch during his time at New York Red Bulls in the MLS and stated that he is a ‘good fit’ for Leeds.
On Monday evening, Leeds announced Marsch as their new Head Coach following the sacking of Marcelo Bielsa over the weekend.
The American was recently in the dugout at German side, RB Leipzig, before he was sacked within five months.
There will be avid and hardcore football fans who will know a thing or two about Marsch.
But, for those Leeds fans that don’t know much about the American, Wright-Phillips shared an insight into his training style and his methods compared to Bielsa’s.
“I have never trained that hard before in my life,” said Wright-Phillips. “I was already fit and some of the training that he puts on.
“The humidity was like 80% in New York, so on top of that and the heat, his training sessions were hard.
“I think he’s a good fit for Leeds, in general, because he presses pretty similar in the way to Bielsa. He just doesn’t allow his players to do the man-to-man marking where they end up vacating certain areas on the pitch and leaving big gaps.
On whether Marsch is flexible: “I think so. He did it a few times with us at New York Red Bulls. He did it a few times with Leipzig a few times. He does have the flexibility in there.
“Once he gets to know the players and they understand him, then they will enjoy playing under him. I don’t think they will work, especially in training, as hard (as they did with Bielsa). But there will be a lot of running involved.”
The one big positive for Leeds is that Marsch doesn’t have to tune up the club’s intensity because no-one is more demanding than Bielsa.
In fact, for the Leeds players, it probably will be a relief to have a little drop-off, although, it will still be at a high level and that makes Marsch’s life easier to express what he wants.
But, the biggest problem for him is that he doesn’t have much time to turn around the worst defence in England’s top-flight.
The first stop for Marsch is an away clash against Leicester City, who have been very inconsistent this season.
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