Leeds United head coach Jesse Marsch admits he’s been blown away by Rodrigo Moreno’s form since replacing Marcelo Bielsa at the Premier League outfit, speaking to Leeds Live.
Regular visitors to Elland Road’s west stand will tell you that, as far as visibility goes, there are certainly better vantage points. Craning your neck over the dugout as the ball once again disappears from sight.
But there’s an upside. Those with a better view of proceedings, as Leeds survived a scare against Norwich City on March 13th, will have missed a celebration that, for pure, unbridled passion, would rival even Temur Ketsbaia in a sideline-smashing frenzy.
As referee Stuart Attwell overturned a Norwich penalty, with the help of VAR, Rodrigo stopped just short of climbing on top of the home side’s dugout, hammering on the roof, eyes as wide as they were wild.
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For much of the Bielsa era, Rodrigo felt like the odd-one out at Elland Road. A player without a defined position or a defined role in the team. Marsch, however, has made it his mission to coax the mercurial talents out of his £27 million Spain international and his appointment in February has coincided with the most consistent displays of Rodrigo’s Leeds career.
Rodrigo even admitted, via the BBC, that he feels more comfortable under the Wisconsin-born 48-year-old than he did under his enigmatic predecessor.
And if his celebration against Norwich told us anything – not to mention the way he threw himself into the fans after scoring at Wolves, a couple of security guards away from engaging in a full-on crowd surf – it’s that he feels part of the gang at last.
Is Rodrigo Moreno saving his Leeds United career?
“(I) see him as a leader in the team; Committing to 100 per cent of what we are trying to accomplish as a group,” Marsch says.
“With Rodrigo, he wants to learn our ideas, commit to the tactics and be aggressive. To have quality and execute in the last third. Working with him has been outstanding. (He’s an) incredible human being.
“(I want to) help him grow and get better and continue to develop. Whether they are 35 or 15 I believe all players have room to develop.”
Leeds have scored stoppage-time winners in their last two games but are not safe from relegation just yet. Every one of the four sides below them in the table have at least one match in hand.
Southampton will travel to Elland Road this weekend.
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