Andy Cole has claimed that Leeds need to organise themselves in their relegation battle, like Newcastle United have done under Eddie Howe, as he told Sky Sports News.
The former Newcastle striker added that Leeds showed signs of improvements in Jesse Marsch’s first game in charge against Leicester, and if they had taken their chances, they would have won the game.
Prior to Marsch’s arrival, Leeds were conceding goals like crazy, breaking records for the wrong reasons and going three down before they could even get to the half-time break.
Only a number of weeks ago, Newcastle were also in the relegation dogfight, but they have been unbeaten since December.
And now, rather than heading towards the final few months of the season looking over their shoulders, they can look forward, as Cole shared his thoughts on Leeds.
“Everything is about the organisation,” said Cole. “You talk about Newcastle, everything is organised now. He (Eddie Howe) has had the opportunity to bring in players in January. They spent a lot of money. But they are organised.
“I think with Leeds, they need to organise themselves. The way they played in the first season under Bielsa was fantastic. The second season was always your toughest season.
“They have been caught out so many times. That’s why they find themselves in the situation they find themselves in. I think the new manager coming in, Marsch, he has to address those.
“You saw it (v Leicester). There are little, little tinkers now, whereby Leeds are going to tighten up. If they took their chances, they could have won the game.”
Marsch will take charge of his first home game on Thursday night when Aston Villa visit Elland Road.
There were encouraging signs for Leeds at the King Power, but at the end of the day, they left the East Midlands empty-handed.
When Howe took charge of Newcastle, they needed a number of weeks and defeats before they could get their engine going.
But given the number of games remaining for Marsch, he can’t afford to take his time because only 11 games are remaining.
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