Jesse Marsch slammed by former Leeds star for ‘messing with’ the team; player admits he ‘cried’ when leaving Elland Road
A former Leeds United player has blasted Jesse Marsch for his team selections and has hinted the American is one of the main reasons he left Elland Road.
Marsch became Leeds boss in February last year following the sacking of tactician Marcelo Bielsa. It was always going to be hard for Marsch to become a Leeds favourite given how much Bielsa was adored at the club.
Marsch joined the Whites when they were sat 16th in the Premier League, two points above the relegation zone. His main task was to steer the club to safety.
Leeds did stay in the top flight, but only just. They beat Brentford 2-1 away from home on the last day of the season to finish in 17th place, three points above relegated Burnley.
Despite keeping Leeds in the Premier League, Marsch was not loved by the Leeds fans earlier this season due to his rather defensive style of play. And when results started to go against him, it was only going to end one way.
The 49-year-old was sacked by Leeds in February. The club had backed him with over £140million during the summer and winter transfer windows, but they were once again involved in a relegation fight.
Leeds failed to capture several managerial targets before landing on Javi Gracia, who has previously worked at Watford and Valencia.
Midfielder Mateusz Klich was on Leeds’ books from July 2017 until the recent January window. He was an important player during Bielsa’s tenure but Marsch refused to give him as much game time, which is why he left for DC United.
Midfielder pushed out of Leeds by manager
During an interview with Polish source WP SportoweFakty (via Sport Witness), Klich has discussed his Leeds exit and how he actually planned to stay in west Yorkshire for longer.
He said: “I wanted to finish my contract at Leeds and leave in one and a half years. Before the season, I knew that I would not be a starting player and I would be coming from the bench. I agreed to the role and was curious myself how I would handle it. I like to play football and I want to do it as often as possible.
“For the first few games it still looked good, I felt OK. After that we started to play very poorly and I think I should have had a few chances from the first minute of the game. However, I didn’t get any, which I was angry about.”
Klich went on to slam Marsch for tinkering with the team and actually making the players worse. He added: “I saw that the coach was messing with the squad, throwing other players in different positions, and not taking me into account at all, although, for example, in the previous match I played well. Eventually I started to get nervous. It was pure ambition.”
The Pole then revealed how he ‘cried a lot’ when swapping Leeds for Wayne Rooney’s DC United side. “It [my Leeds spell] was something great and I experienced it very much. I have friends in Leeds, an apartment, we had everything sorted out with the family. Six years in one place, however, is a lot, I’m not used to moving and changing clubs. I cried a lot, especially when people wrote to me. The fans asked me not to leave.”
