Leeds boss Jesse Marsch attributes injury issues to Marcelo Bielsa

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Leeds United appear to pulling away from the relegation battle of late, following three wins and a draw in their last four matches.

That included a 3-0 victory of fellow battlers Watford this weekend, which leaves Leeds nine points clear of the relegation zone, although Burnley do have two games in hand on Leeds. Things appeared to have gone stale under previous manager Marcelo Bielsa and as a result Jesse Marsch was brought in to stop the bleeding.

A large part of the problem was the number of injuries they were suffering, including significant time out for key players like England international Kalvin Phillips. Speaking to talkSPORT, Marsch said this was down to Bielsa’s intense training schedule.

“The injury issue, for me, had a lot to do with the training methodology. These players were over-trained and it led to them being physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically in a difficult place to recover from week to week, game to game.”

“I have a very specific methodology with the way I work and I’ve had a reputation for high running data, but also being having a healthy, fit, strong players – who can meet the standards of the game we want.”

That hasn’t been the only challenge for Marsch coming in. The former RB Leipzig manager was keen to emphasize the difficulty of changing style after such an idiosyncratic approach, as was the case with Bielsa.

“The other part is just the playing style.”

“Marcelo had such a strong man-v-man playing style. And trying to rip the players away from three-and-a-half years of being instructed to do exactly that, transitioning into what we’re trying to do, has been massively challenging for the players to adapt to.”

“They’ve worked really hard at it, but they still fall into bad habits, especially when they’re fatigued on the pitch. It’s normal.”

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