Leeds continue to search for a manager and a win
Leeds United achieved promotion from the Sky Bet Championship in 2020. Their first season in the Premier League was amazing as they finished in ninth position. They sacked their hero Marcelo Bielsa in February 2022 after losing at home to Tottenham Hotspur. Leeds appointed Jesse Marsch as Bielsa’s replacement and his first match in charge was against Leicester City. Marsch’s first big win was against Wolves as Leeds came from two nil down to win 3-2 in injury time.
Leeds lost three games in a row near the end of 2021/2022 Premier League season against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City. Their discipline was terrible in these games as Luke Ayling got sent off against Arsenal and Daniel James received a red card against Chelsea. Leeds Premier League status was hanging in the balance and it came down to their last two games of the season against Brighton & Hove Albion at home and Brentford away. Pascal Struijk scored a huge goal for Leeds to achieve a draw against Brighton in injury time. The final day of 2021/2022 season was between Burnley and Leeds for the final spot in the bottom three. Burnley lost to Newcastle and Leeds confirmed survival as they managed to hang on for a win against Brentford.
Marsch was kept in the job due to achieving Premier League survival in 2021/2022 season. Leeds lost their two best players in the summer transfer window as Raphinha signed for Barcelona and Kalvin Phillips joined Man City. The club needed to find replacements for Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha as they signed midfielders Tyler Adams, Marc Roca and Brendan Aaronson. They also signed winger Wilfried Gnonto on deadline day for £5 million. It looked like that Marsch and the club did good business in the transfer window as they achieved seven points from their first three games of 2022/2023 Premier League season.
Their performance in beating Chelsea three nil was outstanding as the home side ran 11 kilometres more than the Blues. The problems have occurred since then for Marsch’s men and started as they lost on the road to Brighton. Leeds slipped down the table near the relegation zone and it took a couple of months before they won their next game against Liverpool at Anfield. Leeds showed a lot of character in their last home game before the World Cup break as they came from 3-1 down to win 4-3 against Bournemouth. Their final Premier League game was against Spurs before the World Cup break and Leeds took the lead three times but ended up losing 4-3.
Their form has been terrible since the return of the Premier League in December 2022 which includes no wins in 2023. Their performances have been very good against Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest but lost both games. Marsch made a huge mistake as he brought on top scorer Rodrigo in a FA Cup fourth round tie against Accrington Stanley. Leeds were winning three nil at the time and Rodrigo received an injury and is currently out of action until early April. The defeat to Forest was the final straw for Marsch as Leeds manager.
It's now more than two weeks since Leeds sacked Marsch but still haven’t found a replacement. A strange decision if Leeds didn’t have a replacement in mind before sacking the American. Leeds enquired about West Brom manager Carlos Corberan as he was assistant manager to Marcelo Bielsa at Elland Road. Corberan turned down the Leeds job as he signed a new contract with West Brom. Rayo Vallecano manager Andoni Iraola also decided to stay in Spain rather than taken the vacant Leeds job.
Leeds caretaker manager Michael Skubala was in charge for their last two games against Manchester United. Leeds achieved one point from their two games against Man United. Leeds have a bad combination in struggling to score goals and keep clean sheets. Patrick Bamford has returned to fitness but doesn’t look like scoring a goal as his touch has been terrible in the last couple of games. Skubala will remain in charge for their huge relegation clash against Everton at Goodison Park. Leeds next two Premier League games are against Everton & Southampton and need to achieve at least four points from these two games.
The remainder of the season will be stressful for Leeds fans and it could be decided on the final day for a second year in a row.