Former Leeds United coach highlights where Jesse Marsch and Marcelo Bielsa were 'very similar'

Former Leeds United assistant coach Rene Maric insists there were similarities between the playing styles of Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch.

Marsch succeeded Bielsa at Elland Road in February 2022 after a run of poor results, in the midst of an injury crisis, saw the latter sacked. Then-sporting director Victor Orta had long been in contact with the American, identifying him as the like-for-like successor to Bielsa in terms of intensity and playing style.

After keeping Leeds up, Marsch sanctioned the appointment of Maric as assistant coach in July 2022 but the pair lasted just six months together, with poor results paving the way for their exit in January 2023. Supporters grew increasingly frustrated at Marsch's tactics in those final months but Maric insists he was similar to Bielsa in key areas.

“Leeds is a huge club, I really like the fans, but also the people there, the staff and the players,” Maric told Training Ground Guru. “It's amazing. I think what Bielsa left there in terms of that eagerness to work, to be able to take over from that, to be able to become part of that culture and learn from it was something that I really don't take for granted.

"Statistically, from what I've gathered, like the running data from Jesse's teams and Marcelo's teams, the speed of play in both phases, that eagerness to press high, the transition, looked very, very similar. For Victor, from what he told me, that was like a natural fit.

"Also, having a young squad, the idea was to have a coach who had a track record of developing talent. In the end, in terms of why it didn't work out, it's not easy to say. There are things that you can say, like the expected goals numbers were better than the rest showed. In terms of the absolute amount of running and sprinting, we were still top three in the league."

Following his Leeds exit last year, Maric caused quite the stir with a social media post in which he claimed he 'couldn't contribute more & further as it wasn't possible to instil some of the different ideas' he had. The post was quickly deleted and re-uploaded with different wording, but it seems that regret of not being able to implement ideas remains.

"I can just talk about myself, and I'm quite honest," the former Whites coach added. "There are things that, in retrospect, I would like to have done better. I did try, obviously, to do my best. I wasn't able to do that. In the end, after I got fired, I went to the next two games and was in the stand. I met some great people and still keep in touch with some of them.

"In that period, there was also some turmoil in terms of the high-ups; it's just normal if you're selling a club, if you're in the process, every decision has an additional point of discussion. Do you want to do it now? Do you do it later? And then things can get slower. That's normal. That's part of the situation and not necessarily the people.

"It's just sad that, in the end, such a historically big club with a great fan base couldn't make it through the season. I'm still very disappointed. I track every result. I was in touch with the new coaching staff, giving some feedback, ideas, and wishing them luck. And I think they're doing a great job for a great team."