Jesse Marsch owns up to huge Leeds United error after controversial Marcelo Bielsa comments

Former Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch admits his decision to publicly question Marcelo Bielsa's training methods was a mistake. Marsch was the man selected to replace Bielsa in the Elland Road dugout back in February 2022 with Leeds in something of a tailspin under the Argentinian and heading for Premier League relegation.

Marsch made enough of an impact to keep the Whites in the top flight during his first few months in the job, but it's fair to say he rubbed a number of supporters up the wrong way with a comment he made about Bielsa, who holds legend status in West Yorkshire, shortly after his arrival.

Having spent a small amount of time with his players, Marsch publicly outlined his belief that they had been 'over trained' by Bielsa, suggesting burnout was the reason behind the club's poor form in the top flight. Such comments were seen by some as Marsch taking aim at his predecessor and the American, who has been out of work since leaving Leeds in February last year, admits he could have chosen his words more carefully.

“I think me saying on talkSPORT that the team was over trained was a mistake,” Marsch said when speaking on Simon Jordan's Up Front podcast. “I complimented Marcelo Bielsa a thousand times publicly because I loved the way he played, and I learned from him.

"When I said that the team was over trained it wasn’t a pure indictment on Marcelo, I just thought of it as a fact. The team had been through a lot physically and there were a lot of injuries. Of all the things I said, I didn’t even think that the over training was up for debate – I thought it was a known thing. I later realised that I didn’t mean to insight the public in that manner because I never wanted it to be me against Marcelo.

"I knew the Leeds community loved Bielsa. When I was interviewing for the role, I talked about the similarities between Marcelo and myself because, in so many ways at that time, Leeds United was Marcelo Bielsa.”