Jesse Marsch relishing new Leeds United 'first' and spells out Everton plan in 'English week'

A first taste of a Tuesday night league fixture barely three days after a weekend match.

This, says former RB Leipzig boss Marsch, is 'English woche' - the name given in Germany to the English demands of a seven-day period featuring a midweek league game.

Yet Marsch hopes ‘English woche’ might just fall at exactly the right time for his Leeds side who are focusing only on righting the wrongs of Brighton against tonight's visitors Everton.

Marsch has already had two experiences of midweek league games at Leeds on the back of a fixture the previous weekend.

Neither ended very well.

Back in March, Leeds lined up against Aston Villa for a Thursday night match on the back of the previous Saturday's promising display but 1-0 defeat at Leicester City in Marsch's first game in charge.

Leeds, though, were then brushed aside 3-0 by Steven Gerrard's side and a defeat by the same scoreline followed in the Wednesday night home clash against Chelsea in May on the back of a Sunday 2-1 reverse at Arsenal.

Back then, the 3-0 defeat to Thomas Tuchel's Blues left Marsch's side in the division's relegation zone with just two games left yet the subsequent 1-1 draw at home to Brighton and final day 2-1 triumph at Brentford kept United up.

Five games into the new campaign and buoyed by victories against Wolves and Chelsea, Marsch's side find themselves fifth, even accounting for Saturday's first defeat of the season at Brighton which followed last Wednesday night's 3-1 win at home to Barnsley in the Carabao Cup.

Marsch’s first taste of a Tuesday night league game at Leeds now presents a clash against an Everton side down the wrong end of the early Premier League table.

Having also survived their own major relegation battle last term, Frank Lampard's Toffees are still seeking their first victory of the new campaign having amassed just two points so far although United's head coach is full of respect for tonight's visitors.

Marsch, though, is determined to make sure that his side are focussed on unleashing their own threats and that a first Tuesday night taste of ‘English woche’ presents the perfect opportunity to bounce back in style.

"In Germany, when you play midweek, they call it an English woche which means an English week," explained Marsch at his pre-match press conference.

"When you sit in Germany and you watch how many games the Championship plays and the games in the Prem and everything else and no winter break, when I came to this league I knew this was going to be a big challenge how to perform game in and game out, week in and week out with so many matches.

"It's one of the reasons that we've tried to build a bigger squad so that we're ready to rotate and we can count on more players and hopefully put fewer players at risk of injury.

"I try to take every experience that we have together and find out what are the learning points?

"What are the good learning points? What are the bad learning points and where are the opportunities and how do we take steps forward and get stronger for each experience?

"The best way to learn is to play matches, right?

"And so that's why we rotated against Barnsley, to get more different players on the match and then we had a really good hour discussion about what as a team what that match was, and we talked about what was good, what was wasn't as good and then how each player can move forward and how we can move forward as a group.

"My goal is always to have an entire squad that is very clear in their roles and ready to execute and perform at all moments so certainly this week will be a test of them."

'English woche' serves up three games in the space of eight days for Marsch's side who also visit Brentford on Saturday afternoon.

Brentford denied tonight's visitors Everton their first win of the new season on Saturday when Vitaly Janelt netted from close range as part of an 84th-minute corner to seal a 1-1 draw.

The Toffees had gone ahead in the 24th minute through reported £60m Chelsea target Anthony Gordon but Lampard's side were saved by the woodwork three times and survived 20 Brentford shots at goal.

Marsch, though, says there is plenty to be wary of although his own focus is being directed elsewhere.

Marsch warned: "I saw that they got a good result against Brentford, who I think are a really good team and I think the way that they played at the end of last year was very pragmatic but also very clear.

"They defend very well, they don't give much away, they're good on the counter so it sets up to be a dangerous game for us.

"But we have to make sure I think that we're very clear with exactly what they want out of the match and make sure that we don't play into the strategy of what they're trying to do and we play into the strategy of what we want to do.

"It'll be a different match, just like Chelsea was a different match than the Brighton match.

"There'll be different tactics involved, there'll be different players, there'll be different match plans.

"But certainly what I said is that we don't play foolishly where we're playing into the hands of the opponent and more we're playing to our strengths and what we want to achieve on the day."

Marsch added: "In general, I think the whole group is moving forward.

"I think even the Barnsley game wasn't perfect but there were a lot of positives.

“I just have to take a little time to think about where the guys are at physically, what we will need specifically for the Everton match and then to put a team on the pitch that I think can manage that game the best that we can."