What was redundant in Simon Grayson's Leeds United side is vital to Jesse Marsch's Whites, says former striker Mike Grella

The American's two-year stint at Elland Road was characterised by cameo appearances and loan spells, as Grella's attacking talent couldn't disrupt the established strike partnership between Luciano Becchio and Jermaine Beckford.

Grella made three starts amid 14 bench appearances during the Whites' promotion-winning 2009/2010 campaign before a four-minute cameo on the opening day of the following season concluded his involvement in the Championship, with United offering his services to third-tier sides Carlisle United and Swindon Town before making his exit permanent in the summer.

But later in his career he also played under Marsch at New York Red Bulls.

Now, the striker realises that his failure to make a breakthrough at Elland Road owed much to the fact that lower league English football didn't have a role for a player with his attributes.

Speaking on the Leeds United podcast, Grella revealed: "The lower you drop in the leagues, there's no linking play - you can either hold the ball up, which I was not great at, or you're the guy in the box that just has a knack for scoring goals, which I was okay at, but not exceptional.

"I was more the linker, the creator, the little bit of the number 10 who plays between the lines.

"And I never really got into a situation which allowed me to play in my true position."

Three seasons and three League One clubs later, Grella returned to the United States, via a brief flirtation with the Danish Superliga, and began to thrive at Major League Soccer side NYRB, working under Marsch.

In his first season, Grella found the net nine times and marked seven assists, taking his total goal contributions for one term under Marsch above the sum tally he achieved in five seasons in England's third tier.

It's easy to see why the 35-year-old was moved to tweet his support when his former manager was first proposed as Marcelo Bielsa's successor: "Leeds United you are getting a top person and a top manager in Jesse Marsch."

Beyond his fondness for Marsch's personal qualities and processes, though, it was Grella's fitness for his style of play that meant his finest playing years were played out at the Red Bull Arena.

"Jesse's brand of football is very fast, very intense," Grella said.

"He wants to press the ball, and once you win it, he wants you to get to goal in as few passes as possible - if you can do it in one or two, that's great, if you need more, you need more.

"I was the one guy in the team that could slow everything down at times."

At Leeds, Marsch has had some difficulty shaking off his players' Bielsarian need for speed when it comes to implementing what he calls the '100 to 70', an approach which requires the speed of play to fluctuate between pace and poise.

Nurturing creative players, of the type that were redundant in Simon Grayson's promotion-winning Leeds team, will be essential for Marsch to establish control over matches, according to Grella.

"Sometimes - and I've been watching the games - the one defect of playing that way is that the game just goes back and forth, back and forth, and you end up running a lot," he said.

"It almost becomes a coin flip because both times are flying in transition, it just gets to be too much.

"There's times where you need to slow the game down and I was good at that, I was the one guy that could - 'alright, it's not on, let's go back around and let's play a little bit'.

"If teams sat in low blocks I was one of the guys that could break them down with something creative with a pass or a goal or something so I could fit into his system very well."