Leeds United coach reveals Jesse Marsch's touchline advice and time-pressured half-time task
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Leeds United’s way of working has been transformed during 2022 following the departure of Marcelo Bielsa and his raft of loyal coaches.
Jesse Marsch’s arrival facilitated the promotion of Under-23s head coach Mark Jackson, in order to supplement the skeleton crew of first-team staff members remaining at the club.
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Hide AdJackson’s contract has been extended and the former Leeds player will continue in the home dugout during first-team matches this season.
Speaking to the Premier League’s official website, Jackson has revealed the way in which Leeds’ coaches work alongside the manager Jesse Marsch.
“Jesse always makes the final decisions, but throughout a game, he will turn around and ask for opinions. If I have an idea or a view on something tactical, or a possible change, he is the kind of manager that welcomes you bringing that forward,” he said.
"Frank [Schiemer] is in constant dialogue with the analysts about which clips we want to show, and he will nip off a few minutes early to get them ready for the interval.
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Hide Ad"And while the players are settling down, Jesse and the rest of us will review the clips before he presents them.
“In the past managers have told players they think they can do this or that better, but the players had to take their word for it.
"Now, we can actually show players on a screen what they are doing well, areas to improve, and how we can exploit the opposition. It is really, really beneficial.”
As for behind-the-scenes on an average day at the training ground, Jackson says the coaching team prepare days in advance for which drills and exercises the players undergo.
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Hide Ad“We sit down the day before as a team of coaches - in a meeting that Jesse will lead - and together we discuss what we want to achieve from that next session.
“My role on the grass is flexible from day-to-day.
“It might be that myself or Cameron [Toshack] take the scout team for an 11v11 against the starting XI. There it will be my responsibility to replicate how our next opposition play and assign roles to the players in that scout team.
“The great thing for me is that we have this planning process now. And in that process, Jesse doesn’t dictate to us.
“He will ask for opinions on what we should be doing, and how we do it. It’s been such a valuable experience so far, and I feel it’s a great quality for a manager to have that sense of inclusivity.”
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Hide AdJackson is set to be joined on the backroom team by Austrian coach René Marić, most recently assistant to Marco Rose at Borussia Dortmund.
This follows the arrival of Pierre Barrieu as fitness coach and performance analyst, as well as the appointment of former Manchester United and New York Red Bulls coach Ewan Sharp as Marsch assembles his staff before Leeds’ season opener on August 6.
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