After avoiding the drop down to the Championship by the skin of their teeth last season, Leeds United are looking forward to a fresh start for the 2022/23 Premier League campaign.
With the Whites keen to get most of their work done early in the summer transfer market, the Leeds hierarchy are eager to give manager Jesse Marsch the tools he needs to get the West Yorkshire outfit challenging higher up the table next term.
Leeds Given A Scare
It was certainly not an easy ride for Leeds last season, as a small squad, littered with injuries to key players, avoided relegation on the final day of the campaign at Brentford. Leeds, who are 13/5 in the football betting to be relegated next season, will be determined to avoid any such drama come their final game next May against Tottenham at Elland Road. Former boss Marcelo Bielsa was happy utilising a smaller squad of trusted senior players and promising academy stars, but when long-term injuries took out the likes of striker Patrick Bamford, midfielder Kalvin Phillips and defender Liam Cooper, wins became hard to come by.
Marsch was tasked with one job on his arrival and that was to keep Leeds in the top flight. The American tactician was able to get the Whites over the line and now he is looking to build a squad in his image. While Leeds are expected to see some potential big names leave Elland Road for big money this summer, Marsch will undoubtedly have a bigger and possibly more complete squad at his disposal come their first game of the new season at home to Wolves on August 6.
Marsch Can Finally Implement Style
Despite helping Leeds avoid the drop, there were critics of Marsch’s tactical approach across some of his 12 games in charge of his first Premier League club. Given the host of wingers available to him, Leeds often lacked width in many of their games, before Marsch adopted a wider approach towards the end of the season. Trying to implement a new style, especially after following in the footsteps of Bielsa’s unique tactics, was always going to be tricky.
With a host of new faces set to come through the doors at Elland Road, some who have already worked under Marsch, the new Leeds boss can start to really try and get the most out of his new approach for next season. The Whites are likely to line up with two frontmen and will hope to bring in a new striker to potentially play alongside Bamford. Meanwhile, Leeds will look to resolve their lack of options in the middle of the park and bring in more midfielders who can play in Marsch’s system.
It certainly looks set to be an intriguing summer ahead at Elland Road and perhaps the final day scare of last season was just what the club needed to push them on to better things.
