It seems that Leeds United’s collapse in form is getting to Jesse Marsch as much as the rest of us. But while he was bemoaning his misfortunes in the press conference before the Liverpool game, one journalist was suggesting that our results in the next three games will determine his fate.
As our head coach it all off his chest he said "It's a little different, I am actually kind of angry right now. I am tired of playing matches where we are in the match and in many cases better than the opponent and walking away with nothing. I am tired of not capitalising on moments when we are the better team in matches, I am tired of giving away goals too cheaply and I am tired of not getting results we should be getting.”
"14 years as a player and 13 years as a coach, I have never lost this much in my career and I am sick of it. I am trying to figure out which guys can be counted on at the highest level right now, what kind of decisions need to be made from a tactical perspective in terms of match plans and I need to help the group find their confidence and find which guys are ready to fight for everything right now so that in these next matches we can do everything we can to get the points we need."
And up to a point he’s right, of course. In the first half at Palace and the second against Arsenal we looked very good, as we did at the start of Sunday’s game against Fulham. And it’s not down to him that the club failed to land an experienced striker to replace a woefully out of sorts Bamford and convert some of the chances we created at times when we needed to kill teams off.
And he can’t do much about individual errors from some of the players, like the defenders going to sleep for all three Fulham goals on Sunday, and Sinisterra getting himself sent off against Villa. One more piece of misfortune was the Forest game being postponed thanks to her majesty popping her clogs, as it would have been handy to have played them before their recent revival.
But although most of our defeats have been by fine margins, his tactics must take a large part of the blame for the plight we now find ourselves in. We play with a lack of width and don’t seem to be able to build attacks through a crowded central midfield. We’re too predictable and the other managers in the Premier league have worked out how to beat us.
There were chants of "you're getting sacked in the morning” on Sunday, but I thought that they were mostly from the Fulham section of the stadium. The Leeds fans were mostly stunned into silence as many filed out early, one blocking my view of Sinisterra’s injury time goal as he walked right in front of my seat.
I thought Marsch might have gone that evening, but instead he has received the dreaded vote of confidence from the powers that be at the club. He’s gone as far as claiming that "the board and I are unified completely”, yet a number of stories are doing the rounds, one of which comes from CBS journalist Ben Jacobs.
Jacobs said "Leeds know that they can't afford to let this continue for too long, or they risk getting cut adrift towards the back end of this half of the season and then the beginning of next year. The next three games, from what I'm told, are very important for Jesse Marsch, but particularly that home game against Bournemouth, where he desperately needs a win or he'll be in big, big trouble."
I’m assuming that he means the next three league games and isn’t including the League Cup tie at Wolves, which will probably see a number of key players rested as we try to concentrate on staying in the Premier League. This would make sense as this would take us up to the World Cup break and would give the club six weeks to line up a replacement if we are to part company with Marsch.
And it’s not getting any easier for Marsch, with a number of players like to miss the Anfield trip with injury. Tyler Adams missed the Fulham and may not recover in time, and Sinnisterra is also a doubt after being forced off with a knock on Sunday. Gelhardt and Rodrigo ae also struggling, as is Liam Cooper, who will have a fitness test before the match.
So it’s hard to see Marsch getting the results he needs in these circumstances, especially as the fixture list is about to get a little bit tougher. The most damaging aspect of our poor run has been that of the eight games from which we have taken only two points only one was against a top club, in the shape of Arsenal.
And unlike last season when Norwich and Watford could safely be pencilled in for relegation well before the end, there are no obvious candidates to keep us out of trouble. Forest and Leicester are showing signs of being able to pull clear and you would expect Wolves to improve once they get a new manager. All of which will force the board to act sooner rather than later.
Just in case you want any more gloomy stats about Marsch’s spell in charge, he now has no league wins this season against any manager still in a job. And this is probably the only time that Leeds have achieved no wins in any competition during a Prime Minister's term of office (not counting Winston Churchill’s first spell when normal football was suspended during the war).
So although I like Jesse Marsch and I admire his passion at least, I can’t see him being on the Elland Road touchline when our Premier League campaign resumes against Manchester City on December 28th.