Leeds United v Aston Villa: Jesse Marsch will not be lost in translation

He hopes they can help unlock more from the likes of Jack Harrison and Raphinha in particular.

In his first press conference as the new Elland Road coach, Marsch was very conscious to rein in the American but, as he looked ahead to the Aston Villa game, he embraced it.

“Football’s awesome!” he said, talking about the atmosphere he expects in his first game at the stadium he now calls home and harnessing the passion he was talking about that will be a big factor in his success or failure as Marcelo Bielsa’s replacement.

He also spoke gratefully and often about many “nice” moments with Leeds supporters but “nice” is not the first word that springs to mind when Elland Road is as it should be. It is about intimidation and Marsch wants that edge in his players too, telling Harrison to play like a “son of a bitch”.

Not unnaturally, foreign managers new to the Premier League often like to rely on one or two compatriots they can bring in but Marsch will have to wait until the summer transfer window for that. Now, the nearest he has is Harrison, who went to school in Massachusetts and played for New York City, rivals of Marsch’s New York Red Bulls.

Harrison and Raphinha will be fundamental to Marsch’s approach. Although he says he is not wedded to a formation, he rolled out old Red Bull favourite 4-2-2-2 at Leicester City. It makes unusual demands of those behind the centre-forwards, playing as old-fashioned inside-forwards nearer the centre spot than touchline.

“He can run all day, he is explosive, he’s effective in one-v-ones, he’s dangerous, he’s smart,” says Marsch of Harrison. “I’m asking him to play a different role, I want him to play a little bit more of an interior player.”

Harrison has bad memories of Marsch, losing 7-0 to him on his professional debut, but the 48-year-old has long been a fan.

“He reminded me that was his first game and I said, ‘Okay, we won’t talk about it!’” says Marsch. “But I watched Jack in university and considered trying to find a way to draft him when I was at New York Red Bulls. Unfortunately the enemy had taken him.

“[Before] I spoke to [Leeds’s director of football] Victor Orta two years ago [about the possibility of one day becoming the coach] I followed Leeds so I could see Jack. I could see Jack had taken a lot of new responsibility here. He was always very respectable and would shake your hand as the opposition coach.” Without knocking that out of him, Marsch wants to see another side too.

“‘It’s okay to be a good, young man and a son of a bitch on the pitch,’ I’ve said to him,” he reveals.

Raphinha is a different challenge, far and away Leeds’s best player for much of the season, but worryingly off the boil recently.

Marsch says it is about “making him clear what the tactics are and what we want from him with and without the ball, having him be aggressive and confident in one-v-one situations, in transition moments, have him be explosive and use his ability to sprint over and over again.

“I called on him in one of the meetings this week and he spoke English in front of the group in a confident way.

“He has also come to us several times and said he’d like to do this at set-pieces and that in certain parts of the field.”

Educating players in what he wants is clearly the biggest thing Marsch is trying to do and Leeds’s goal threat tonight should be helped by Patrick Bamford’s return from injury, which Marsch says will come from the bench.

Getting ideas across is easier if you do not need a translator, internal or external. Marsch’s famous half-time speech to his Red Bull Salzburg players in the Anfield dressing room during a Champions League game was notable for switching between German and English.

“I’m so happy to not speak German any more!” he laughs. “It’s the intonation of language, the small details and what words to use when that make communication effective or not. I became relatively fluent in German but I wasn’t able to capture every moment as well as I can in English.

“Maybe I’m ridiculed more for my language here in England than I would be in Germany but we’ll get through that.”

Leo Fuhr Hjelde is expected back in weeks, not months, after a successful knee operation, Diego Llorente returns tonight and Adam Forshaw is pushing to start after telling Marsch he feels better than he has for years.

Liam Cooper is in training but Marsch is aiming to get him and Kalvin Phillips up to “100 per cent” in the international break at the end of the month, whilst Tyler Roberts (hamstring) is expected to be out for three to four months.

Last six games: Leeds United LLLLDL, Aston Villa WWLLDW

Referee: S Hooper (Swindon)

Last time: Leeds United 3 Aston Villa 1, February 27, 2021, Premier League