Leeds United v Manchester City: Annoying ‘best team in the world’ no easy task, admits Jesse Marsch

Manchester City, the team Marsch describes as the best in the world even as half of Merseyside is hoping they will end the season as only the second-best team in England, are pretty pesky themselves.

Drilled to something close to footballing perfection by manager Pep Guardiola over the last six years, some teams try to go toe to toe with them and end up getting beaten. Others try to play it cagey and still end up getting beaten.

Marsch, who was the RB Leipzig manager who lost 6-3 at Eastlands in September’s Champions League group stage has a clear idea of how he wants his team to approach this most daunting of footballing tasks, and has been hammering it home to his players this week.

“I’m used to being on the other end of the spectrum – fighting for the title,” reflects Marsch. “I know that a lot of times, playing against the relegation teams can be a pesky match. And that’s our job on the day – to make the match pesky for Man City.”

Which begs the question: what does he mean by “pesky”?

“Annoying? Pesky? I think dangerous, as well,” he explains. “ I think we have to have the pragmatism of understanding that we have to be aggressive, but we have to understand where to be aggressive, why to be aggressive and how to be aggressive. And then how to make sure that we are addressing exactly the things that make them the strongest and trying to eliminate and at least contain those things. And then still play to our strengths – that’s key.”

If it sounds simple it is anything but when you are up against the winners of three of the last four Premier League titles (they were runners-up in 2020).

“They’ve got an aura, they’ve got quality, they’ve got everything – money, success, expertise,” says Marsch admiringly. “They’ve got everything, so it’s incredible to have these kinds of clubs in the world that, in our sport, are just so dominant in almost every phase. And then also the makeup of what the club is, in terms of the network of other clubs that are connected with it, the power behind this club and this team is incomparable.”

Concentration will be essential against a team who can bombard you from all angles.

“Every second of the game is important because if we’re not ready or not totally connected, in one moment, they’re good enough to exploit that and be very dangerous,” warns Marsch.

“Our ability to be dangerous in moments will obviously affect how aggressive they can be. I was at the Man City-Liverpool (Premier League) game and Man City started out great, with lots of really good moments and they were aggressive in pushing forward. And then Liverpool were dangerous and able to get a goal and Man City had to be a little bit more cautious.

“Obviously we’re not Liverpool, but if we can find moments like Real Madrid (did in the Champions League on Tuesday) – to still be dangerous and make a goal or at least put a little bit of fear in our ability to counter(-attack) and to be effective with the ball – that will affect how aggressive they are, so that’s really important.

“And then the tactical plan the players are very clear on – we had a long video session on Thursday, another on Friday. They are very clear exactly what the tactical plan is and how to execute it on the day under a pressure situation – and I don’t mean pressure of the result, I mean the quality of the opponent and the intelligence of the opponent is so good that it forces them to have to be ready to run, but also ready to think.

“It’s a challenge at the highest level. We’ll make sure that we will do everything we can to be up for it.”

Despite his recent claims to the contrary, the compactness of Leeds under Marsch makes them vulnerable in wide areas – particularly with a doubt about whether their only specialist left-back, Junior Firpo, will make his return from injury. That was hammered home to the American in September.

“We made such big mistakes in the 6-3 match we had that it was really hard to evaluate what was good, what was bad on the day,” he says. “The ways that we thought we could hurt them, we were able to find some chances and some goals, and the ways that we knew they could punish us – they did effectively. We made such big mistakes in that game, I mean really, really bad mistakes.

“Their play in wide areas is what punished us the most and big switches, so you have to try to close the space on one side of the field, but know that the ball can quickly go to the other side, and that they can punish you over there.

“I think if you analyse them, they overload wide areas and they’re so good at crossing situations. Even though they don’t have much height up the field, they score almost every goal from wide areas. So we have to manage that.

“We have to understand what that means, and then what options they create and movements they create, and how to try to limit those.

“And then when we win balls –how to try to be effective to catch them on the counter. And then in possession, to still be confident and try to unbalance them. For me, that’s why I say they’re the best team in the world. It’s the quality they have, but also the way the manager teaches them to play the game. It’s such a high level, such a high level.

“They overload wide areas and they’re so good at crossing situations that even though they don’t have much height up the field they almost always score from those areas and then when we win balls you have to know how to beat them.

“It’s why I say they’re the best team in the world.”