‘Nothing to do with Leeds’ - Thomas Tuchel contradicts Jesse Marsch’s view of Whites rampant win over Chelsea

Seven days after his embarrassing reaction to a post-match handshake with Antonio Conte, this time it was what he said in the Leeds United press room which was cringeworthy.

The Chelsea manager was morose after his team’s 3-0 defeat at Elland Road. Some lines of enquiry simply met with a shake of the head, some a long stare, others arguing for work needed in the transfer window met audible disbelief - “more midfielders?”

Tuchel was entitled to be grumpy having seen his team beaten by the same crushing scoreline they won by here in May. He is an intelligent and hugely-successful manager but the bitter taste of defeat shaped his words.

“This has nothing to do with the style of Leeds,” he insisted. “I think it’s more our fault than anybody else’s credit.”

The result had everything to do with Leeds and more specifically Jesse Marsch’s way of playing.

History might be written by the victors but it was not propaganda when the American said “our way of playing dictated the match almost entirely.”

Tuchel was right to argue Chelsea made some good chances in the opening quarter of the match, though. The left of split strikers, Raheem Sterling, was a tactical annoyance. The game was less than 45 seconds old when he first shot wide and after 15 minutes he got behind and inside Robin Koch - happy coming wide to deal with him so Rasmus Kristensen could stick to his own game - and netted, but from an offside position.

When a header from Sterling’s strike partner Kai Havertz produced a 22nd-minute chance for Mason Mount, the man in the hole, Illan Meslier, saved low.

But before and after that Leeds played as Marsch wants - furiously waved to press high up the field by him, applauded when they did. Dan James and Jack Harrison had chances before Chelsea hit their stride, Rodrigo and Diego Llorente when they were in it.

“We knew how important it was to come out strong and that set the tone,” said Harrison.

It was not Leeds having to respond to one of the best teams in Europe - quite the opposite.

“We’ll always use tactics to try and implement our principles to manipulate the game and opponents and make the game look the way we want it to,” said Marsch.

“Against an incredibly top opponent we were able to do that. I think that’s rewarding and validating for everybody.”

Leeds are a work in progress but, helped by shrewd signings already attuned to Marsch’s thinking, the progress is pleasingly rapid.

The first goal was a direct result of Brenden Aaronson’s pressing, the second reward for the work coach Mark Jackson has been doing on set pieces, the third a counter-attack.

Marsch likes to make games at Elland Road chaotic and the constant switching of positions by Rodrigo - mainly a pretty false nine - and James - for the most part narrow right-winger - added to it. The relentless energy of the man between them brought the opening goal after 33 minutes.

Thiago Silva’s backpass gave Edourard Mendy plenty of thinking time - too much, and he spent it dithering before Aaronson tackled him barely a yard out and tapped in. It was so bad Tuchel called it an own goal numerous times.

Inside four minutes it was two.

Rodrigo may be a silky Brazilian-born Spaniard most comfortable at No 10 but recently when pushed further forward, he has been doing a decent Lee Chapman impression from a high crosses, this one a Harrison free-kick after Sterling caught Marc Roca from behind.

Having thrown away a 2-0 lead at Southampton eight days earlier, they learnt from it, taking their medicine a bit after the restart and bringing on Adam Forshaw for extra midfield energy with half an hour left.

Still, only Reece James really worked Meslier.

Luis Sinisterra was preparing to add to Leeds’s counter-attacking threat when they scored their third that way without him. With 20 minutes to go, James got to the byline. Aaronson could not stretch to the cross, but Harrison volleyed in from Rodrigo’s touch.

It might even have been four but two minutes later Rodrigo fired Harrison’s cross over under pressure from Marc Cucurella.

Already on a booking for almost ripping Aaronson’s shirt off inside ten minutes, Kalidou Koulibaly pulled down the freshly-introduced Joe Gelhardt and trudged off to the waves of thousands of grinning home fans.

Even with the home fans joyously singing his name after what he called his side’s best performance under him, Marsch was reluctant to proclaim this the milestone it felt like.

“There’s probably still a lot of doubts (about) me,” he acknowledged.

“It’s okay, it’s normal.

“Because I know the fans are intelligent I hope they start to see a lot more of what the tactics are and what we’re trying to accomplish. I hope they’re starting to gather more information.”

The key information gathered yesterday is that Marsch’s way of playing works even against one of the best teams in Europe. Validation indeed.