Presenter Conor McGilligan has claimed that Javi Gracia’s style will be more structured and less chaotic than Jesse Marsch’s at Leeds United.
Why have Leeds United moved for Gracia?
After sacking Jesse Marsch at the start of February, Leeds found themselves in a difficult position when their first-choice targets refused to leave their current positions to join a relegation battle mid-season.
Leeds fans may be apprehensive about the appointment with the club in the relegation zone, but McGilligan is of the impression that Gracia’s tactics may see the team improve from Marsch’s reign.
Speaking on the One Leeds Fan Channel, McGilligan explained why Gracia’s style is different to Marsch’s and hinted at potential defensive improvements to come under the Spaniard.
“He [Marsch] wanted chaos. That’s what he’s essentially mentioned, those frantic moments were something that Leeds were able to thrive on.
“And mostly with the unit press, Leeds flew forward, and a lot of the time in defence, you’ll just see Leeds chasing. You’d see Leeds all attracted to the ball, and you’d see four defenders running after the ball and maybe that attacker would ping it off to the right.
“I remember Jarrod Bowen doing that against us for West Ham last year, where we’d all charge towards the ball and then they’d pick it off to a winger and he’d be in acres of space, based on moments, based on frantic chaos.
“This is not going to be the case with Gracia. He wants ultimate control. So that narrow attacking system is completely different to utter chaos with Marsch in our system. So yeah, a structure to defend, a structure to attack and a lot of pragmatism, there’s a huge difference, there.”
Can Gracia keep Leeds up?
Gracia has been out of work since a short spell at Qatari outfit Al-Sadd and returns to the Premier League having previously had a fairly productive spell at Watford.
He guided Watford to their best-ever Premier League finish in 11th place in 2018/19, as well as the FA Cup final that year, before being sacked the following season.
Leeds are currently in 19th place, and with 39 goals conceded in 23 games – the fourth-worst defensive record in the division – their leakiness at the back has proven costly this season.
If Gracia can quickly implement a defensive structure to the side that Leeds evidently lacked under Marsch, he may have a good chance of saving Leeds from relegation, especially given that they have outscored most of their relegation rivals thus far, and a change in approach from Marsch’s reign could be beneficial to the Leeds backline and their points tally.