Showmanship was in short supply on the field for Leeds United at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, but the void was plugged in no small way by Jesse Marsch on the touchline. The head coach was especially animated on a day the referee’s five-match Premier League experience shone through.
Michael Salisbury had three Leeds players in the book before the 38th minute on a day which was summed up for the visitors by the man in the middle. It would be easy to blame United’s display on the referee, but Marsch didn’t do that and it would be wrong to excuse Leeds because of the officials.
However, the head coach’s histrionics were impossible to ignore as he grew more and more exasperated with the Lancashire official. It began in the eighth minute when Pascal Struijk was booked for what felt like the match’s first offence, let alone the player’s.
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Solly March beat the left-back all ends up and drew the foul from Struijk. It was a foul, but a card that early in the match sets the tone. Marsch was left staring, dumbstruck, mouth agape, at fourth official James Linington.
Brighton, combative in their own right, would not make their way into Salisbury’s book until the 82nd minute. Indeed, even Marsch was carded before Adam Webster was cautioned for the Seagulls. That was the kind of flow which pushed Marsch’s buttons.
Marsch persistently protested every decision made by the referee which went against his side and would ultimately overstep the mark when he angrily threw the ball into the turf. It was all a part of his wider plan.
“My behaviour at that point, it was deserved, the yellow card,” he said. “I always say, I repeat myself, but when you don't believe you're getting performances out of the referee, you have two options: to sit there and take it or to escalate your behaviour to try to make a point to see if you can affect the way decisions are getting made.
“Sometimes it works for you. Sometimes it works against you, but I'll never be a guy that just sits there and takes it, that's not me.”
It would later be put to Marsch this was the referee’s second top-flight match. It was actually his fifth, but the head coach’s response was still quite telling.
“I didn't know it was his second match in the Premier League. I didn't think it was a good performance, but, again, I don't think ours was a good performance either so this can happen.
“We had him as the fourth official against Chelsea and I like his demeanour and I just think he didn't have the best performance. I know I let him know that.”
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