It was a pledge of loyalty when Jesse Marsch vowed at his unveiling to stay at Leeds United if they were relegated. A hypothetical scenario is looking more plausible. Leeds have been beaten in both games under Marsch: narrowly by Leicester, emphatically by Aston Villa. If they are Marsching On Together, the direction of travel is towards the Championship.
Just the second American to manage in the Premier League is not really responsible for an unwanted piece of history but Leeds have equalled a club record of six successive defeats. With three successive wins, Villa are on their best run under Steven Gerrard and, if Leeds lose the millions top-flight football brings to the coffers, it will in part be because of the third most expensive footballer in history and Cash: Philippe Coutinho and Matty Cash, whose goals were followed by a wonderfully unexpected 20-yard curler from Calum Chambers.
For Leeds, hope stems in part from the fixture list and a date with Norwich on Sunday and in part from a welcome glimpse of a possible rescuer. The standing, and deafening, ovation was reserved for Patrick Bamford: after 22 minutes of football since September, he mustered 31. In contrast, Marsch was greeted with applause by the Leeds fans and impolite questions as to who he is from their Villa counterparts. The third goal and the final whistle brought the loudest choruses of the night of the name of his sacked predecessor, Marcelo Bielsa. Marsch is walking in a legend’s shoes, even if he is not sitting on his upturned bucket. That no longer forms part of the scenery at Elland Road.
Shorn of the frenetic chaos of Bielsaball, Leeds are yet to forge a new identity. Marsch is the third former RB Leipzig manager to import a 4-2-2-2 formation but thus far his experiments with it have more similarities with Ralf Rangnick’s than Ralph Hasenhuttl’s. Leeds are yet to score under him and mustered a solitary shot on target. A cheeky Raphinha backheel apart, they did not threaten before the break.
Their drought now extends to four games. Couple it with the division’s worst defensive record and it scarcely amounts to a successful formula. Villa’s blueprint shows rather more signs of working. Their opener was a product of Gerrard’s attacking full-backs, Coutinho’s elusiveness and fortune. Left-back Lucas Digne’s cross missed everyone and was retrieved by right-back Cash. Coutinho arrived unchecked to meet his cutback, but his shot took a telling deflection off Pascal Struijk on its way in.
Comfortable then, they had to weather a bombardment after Marsch’s half-time words and the introduction of Joe Gelhardt. Spells of high intensity at least indicated why he was deemed a logical successor to Bielsa but energy and urgency were not accompanied by potency. Villa possessed it.
Fresh from supplying two assists against Southampton on Saturday, Danny Ings added a third in a week with a lovely cross-field ball. Cash latched on to it, darted past the ever unimpressive Junior Firpo, and drilled in a low shot. Then came a Chambers special, whipped in from 20 yards. The January signing had one previous goal this season, for Arsenal, but against Leeds.
It was witnessed by a more decorated former Arsenal defender as Leeds managers present and distant past watched on. David O’Leary is a reminder of the time when they were in the Champions League’s last four, rather than threatened with a place in the Premier League’s bottom three. He also managed Villa and they were at risk of relegation when Gerrard took over. They are all but safe now. Marsch, with less time to perform such a salvage job, can only dream of such an impact.
