Bonding has been important for Jesse Marsch in his opening six weeks at Leeds United and one particularly public chat with Adam Forshaw highlighted one blossoming relationship. In the 90 minutes before kick-off at Vicarage Road last week, Forshaw and Marsch were seen in conversation for the best part of half an hour on the pitch while the rest of the squad prepared for the warm-up.
In hindsight, it’s clear this was only possible because Forshaw was not selected and not needed for the warm-up, but it was unusual to see the head coach and a player so engrossed for so long. In interviews in the past, Forshaw has openly talked about his obsession with the sport and a desire to go into coaching after retirement, so there was little surprise in his keenness to talk shop with Marsch.
The American has repeatedly focused on his vision for Leeds, the direction the club is going in and how he gets the players to buy into that. Marsch highly values conversations like these with players like Forshaw, who are influential with the group and on the leadership council.
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“That conversation was just about our team, how we're doing, where we're going, what our goals are, how to get there,” he said. “Adam's a very intelligent person and he's a student of the game so he's fun to have some of those football conversations with and he was injured on the day, but he still knows he's very important for us and we're all getting to know each other more and more.
“There's clearly some really good relationships already established within the group and I'm just trying to bring my ideas of football, and my ways of thinking about how to lead, and help all of our guys be the best that they can be. They've all responded really well to that.”
Marsch has not discussed injuries in the past seven days, but as of immediately after the Watford win, he was optimistic about the midfielder’s chances for Crystal Palace in nine days’ time.
“Yes, I think he [will be available],” he said. “He might even be in training this week (commencing April 11), he just had a little bit of a calf issue and we didn't want to risk him.”
