Ben Fisher was at the King Power this afternoon, and his report is in. Thanks for reading this MBM.
Brendan Rodgers speaks to BT. “It was a game Marcelo would have been proud of! It was end to end. They’re a good side with really good players, really good on the break. But I’m really proud of my team, they dug in, especially after a midweek game against Burnley. It was a real collective effort and I’m very proud of them. It’s been a challenging season for us, but we have players coming back and we want to finish the season as strongly as we can.”
Jesse Marsch talks to BT. “I have a fresh perspective. I look at the faces of our team and they look disappointed because they know they played well. They know they deserved a result. But after four days, to have changed a lot of the tactics, and have played in all phases of the game with clarity, to be stable at the back and control the game, I’m really proud and pleased of our group in how far we’ve come. There are so many little things I see we need to clarify. I don’t like screaming from the bench so much but I was trying to help the guys understand what we are trying to achieve tactically. I understand there is stress because points are important but we have to stay clear to our process. We had the lion’s share of chances and shots. With a little bit more sharpness we can find goals in there, and we will. We didn’t get what we deserved but that’s sport.”
Leicester’s win catapults them into the top half of the Premier League. Leeds, having played more games than everyone beneath them, remain in a world of trouble. Jesse Marsch gathers his players together and delivers a rousing speech, no doubt having been pleased with his team’s overall performance and improved defensive display, if not their finishing skills or the result. Small acorns, all that.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 27 | 47 | 66 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 26 | 50 | 60 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 25 | 31 | 50 |
| 4 | Man Utd | 27 | 10 | 47 |
| 5 | West Ham | 27 | 12 | 45 |
| 6 | Arsenal | 24 | 11 | 45 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hotspur | 25 | 3 | 42 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton | 26 | 3 | 40 |
| 9 | Southampton | 26 | -3 | 35 |
| 10 | Leicester | 25 | -3 | 33 |
| 11 | Brighton | 26 | -5 | 33 |
| 12 | Crystal Palace | 27 | -1 | 30 |
| 13 | Aston Villa | 25 | -4 | 30 |
| 14 | Newcastle | 25 | -17 | 25 |
| 15 | Brentford | 27 | -17 | 24 |
| 16 | Leeds | 27 | -32 | 23 |
| 17 | Everton | 24 | -13 | 22 |
| 18 | Burnley | 25 | -10 | 21 |
| 19 | Watford | 26 | -22 | 19 |
| 20 | Norwich | 26 | -40 | 17 |
FULL TIME: Leicester City 1-0 Leeds United
Leeds did enough on balance to earn a point, but Kasper Schmeichel wasn’t in the mood to be beaten, Harvey Barnes scored a fine goal, and it’s a third successive win for Leicester.
90 min +3: Corner for Leeds on the right. One last chance. Raphinha’s corner is cleared by Albrighton. Raphinha tries again from a deep position along the same flank. Leicester clear again. It’s not Leeds’ day. It might not be their season.
90 min +2: On BT Sport, Lucy Ward names Kasper Schmeichel as her man of the match. It’s an unarguable choice. The Leicester keeper made a series of fine last-ditch saves when the score was still 0-0. Leeds will wonder how they haven’t scored today.
90 min: The corner falls to Lookman on the edge of the D. His shot is blocked. Leicester come again through Tielemans, whose speculative swerver is swallowed by Meslier. There will be four more minutes for Roberts to pointlessly hobble through.
89 min: Barnes and Iheanacho combine again down the left. Last time their one-two led to a goal; this time it’s a corner.
88 min: Lookman tries to work some space to shoot, just inside the Leeds box on the right. He lays off to Barnes, whose shot is deflected high into the air, eventually dropping softly in Meslier’s arms.
86 min: Iheanacho, back from the shops, threatens to break clear down the middle. Ayling times a brilliant tackle to stop him in his tracks. The flag goes up for offside anyway, but Ayling wasn’t to know that. In his mind, he had to time that perfectly to avoid a red card, and that’s exactly what he did.
85 min: Meslier executes a cute dragback to send Iheanacho off for a copy of the Leicester Mercury.
84 min: Roberts continues to hobble about. He’s a complete passenger. This is farcical. He’d be better going off to get some treatment, rather than risking further damage.
82 min: While we’re on the subject, Ted Lasso is of course magnificent, yet it’s still only the second-greatest cultural contribution Jason Sudeikis has made to the world. Nobody moves quite like Vance.
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80 min: Roberts hobbles back on, but doesn’t look comfortable at all. Leeds are effectively playing with ten-and-a-half men. It’s like an FA Cup final from the 1950s.
79 min: Roberts is down immediately, and rather worryingly appears to be feeling his hamstring. Not sure he’ll be able to continue.
77 min: Both teams make a change. Mendy comes on for Ndidi, while Roberts replaces Harrison.
75 min: Leicester have been utterly transformed since the goal, winning most of the 50-50s now. Leeds by contrast look a little deflated. A precious point, at the very least, looked theirs for the taking. Not so much now. “In such a circumstance. Marsch may be forgiven for thinking, ‘what would Ted do?’” Ian Copestake there, because somebody had to.
73 min: The corner’s hit deep. Amartey winds his neck back with a view to slamming a header home from six yards, but Firpo eyebrows away just in time.
72 min: Dewsbury-Hall and Barnes combine at speed down the left. The former crosses, forcing Firpo to lash out for a corner.
71 min: Forshaw’s first act is to haul back Dewsbury-Hall, and he’s in the book in double-quick time.
69 min: Marsch responds to his first setback as Leeds boss by switching out Klich for Forshaw.
68 min: On the touchline, Jesse Marsch can’t believe what’s just happened. His team were well on top, and had even been looking reasonably confident at the back to boot. But now look.
GOAL! Leicester City 1-0 Leeds United (Barnes 67)
Leicester have been second best, but they’re in the lead! Barnes probes down the inside-left channel and suddenly picks up speed. He one-twos briskly with Iheanacho, and slots a low effort across Meslier and into the Leeds net.
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66 min: Albrighton finds a little space down the right but floats a hopeless cross into the arms of Meslier. Leeds counter, Gelhardt challenging Schmeichel for a high ball but coming off second best.
64 min: Gelhardt is immediately in the thick of it, Raphinha rolling a pass in from the right. Gelhardt shapes a shot towards the top left. It flicks off Albrighton’s fingertips and out for a corner. Was it worthy of a penalty? Nobody knows any more, so VAR pretends it hasn’t happened. Nothing comes of the corner.
63 min: Leeds respond to Leicester’s double switch by replacing Rodrigo with Gelhardt.
62 min: ... not that anything changes immediately. Raphinha skitters down the right and attempts a cross that’s blocked and rebounds to him. He has a flash at goal from a tight angle. Wide and high.
61 min: Brendan Rodgers has seen enough, and replaces Vardy and Choudhury with Iheanacho and Lookman.
60 min: How did this stay out? Firpo fires a low cross in from the left. Raphinha attempts to slam home from six yards. Schmeichel somehow gets across to make a wonderful save with his feet. Brilliant stop, but Raphinha should never have given him a chance.
58 min: A few sounds of disgruntlement from the Leicester crowd, as their heroes find themselves second to pretty much everything right now. The Leeds fans by contrast are in fine voice.
57 min: Harrison is awarded way too much time in the middle of the park, 25 yards out. He aims for the top right. Amartey blocks again, this time at the expense of a corner. From the set piece, Rodrigo flicks a near-post header towards the top right. Schmeichel parries magnificently. Leicester are rocking a bit here.
56 min: Raphinha dinks a pass down the right for the busy James, who tries to cross for Rodrigo. Amartey gets in the road.
55 min: A bit of space for James just to the right of the D. He drives a shot that seems to be heading well wide left. The ball breaks off Raphinha and goes wide right instead.
54 min: Dallas and Harrison over-complicate the delivery of the resulting free kick, and that’s a promising situation for Leeds pointlessly wasted.
53 min: Ndidi is booked for an agricultural lunge on James. No complaints.
51 min: James bothers Soyuncu down the Leeds right. Soyuncu just about manages to get the ball back to Schmeichel, who clears under pressure from the intense Leeds winger.
49 min: Albrighton is down, and not particularly happy, having been kneed from behind by Firpo. No foul. The referee stops play eventually, to check the player is OK, and tell him to pipe down the noise.
47 min: Raphinha crosses long from the right, forcing Choudhury into the concession of a corner. Harrison floats it in. It’s the easiest of picks for Schmeichel. Fast start to the half by Leeds, though.
Leeds get the second half underway. No changes at the break. Meanwhile here’s Brian Sharon: “As an American I’d like Jesse Marsch to do well, if only to dispel the notion that we’re all idiots (recent elections notwithstanding). But if this all goes pear-shaped, maybe David Peace will bless us with a novel entitled Los Malditos Unidos? I feel like it’s a catchier title if nothing else.”
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Leicester City 0-0 Leeds United
It’s been action packed, and good fun. Leicester bossed possession, but Leeds had the majority of the chances. Not sure how it’s still goalless.
45 min +1: ... Rodrigo shins over.
45 min: Harrison wins a corner for Leeds down the left. From which ...
44 min: Barnes wins a corner off Dallas down the left. Albrighton whips it in. Ndidi wins a header, ten yards out. He flashes it straight at Meslier, who parries, then smothers at the feet of Soyuncu. That’s the first save Meslier has had to make this afternoon.
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42 min: Firpo strides forward and feeds Harrison on the left. Harrison’s low cross rebounds to Firpo, who whacks goalwards from 12 yards. The ball is blocked out for a corner. From the set piece, Raphinha batters a shot that’s taken bravely by Soyuncu. The whistle goes for a foul on Dewsbury-Hall. Leeds causing Leicester a few problems here.
40 min: Rodrigo and Soyuncu compete for a ball in the penalty box. Both take a high kick at it. Soyuncu clips Rodrigo, who crumbles to the floor. Leeds want a spot kick, and VAR has a look, but there’s nothing doing. There really wasn’t much contact, so that seems fair enough.
39 min: Dallas hoicks in from the right. Choudhury isn’t sure where Harrison is - in fact, he’s miles behind him - and knocks out for a corner. Fortunately for the makeshift Leicester defender, the corner is useless.
38 min: Schmeichel, formerly of Leeds, cops some pantomime booing as he dribbles out of his area.
37 min: Leeds stroke it about the back in an uncharacteristically patient style.
35 min: Ayling sets about clearing the ball. Vardy sets about him. A proper old-school late clatter that screams I’M HERE! To his credit, Ayling finds the whole thing highly amusing. A free kick, nothing more.
33 min: Choudhury knocks Harrison to the ground, just to the left of the centre circle, and now it’s Leeds’ turn to hoick a free kick into the box. Leicester deal with it easily enough.
31 min: Albrighton swings it in. The ball drops to Amartey, six yards out. He’d surely blooter home, had he been facing in the right direction. But he loses the flight of the ball, looks the other way, spins comically while trying to locate it, then finally watches forlornly as Ayling clears.
30 min: Barnes diddles Dallas down the left and is unceremoniously bundled to the ground. The Leeds man is pretty lucky not to end up in the book. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Leeds box in anticipation of the free kick.
28 min: An Argentinian flag in the Leeds end reads “Thanks for the memories”. What an impression Marcelo Bielsa made. A living legend, right there. Jesse has some shoes to fill.
26 min: Dewsbury-Hall wins a corner down the left. Leeds deal with it easily enough. Leicester return the ball, Vardy sniffing around as he scampers down the inside-left channel. Meslier comes out to claim.
24 min: Leeds have looked very bright, though ... and less open at the back. The very early signs promising for Marsch. Small sample size, though, and the fans continue to chant Bielsa’s name.
22 min: Leeds break quickly, Rodrigo romping down the middle. He slips a pass towards Harrison on the left. Too much juice. Harrison manages to stop the ball on the byline before it flies out for a corner, checks, and rolls back to Rodrigo, who blazes over an unguarded net, Schmeichel having gone walkabout to challenge Harrison. The heavy pass spoilt all that.
20 min: Barnes cuts in from the left, drops a shoulder, rolls his foot over the ball, and takes a shot. Koch blocks. (Behave yourself.)
18 min: Vardy reaches the byline down the left and clips into the centre. There’s nobody there in blue. Leeds batter clear. To repeat: there is surely no way this game will end goalless.
17 min: James plays a cute reverse pass down the inside right to release Raphinha into a bit of space. Raphinha over-elaborates when considering a shot, eventually checks, and finally curls a lame cross into the arms of Schmeichel. Promising move, though.
15 min: We’re back up to 1,001 mph again. Both teams are pinging the ball around in a very hectic, yet aesthetically pleasing, style. Leicester have had more possession, but Leeds have had the better chances.
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13 min: Dewsbury-Hall has bustled in a wild style since the get-go. This time, he busies himself down the left and wins a corner. Albrighton takes. Struijk, Ayling and James combine to clear the set piece.
11 min: The pace drops to 1,000 miles per hour.
9 min: This game is barrelling along at 1,001 miles per hour. Vardy zips down the right and is clipped by Struijk, who is booked. The crowd wanted to see a red card, but Ayling was nearby. Nothing comes of the resulting free kick.
8 min: Vardy arrives in the Leeds box on the left. Some pinball. Then Leeds counter, James dribbling, Harrison breaking into acres down the left and shooting low. Schmeichel saves with his feet.
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7 min: Dewsbury-Hall, pressing hard again, nearly robs Meslier. The keeper executes a fine Cruyff turn to escape from danger. He clears, but Leicester come again, Barnes nearly breaking free down the left. He overruns the ball, allowing the keeper to claim. There is surely no way this will end goalless.
6 min: The corner’s flung into the mixer. Ayling rises highest, and aims for the top left with his header, though not with much accuracy. A bright start by both teams.
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5 min: Struijk rakes a long pass down the left, allowing Harrison to win a corner off Thomas. Leeds load the box.
3 min: Barnes races down the left, cuts inside, and whistles a shot straight at Meslier. Some start to the game this! The Leeds fans chant the name of Marcelo Bielsa, music by Jack White.
1 min 20 secs: James skitters down the inside-right channel and enters the Leicester box, firing a low shot across Schmeichel and towards the bottom left. The keeper gets a fingertip to turn around the post, then claims the corner.
45 secs: A loose pass at the back nearly allows Dewsbury-Hall to break clear. The ball pings back to Meslier. Some problems will take a while to fix.
Leicester get the ball rolling ... but only after everyone takes the knee. More appreciative applause. There’s no room for racism.
Before the game starts, everyone congregates around the centre circle in a show of solidarity for Ukraine. A huge round of applause. Yellow and blue armbands are worn by captains Kasper Schmeichel and Luke Ayling. Football stands together. Godspeed everyone caught up in the war.
The teams are out ... and they emerged together from the tunnel for the first time since the Covid pandemic. Leicester are in royal blue, Leeds in Revie-infused white. Rodgers welcomes Marsch to the Premier League with a warm embrace. We’ll be off in a minute or three.
Marcelo Bielsa: revision notes. “As a Leeds supporter from 1960 (old Spion Kop), I can give you two reasons why Bielsa’s departure is more cataclysmic for my generation than was Revie’s,” writes Colin Spence.
- The beautiful approach to how the game should be played
- The beautiful quality of the man
“Bielsa’s impact on the morale and moral understandings of the people of Leeds was and is his greatest legacy.”
Jesse Marsch lays it down on BT. “Today won’t be perfect, and we’re not worried about that. One thing you’ve seen from this team no matter what is their spirit and their commitment to run and fight and play for each other is always there. With my ideas of football, we will need that as well. It will take time to adjust to everything we’re trying to achieve tactically, but the mentality and spirit is still there.”
Brendan Rodgers talks to BT Sport ahead of his 150th game as Leicester manager. “In the modern game, you’ve got a fair idea of how people will work if you’ve been a manager before. The principles of Leeds’ game will still be the same in how they press and work and run, the defensive pressure will probably be a little different with being zonal, but either way it was always going to be a hard game whether Marcelo was in charge or Jesse.”
Leicester City make two changes to the XI sent out at Turf Moor. Jamie Vardy starts for the first time since late December, having come on and scored in the 2-0 win at Burnley during the week. Hamza Choudhury also starts. Ricardo Pereira is injured, while Patson Daka drops to the bench. James Maddison also misses out through injury.
Leeds also make two changes, altering the team thrashed at home by Spurs. Jesse Marsch’s first selection includes Rodrigo and Mateusz Klich, Adam Forshaw drops to the bench, while Diego Llorente is missing altogether. Patrick Bamford is back after a lengthy spell out injured, and is named as a sub.
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The teams
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Choudhury, Amartey, Soyuncu, Thomas, Tielemans, Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall, Albrighton, Vardy, Barnes.
Subs: Ward, Iheanacho, Perez, Vestergaard, Mendy, Daka, Lookman, Soumare, Brunt.
Leeds United: Meslier, Ayling, Koch, Struijk, Firpo, Klich, Raphinha, Dallas, Rodrigo, Harrison, James.
Subs: Forshaw, Bamford, Roberts, Klaesson, Gelhardt, Cresswell, Summerville, Greenwood, Shackleton.
Referee: David Coote (Nottinghamshire).
Preamble
From the club that gave you Goodbye Mr Clough ... adiós señor Bielsa. To a new generation of Leeds fans, Marcelo’s departure will have been as cataclysmic a wrench as the end of the Don Revie era was to their forefathers all those years ago. Completely different and exactly the same. Bottom line: this is going to feel very strange. All the best to Jesse Marsch as he follows in the footsteps of a genuine living legend. For his sake, let’s hope his debut this afternoon goes better than Cloughie’s at the 1974 Charity Shield.
Leeds are battling relegation and could do with all three points this lunchtime, but hosts Leicester have problems of their own. Until last Tuesday, the first day in March, they hadn’t won a Premier League game in 2022. James Maddison and Jamie Vardy’s late smash and grab at Burnley arrested a slightly worrying slide down the division, and Brendan Rodgers, despite the moral credit accrued by winning the FA Cup, would appreciate another feelgood boost to relieve the pressure.
The Marsch era begins at 12.30pm GMT. It’s on!
