Marc Roca has revealed that Jesse Marsch's tactical set-up at Leeds is similar to that of Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann.
Roca signed for the serial Bundesliga winners in 2020 and spent two seasons with Bayern before his move to Elland Road. The Spaniard featured 24 times across all competitions for the Bavarian side in both the 2020/21 and 2021/22 campaign.
The 26-year-old swapped Munich for Leeds in the summer transfer window and has been turned to by Marsch for every single Premier League match since his arrival. The American has started 16 of the club's 17 league games this term and has quickly cemented himself into the American coach's starting XI.
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And now Roca has lifted the lid on Marsch's tactics in the Premier League, revealing that his current manager approaches matches in a similar way to that of his former boss Nagelsmann.
“In Spain I don’t think you have to run as much since you defend and attack more in a block," he told Spanish newspaper El Pais. "Here [in England], it’s like the Bundesliga: the movements are constant, everything is box-to-box.
“Both Nagelsmann at Bayern and Marsch at Leeds want the counter-press to be very intense. That makes the midfielder the first player to make the first step forward. You can’t even think about it. You have to be running and playing at the same time.
“In the Premier League, where you can create a chance from anything, it’s very important that your auto-pilot is on constantly, both with and without the ball. You always have to be correctly positioned, close to the ball, both to be an option in the move and to press.
“When the opponent gets the ball off us they try to open up and if in that moment we get it back and play forward, we can create good chances. Sometimes it looks like if I try to get the ball and they get past me, I leave my teammates open behind - but we play like that!
"Our number one plan when we lose the ball is to play forward. In Spain, after losing the ball, we used to try to press and if it didn’t work we’d drop back and defend, waiting for our teammates to get back to help. Not at Leeds.
“At Leeds, we have the ball at times. In the Premier League there is a lot of competition and you have to adapt."
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