Radrizzani front and centre
On the first day of Jesse Marsch’s tenure, with the national television cameras trained on the lunchtime kick-off, owner Andrea Radrizzani was front and centre at Leicester City.
The Leeds United chairman was seen waiting for the team to arrive at the dressing room door before heading out to the technical areas for a chat with Marsch as the cameras watched on.
Friends reunited
In the tunnel before kick-off, we had the cameras showing the players waiting to come out and a few embraces shared with old colleagues.
Wesley Fofana and Illan Meslier got reacquainted after their days with the France under-21 squad together, while Caglar Soyuncu and Robin Koch, formerly teammates at Freiburg, also shared a few words.
Patson Daka is synonymous with the heady days Marsch had with Red Bull Salzburg. The Zambian striker plundered dozens of goals in Austria under the American.
As the striker jogged by Marsch after a pitchside warm-up mid-game, they shared a swift embrace too.
Bielsa recognised
Marsch had expected it and had no problem with it. This was the first match since Marcelo Bielsa’s sacking and the fans had to acknowledge the exit of their modern legend.
The Argentine’s name was sung throughout the afternoon. Though it did not take a long time for Marsch’s name to be sung.
In the 23rd minute a rendition of “Jesse, Jesse Marsch” rang out from the away corner. Not bad to say he’s been here five minutes.
Marsch’s touchline coaching
Attention was always going to be on how the American would apply himself on the touchline, sampling the first taste of this Leeds system.
Marsch was animated. He clapped aggressively when things went right and called his nearest full-back over to feed instructions to the rest of the team when the ball went dead.
In the 59th minute, there was a moment where Leicester had the ball near halfway with nobody in white pressing.
Marsch, bent over and pointing, was screaming for Klich to apply pressure and it wasn’t coming.
Later, as Jack Harrison snuffed out a dangerous Leicester counter, Marsch was pumping his arms in the air and celebrating like this team had scored.
