Sam Allardyce was given the impossible task of keeping Leeds United in the Premier League in the final four games of the 2022-23 season, and he explains why Jesse Marsch made it even harder.
The 2022-23 season was a campaign full of errors, bad decisions from upstairs and a relegation back to the Championship. A season that is still impacting Daniel Farke’s spell in charge of the Yorkshire club.
Even this summer, Leeds were forced into the sales of Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter due to release clauses installed by the previous regime. Big Sam tried to save Leeds from the drop.
He faced Man City, Newcastle, West Ham and Tottenham and was tasked with getting a couple of wins to keep Leeds up. But an inevitable defeat to City was followed by a draw against Newcastle at Elland Road.
Allardyce says Marsch and Javi Gracia ruined Leeds squad’s fitness
Leeds should have beaten Newcastle, with Patrick Bamford missing an early penalty and then Max Wober conceding one. Leeds took the lead against Allardyce’s old side West Ham, but fitness derailed Leeds.
Luke Ayling said that fitness had let Leeds down after the 3-1 loss to The Hammers. Now, speaking on the Undr The Cosh podcast, Allardyce says the fitness of the Leeds squad was ruined by Marsch and Gracia.
“The biggest disappointment was their fitness had gone from hero to zero after Bielsa. They’d gone from top of the tree to third from bottom. Two previous coaches had completely destroyed the team’s fitness.”
Marsch is now thriving as manager of Canada after Leeds exit
It took Marsch more than a year to get another job after his exit from Leeds in February 2023. This year, he took over as Canada manager having been linked with Birmingham, Leicester and Southampton.
Even, the USA job which Mauricio Pochettino now looks set to take. Last week, Marsch guided his Canada side to a 2-1 win over USA in a match that saw Marsch beat his first Leeds signing, Brenden Aaronson.
That comes after Marsch guided Canada to the semi-finals of the Copa America, losing on penalties in a third-place play-off against Bielsa’s Uruguay. He will be hoping to guide Canada to the 2026 World Cup.
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