‘Not ideal’ - Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard on difficulties facing Leeds United under new Head Coach

It’s just a month since the two last faced off but Gerrard will be facing a new face in the opposition dugout on Thursday night.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard has spoken of the difficulties of planning to face a side under new management prior to Villa’s trip to Leeds United on Thursday evening.

It was only last month that the two sides last faced off in that thrilling 3-3 draw at Villa Park but since then it’s all changed up in West Yorkshire with former RB Leipzig boss Jesse Marsch taking over from Marcelo Bielsa less than a fortnight ago.

HOME DEBUT: Jesse Marsch, above, will take in his first game at Elland Road on Thursday evening with the visit of Aston Villa following Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Leicester City, above. Photo by GEOFF CADDICK/AFP via Getty Images.HOME DEBUT: Jesse Marsch, above, will take in his first game at Elland Road on Thursday evening with the visit of Aston Villa following Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Leicester City, above. Photo by GEOFF CADDICK/AFP via Getty Images.
HOME DEBUT: Jesse Marsch, above, will take in his first game at Elland Road on Thursday evening with the visit of Aston Villa following Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Leicester City, above. Photo by GEOFF CADDICK/AFP via Getty Images.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Leeds have only had one game since the arrival of Marsch, a 1-0 loss to Leicester City in his first game in charge and Thursday will mark the American’s first match in front of a packed out Elland Road.

With just one Premier League game under his belt, it has made preparations more difficult for Gerrard and his team with what to expect a bit of an unknown.

The former Liverpool captain admits that he and his team have been studying hard, including researching a number of Marsch’s games from his time in both Austria and Germany.

“Yeah look I think we need to analyse the Leicester game a lot and we have and we’ll continue to do that from now until kick-off,” Gerrard said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“But obviously we need to tap into previous games what the new manager has been involved in to really see if there’s any similarities in terms of style - whether he prefers a certain formation or a style.

“There’s been a lot of positivity from a Leeds point of view even though they lost the game against Leicester in terms of how it looked, maybe they felt harshly that they never took anything out of the game.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if they were quite similar to the Leicester game. They were quite front-foot aggressive in terms of the press. They played a 4-4-2 but it looked like a 4-2-4 at certain times because the wide men are very aggressive.

“We’ve prepared for certain situations going off the Leicester game but also tried to tap into previous jobs and previous teams he’s coached previously.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“So, not ideal when you face a new manager so soon but I’d like to think we’ve got enough knowledge and enough information to know what to expect from Leeds.”

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. BirminghamWorld is Birmingham’s latest news website, championing everything that is great about our city - reporting on news, lifestyle and sport. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.