We face a familiar foe on Saturday afternoon; Leeds United are our guests for round six of the Premier League.
Both sides come into the game on the back of 1-1 midweek draws, which extended positive starts to the season.
Leeds currently sit seventh on eight points from five games while we are two points and four places worse off in the early table. Get all the build-up to the game below.
The opposition
When Jesse Marsch replaced Marcelo Bielsa as Head Coach at Elland Road in February, Leeds United were facing the stark reality of a battle against relegation from the Premier League.
The club’s first campaign back in the top flight after a 16-year absence had, for the most part, been filled with sunshine and roses. There were crushing wins – albeit plenty of crushing defeats to balance them out – goals galore and the dream of a return to European competition evaded them by the slender margin of three points.
Without attributing the downturn to the often lazily applied ‘second-season syndrome’, the Yorkshire club did come extremely close to ceding the place at the top table they had toiled and grafted for so many years to reclaim.
Marsch arrived when Leeds were 16th with 12 games left to play. They were two points above the drop zone with two of the four teams below them - Everton and Burnley – boasting two games in hand each. "I don't quite see it as 12 cup finals; I see it as 12 games is enough time,” said Marsch. “We have to stay calm, there's no panic.”
As it turned out, a plethora of hairy moments lay ahead.
Leeds enjoyed the often obligatory new manager bounce first. They took 11 points from Marsch’s first seven games, yet still they could not climb above 16th and so, with teams below them rising to the challenge, a 2-1 defeat at Arsenal on 8 May left them in the bottom three for the first time since the opening day.
“We have to stay strong and we have to forge on. And that's the only way we can operate right now,” said Marsch afterwards. The brave face was very much on at this point.
Eventually, it all came down to a final-day trip to West London. Leeds hadn’t beaten Brentford away from home since August 1950 before then, but goals from Raphinha and Jack Harrison – coupled with Burnley’s defeat to Newcastle – saw them break the curse and survive by the skin of their teeth.
They had made it hard for themselves. “I’ve heard this is the Leeds way, but I’m not buying it,” a visibly jubilant Marsch said during an impassioned post-match press conference. “Part of my job is to change that mentality.”
This summer, he appears to have done just that; there is a newfound air of positivity around Elland Road. A squad that was often severely depleted under Bielsa has been bolstered, a leaky defence looks to have been, to an extent, shored up and Rodrigo has stepped up to lead the line in the absence of Patrick Bamford.
They had seven points after four games two seasons ago, but just two last term. What a difference a year makes.
Looking at the fixture list over the next month or so from a Leeds perspective, the games in the immediate future do not look particularly horrific. The obvious challenges will come when they face Arsenal in mid-October, Liverpool a fortnight later and Manchester City on Boxing Day.
The gameplan
The Athletic’s Phil Hay said: “This season we really are seeing the effect of Marsch’s coaching, particularly the way they press and counter-press as that is such a big part of his tactical model. But also the vertical play, the idea that, as soon as you win the ball, you are looking to get a shot on goal. You are looking at a matter of seconds before the ball is in the box or around the box and you are putting pressure on their goalkeeper. It’s direct football, without being route one”
Team news
Pontus Jansson will return to the starting XI tomorrow, having recovered from a foot injury. Kristoffer Ajer is also in contention to make the squad after playing 90 minutes for Brentford B on Wednesday. Christian Nørgaard (achilles) is set to be out for a number of weeks while Sergi Canós (hamstring) and Ethan Pinnock (knee) have also been ruled out.
Leeds lost Rodrigo to a shoulder injury on Tuesday night which will sideline him for a month. Aside from that, and Stuart Dallas (leg), Jesse Marsch has a fullyfit squad to choose from.
The manager
Jesse Marsch was appointed Head Coach of Leeds United in February 2022. As a player, Marsch was a midfielder for DC United, Chicago Fire and Chivas USA in MLS. He won three MLS Cups, two Supporters’ Shields, and four US Open Cups during his playing career, which also saw two caps for the US national team.
Following his retirement, Marsch had a spell as assistant coach to the USMNT before taking on the role as head coach at Montreal Impact in 2012.
Three years later he joined New York Red Bulls, leading the team to the MLS Supporters’ Shield during his first season in charge.
Named MLS Coach of the Year in 2015, Marsch moved to Europe three years later, firstly as assistant to Ralf Rangnick at RB Leipzig before taking over as head coach at Red Bull Salzburg the next year.
At Salzburg he won the Bundesliga and Austrian Cup double in both 2020 and 2021 before returning to RB Leipzig to become head coach in the summer of 2021.
Opposition view
Speaking to leedsunited.com, Jesse Marsch said: “Brentford have had a great start and great season last year. You have to talk about set-pieces and how effective they are, our preparation today was looking at set-plays on them and what we need to be good at on the day.
“We’re expecting a tough match, and again, you see there are some similarities between games we’ve played so far and a lot that is different. Now it is a new season, a new moment and new opportunity for us against a good team.”
Last time out
Match officials
Referee: Robert Jones
Assistant Referees: Eddie Smart and James Mainwaring
Fourth Official: Keith Stroud
Video Assistant Referee: David Coote
Additional Video Assistant Referee: Nick Greenhalgh
Robert Jones joined the Select Group 2 in 2017 before progressing to Select Group 1 ahead of the 2020/21 season.
The Merseyside official’s first assignment in the second tier was our trip to Barnsley in April 2017. Following four straight defeats, Jones took charge of two huge games in 2020. He oversaw our 1-1 draw at home to Saturday’s visitors Leeds United, and was the referee for our 2-1 final-day defeat to Barnsley at Griffin Park.
Jones' last two Brentford games have both been against Newcastle United. He took our Carabao Cup quarter-final victory in December 2020 and last November’s 3-3 draw at St James’ Park.
Leeds United 22/23
65 fouls - most in Premier League
11 yellow cards – sixth in Premier League
0 red cards – joint-fewest in Premier League