Alexi Lalas hails ‘incredible’ Jesse Marsch for making Leeds ‘a team that everyone wants to see’

The success of American coach Jesse Marsch’s Leeds United squad has captured the attention of football fans stateside.

Leeds have two wins and seven points across their first three matches, including this weekend’s massive win over Chelsea.  

The influence of Marsch and his two new American midfielders – Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams – isn’t going unnoticed as Leeds sit in 3rd place early on in the season.

Back in the United States, Americans are beginning to tune into matches in droves – with those surrounding the U.S. Men’s National Team particularly interested.

On an episode of his ‘State of the Union’ podcast, Fox analyst and former USMNT player Alexi Lalas praised Marsch and his team for their courageous result last weekend. 

 ‘You’re seeing, I think – I don’t know if it’s the ideal but it’s certainly a new and improved type of Jesse Marsch team that enables him to do the things that I think he longs to do in the game. And that obviously is that incredible pressure,’ Lalas said on the show. 

‘Also, it’s not just about the tactical part of it, it’s about that spirit and the belief that he instills in his players. And he hedges his bets because he gets players that will do that. But I think that it just played out perfectly.

‘Just in general, it couldn’t have gone better for Leeds… The reason (why) I and so many people are watching Leeds and the reason why Twitter and social media blows up because of that is because of the American influence. 

‘It’s because there are Americans there. We are not Leeds fans, we are America fans and that is why we are watching. And by the way, hook, line, and sinker, because that is part of the strategy of what Leeds is doing. 

‘Now, it’s not at the expense of a good team. Obviously this team is exciting, this team is something that people will want to see. And this team is beating supposed better teams in the likes of Chelsea. I don’t know how long this is going to last. I hope it continues on.’

Lalas was also critical of suspended Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel, who was present at the match but was off the touchline. 

In Lalas’s opinion, he felt the German coach should have given credit to Marsch and his team for beating his squad, widely regarded as superior. 

‘I thought that Tuchel not only lost the game, but I think with his comments after, I think he lost me in terms of the way he framed that outing,’ Lalas added.

‘Now, look, Chelsea might go on and win plenty of games and Tuchel and Chelsea may be fine. But in this moment, I think he had the opportunity to recognize a great performance by the opposition without just completely kissing Jesse’s a** and he just didn’t take it and I thought it was a bad look for Tuchel in that moment.’