Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch has pointed to the unrelenting training methods of predecessor Marcelo Bielsa for the club’s injury struggles this season.
Left decimated for the better part of the 2021/22 campaign, the Whites’ squad had been crashing down the rabbit hole with Bielsa having been taken to task for failing to maintain his players’ fitness and also for not utlising the transfer market to augment his squad.
With relegation rearing its familiar ugly head, Leeds bid adieu to Bielsa at the end of February and he was rapidly replaced with former RB Leipzig manager Marsch, who told Talksport that the injury problems at Elland Road were due to players being ‘overtrained’.
“The injury issue, for me, had a lot to do with the training methodologies. These players were overtrained and that led to them being physically, mentally, psychologically and emotionally in a difficult place to recover from week to week, from game to game,” Marsch said.
“I have a very specific methodology with the way I work and I’ve had a reputation for running and having high running data in the way that we play, but also having healthy, fit and strong players who can meet the standards of the game that we want.
“We’ve tried to put that in place to help the players, I think that has helped a lot.”
One significant injury absence for Leeds this season has been Patrick Bamford. The star striker played in all 38 of their Premier League games last term, but has made just nine appearances this term and recently aggravated a foot problem which looks set to curtail his season.
“The [injury] with Patrick I felt terrible about because the responsibility of a coach is to take care of his players and make sure that you’re not injuring them and putting them in harm’s way,” Marsch added.
“So in the end when it didn’t go the way we wanted with Patrick, I always feel like it’s my responsibility to get that right.
“But for the most part I think we’re getting healthy and strong with almost the entire group.”