Insider: Jesse Marsch is being too honest amid ‘shock’ Leeds United claim
Jesse Marsch’s “transparent” approach to detailing Leeds United injuries makes the club’s situation look worse than it is in reality – and it would be a “shock” if several players do not return from injury sooner than his language suggests.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and spoke exclusively to Football Insider about the extensive treatment list in West Yorkshire.
Despite having just three players jet off to the World Cup this winter, Leeds return to Premier League action with a lengthy list of injury doubts.
Marsch took his players on an intense hot-weather training camp in Spain over the winter break, and Leeds coach Tom Robinson spoke to the Yorkshire Evening Post earlier this month (7 December) about the ‘magic number’ training method used by American and his backroom staff.
Robinson explains that his job is to read out the metabolic load of Leeds players during training to help maximise the efficiency of their sessions and ensure they are not pushed too hard.
Dinnery believes the intense training methods of Marsch are not to blame for the club’s lengthy injury list, with the American’s honesty and thoroughness making the situation seem worse than it truly is.
“I’ve got 11 players listed as worries, but I don’t see that as a reflection of Jesse Marsch’s training or the Spain camp as many of those were contact injuries and also illness,” the injury expert told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“For me, it’s all about the time-loss injuries in the league and not what happens before that.
“Marsch is one of those managers that likes to be very thorough and transparent with the information he provides and so there are no stones unturned when speaking in regard to injuries.
“I’d be very surprised if a large number of those flagged players don’t return soon rather than later. I see many of them as a precautionary measure.
“Their last pre-season friendly was against Monaco and those pre-Christmas games were not the time to take lots of risks with players.
“Rodrigo, who had a tight hamstring, Liam Cooper with a minor calf injury and Jack Harrison with an abductor – I’d be very surprised if those three weren’t involved.
“Stuart Dallas is a long-term one and the Luis Sinisterra injury is also a freak long-term one too. There aren’t many major time-loss muscle injuries that people would associate with Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa towards the end of his tenure when players were picking up long-term soft tissue problems.”
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