Jesse Marsch Is Not Nathan Jones Mk 2.
Tuesday, 14th Feb 2023 16:02

It is looking extremely likely that Jesse Marsch will be the new manager of Southampton Football Club within the next 24 hours, but there are some who will say he is not much of a mark up on Nathan Jones, however they would be wrong.

When Nathan Jones arrived at Southampton he came with a reputation as a good coach but with the lingering doubt that he was a little too excitable for his own good and that is being kind to the now ex Saints manager.

Jesse Marsch also have a reputation for being a little excitable and hs been unkindly referred to as Ted Lasso , the also American football manager of the same name TV series about a coach from the USA coming to English football.

But Marsch's comparisons with Jones stop at the excitable mark, Jones had 7 years experience as a coach when he arrived at St Mary's, but all of those years had been in the lower leagues and aside 10 months at Stoke City in the Championship, all of the rest of his career was at Luton Town.

He rejoined Luton for his second spell with Luton now back in the Championship and he guided them to safety on the final day of the season, the second season saw him get a respectable 12th place followed by 6th last season.

But those 2 1/2 season remained his highest peak of his managerial career when he joined Saints, to be frank he had spent 7 years with just two clubs and most of that time in League 1 and 2.

Now his stats looked very good, but then again so did mine when i managed in Sunday football, so stats mean nothing unless they are compared at a like for like level and this is where i think the Saints board got a little bit blurred.

They put more emphasis on his record than at the level it was at and more importantly the level of player you get in the Premier League.

Quite simply Jones was out of his depth, some people are able to make the step up into the big time from the lower league as a manager, but you have to have a certain aura about you and command respect.

In short he was insecure and lacked the self belief and at Premier League level the players smelled this and knew it.

Jesse Marsch though is a different animal all together, look behind the veneer and the sneers that he got when he joined Leeds a year ago and you find a man with a lot of coaching experience.

After a long career as a player in the MLS with Chicago Fire and Chivas USA, he spent a year as an assistant coach with the USA national squad starting in 2010.

From there he became head coach with Montreal Impact in the MLS, after a 12th place finish in Montreal's first season in the MLS, though the club had been emphatic about their satisfaction with Marsch's work, the differences in coaching philosophies between Marsch and the management of the club led to an "amicable" split, after just one season.

After coaching in College Soccer, he returned to the MLS in 2015 as head coach at New York Red Bulls, he would spend three years there, winning MLS Coach of the year on one occasion and he left in 2018 with the best coaching record for the Red Bulls in their history.

It was to another Red Bull team he went this time Leipzig, as assistant to Ralf Rangnick and he would spend a season learning about football in Europe and helping lead the team to 3rd place in the Bundesliga as well as a cup final.

That saw him move to another Red Bull side, this time Salzburg, where Marsch led Salzburg to winning the double. The team won the Austrian Bundesliga by winning 68.75% of their games; 12 points ahead of second place Rapid Wien making Marsch the first American coach to win a top flight league title in Europe. The team also won the Austrian Cup 5—0 against Austria Lustenau.

During the 2020—21 season, Marsch led Salzburg to yet another cup win in a 3—0 win against LASK. Salzburg also won the Bundesliga, making it two doubles in a row.

In December 2021 Marsch left the club by mutual consent, his start to the season wasn't bad, but not up to the standard of the previous years,

He wasn't out of work long, joining Leeds in February 2020, he kept Leeds safely up , but that wasn't good enough for those running the club nor the fans after a poor start to this season.

Marsch's record at Leeds wasn't as bad as some would claim, he managed in 37 games, he won 11, drew 10 and lost 16, convert that to league points and that is basically 43 points over a season in the Premier League, that is 3 more than we got last year in our 15th place finish.

So there will be some who will not be exactly excited if and when Jesse Marsch is appointed, but he should not be looked at as another lower league coach in the mould of Nathan Jones.

He has learned his trade not in League One & Two, but in the top divisions of the USA, Germany & Austria and in the past year in the Premier League.

He would arrive as a coach with international experience and a good reputation and hopefully with the seld belief and confidence that comes from knowing that.

Yes perhaps he wouldn't be my first choice, but I would say one think his career gives him a lot better chance of saving us than Nathan Jones ever had.

Photo: Action Images

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DellBoyWally added 16:18 - Feb 14

With all the Red Bull behind him he should fly!!
Simon Jordan, late of Crystal Palace, widely quoted, said: "I don't think he's a good enough manager. I think he's all style over substance, and I don't think the style is that great and I think the substance is lacking."
He took over Leeds in 16th, took them into the relegation places and survived with a 2-1 at Brentford on the last day of the season. He was sacked last week with Leeds in..... you guessed it.....16th!!
Ex USA international Charlie Cooper summed up Marsch's football style at RB New York. Visiting teams would sit back, let RB come on to them, steal the ball and score on the counter!! Sound familiar?? Cooper said RB were good at pressing but not good at retaining possession or scoring?!?!
Well, Marsch won't need many training sessions to get his message over!!!
On his past record in the PL we should probably go down in 20th plaice (Sorry, not Grimsby!) place

WestSussexSaint added 16:40 - Feb 14 Is Simon Jordan really the authority on substance over style?
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Boris1977 added 16:56 - Feb 14

Sports direct are clowns. Another chancy decision to add to the last 3 witless ones 1) keeping Ralph on beyond summer 2) flooding the team with kids and 3) appointment of calamity Jones. 3 mistakes is unforgivable - let's hope number 4 hasn't just be made.

Once again saints are made to look comical. I wonder if Ali dia is available to help with the relegation fight.

-7

wrathoftazz added 17:00 - Feb 14 Nothing like Jones... this guy has been sacked twice in the PL and Jones only once... What a sad sad state we are in. Its not the managers faults, it's the owners, happy everyone wanted Gao out now?
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Block8 added 17:23 - Feb 14 To be fair Sports direct have some reasonably good offers! Marsch wouldn't be my first choice but it seems this is only a short term contract until the end of the season. I'm not sure anyone of the others would be able o keep us up, with very little experience, so lets see where this goes and if the worst comes start with a new canvas next season!
4

Ifonly added 18:21 - Feb 14

Looks like we'll go back to early Ralph tactics and 4-2-2-2. At least some of the players will still have the "automisms" or whatever RH called them. Clutching at straws here but we have many games against the best PL sides still to come and one tactic with a good record against the top sides is all out manic pressing in the style of early Ralph .... or Jeese Marsch.

I wonder if going back to this style will really suit some of our recent recruits though e.g. tall Paul. I wouldn't be surprised to see Che and AA getting picked instead. That wouldn't be my choice but I doubt JM will change his "footballing philosophy" for one player.

Rossm2006 added 18:37 - Feb 14

We have already covered all the issues and how we got here. We are where we are . Not sure who people realistically thought we could get , the pool of those interested would be minute with them being the third manager of the season and no transfer window. Your signing on for a relegation on your CV.

My conclusion, sacking Ralph was a joke. If anything Jones has highlighted this more than anything else. The problem was never the manager but the recruitment, age and lack of in certain areas.

davidargyll added 18:47 - Feb 14 Whether his record at Leeds was any good or not, surely the fact that he was without Patrick Branford for a lot of his time must be a factorâ€¦? Not dissimilar to Ralph and his lack of strikers possiblyâ€¦?
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KriSaint added 18:52 - Feb 14

I'm neither warm nor cold on Jesse M. I like his passion and he has a good record with working with young players as I understand it. His technical area behavior - some times almost arrogant - worries me a little, but at the same time, if he can galvanize our strengthened squad and find our best 11 quickly and get points on the board with whatever behavior, I'll be happy.

Jones was a huge risk and big mistake in hindsight.

What a strange season this has been - buying so many youngsters in the summer but no class striker which we needed the most, -> then we sack RH and get Nathan Jones in and use a January Saints record fortune, splashing the cash, to get 2 exciting attacking players in (+ a championship right back for 750.000 pounds) + we recall Bednarek from loan in stead of Tella, who does so well in Burnley.

'Good' and 'bad' question marks all over the place.

Now, with 16 games back in the PL, bottom of the table, we are in a situation where we - with a far better squad than when the season took off - could be clever and lucky enough to sign up a new manager who will actually get us out of the bottom three with 48 points to play for.

Is that manager Jesse Marsch? I'm not saying he isn't. I hope he is, if we take him.
But what about Nigel Pearson?

Anyway, all the best to Saints and my fellow Saints supporters from a Danish Saints fan since January 1980 <3

Let's hope we can still turn this around in the PL and get as far as possible in the FA Cup.
If we could do a 2014/2015 Leicester City like relegation escape miracle, it would give me great happiness. With or without Nigel Pearson.

1962saint added 19:33 - Feb 14

We got rid of Ralph and replaced him with a sub standard manager. Now we appear to be looking at another sub standard manager. I really hope this appointment does not happen as Marsch is not a winner and is full of blah. I find it difficult to listen to his voice and rhetoric after every defeat.
Nick has obviously done his homework re his CV but doing well in the MLS and Austria does not qualify him for a job in the Premier League as has been shown in his record with Leeds.
Under his tenure they only have 4 more points than Saints! It makes as much sense as Leeds appointing Nathan Jones.
Assistant to Ralf Rangnick that complete loser at Man Utd says it all.
I would rather we kept going with Ruben Selles until a better candidate was available rather than make this hurried, foolish decision.

sidsaint added 21:43 - Feb 14 I am not impressed by his stats whichever way you look at them. The best thing about any deal with him would be the short term contract and a huge bonus if successful, this at least concentrates the mind. Even if he achieved this I would still prefer a quality manager to take us forward. What a mess we are in.
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Colburn added 22:03 - Feb 14

When one of your competitors for the drop sack their manager because they think he will take them down, it seems like a strange decision to appoint him a week later! Maybe he will do the business but I think it's another massive gamble with a manager with less than a year's top flight experience in a decent league. The Championship is tougher than the Austrian bundesliga..
But if this is the choice of the club then we all need to get behind him, support the team and hope!