Leeds look to be heading in the right direction under much-maligned Marsch

The new Premier League season has kicked off with the usual excitement and fanfare and the opening round of fixtures delivered as ever, with some cracking games and several big talking points.

The pressure is already mounting on new Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag following a home defeat to Brighton while Frank Lampard, Bruno Lage and Brendan Rodgers also have questions to answer after just one game.

One manager who was towards the head of the ante-post 'sack race' market was Leeds boss Jesse Marsch, who is now available at a best-priced 12-1.

It’s fair to say there have been more than a few doubts over the Elland Road board's decision to replace the legendary Marcelo Bielsa with Marsch in February. The question marks were not just about the club opting to part company with the experienced Argentinian, who had led the Whites back to the promised land of the Premier League, but also over the identity of his successor.

At 48, Marsch is not particularly inexperienced and had managed in one of Europe's top leagues, the German Bundesliga, before moving to Yorkshire, so were the concerns based more on his nationality?

Two Americans had previously managed in the Premier League, with varying degrees of success.

Bob Bradley was in charge of Swansea for just 85 days in 2016, while David Wagner – capped eight times by the USA but born in Germany, where he spent most of his career as a player and coach – enjoyed better results. In 2017 Wagner helped Huddersfield gain promotion to the top flight for the first time in 35 years, before leading them to Premier League safety the following season.

English football fans have long held concerns over how Americans view the beautiful game, especially their continuing desire to call it soccer.

If you look at the cold hard facts, though, then maybe the scepticism over Marsch, who has managed RB Salzburg and has been both assistant and manager at RB Leipzig, are unfair.

The man from Wisconsin deserved more credit than he received for keeping Leeds up last term. Not only did Marsch's men achieve some big results when the pressure was cranked up over the final couple of months, but they did it despite key players such as Patrick Bamford, Liam Cooper and Luke Ayling missing much of the run-in.

Marsch then saw his two best players – Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha - sold during the summer, which led to pundits and fans alike questioning how Leeds would cope going into this season.

Granted it is only one game, but there were lots of positive signs from the Whites in their opening 2-1 victory over Wolves, especially from the club's new signings.

Ironically, the two most eye-catching new arrivals were both American – Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams. Aaronson played a big part in the winning goal in an excellent debut, while Adams impressed as he played the full 90 minutes in the middle of the park.

Having watched Leeds's pre-season victory over Cagliari the week before, I was shocked to see Marsch make no substitutions in that 6-2 win and then name the same starting line-up for the opening Premier League game.

There's no doubt the American has clear ideas as to how his team should go forward from here and you can be certain they won't give any opponents an easy ride or shirk a physical challenge this term. That mentality was evident in Marsch's touchline bust-up with Lage on Saturday.

Make no bones about it, Elland Road can be an intimidating atmosphere to play in, not just for the away team but also for home players. Marsch looks to have embraced that passion from the fans and clearly feels they can help his team reach new heights.

The manager recognises that if Leeds are to progress this season, and in the future, the fans will need to play a big part, especially on home soil.

ECB Hundred hopes hit hard

It is fair to say that The Hundred caught the imagination of new cricket fans last year, with 55 per cent of tickets bought by people who had never purchased cricket tickets before.

The ECB was hoping to build on that in 2022 with both the men's and women's game, as it continues to push the new format.

I went to see the Northern Superchargers last year and my kids enjoyed it so much that we had already been persuaded to go again – with the reasonable ticket pricing helping the cause.

Despite the tournament starting just as the new football season is kicking off, the summer weather has certainly been on the organisers' side. One massive setback though is the absences of some of England's big names from this year's Hundred, with both Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow withdrawing just before the competition began.

If you are looking to sell a new concept in any sport, you have to have the top stars playing and, on this occasion, it appears that the ECB's relentless international schedule has led to The Hundred suffering.

Organisers will claim that a good product will always entertain the fans and leave them wanting more, but you have to persuade them to buy the tickets in the first place and the star names will always attract the biggest crowds.

England football captain Harry Kane was drafted in this week to hand the captains the coin at the London Spirit versus Manchester Originals match and the ECB may need to continue to think outside the box in order to successfully spread the word.

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