Birmingham City are on the hunt for a new manager after sacking Wayne Rooney and Jesse Marsch has emerged as one of the early front-runners to take the role.
When Birmingham sacked John Eustace and replaced him with Wayne Rooney in October, the majority of the footballing world were left in disbelief.
Not only were the Blues in sixth position at the time, but Eustace had dramatically transformed his sides in fortunes in such a short space of time.
It’s a decision that seemed ludicrous and those that questioned it have turned out to be correct.
Rooney lasted just three months in the Midlands before being sacked after taking just two wins from his 15 Championship matches in charge.
As such, the Englishman led his side to the worst run of form in the division currently which saw them plummet from sixth to 20th in the table.
Now, Birmingham are on the lookout for a new manager and unsurprisingly, Jesse Marsch is one of the early favourites to take it.
Given the Blues are owned by American businessman Tom Wagner, it is hardly surprising to see Marsch get linked with the job, but what would he bring to St Andrew’s?
What is Jesse Marsch’s tactics & style?
During his year at Leeds United between February 2022 and 2023, Marsch’s tactics were influenced by his time at the Red Bull Group, where he coached more than 200 games across stints at New York, Salzburg and Leipzig.
Marsch typically deploys a 4-2-3-1 shape, with the three in-behind the striker attacking narrowly, and the full-backs providing the width.
Birmingham have a plethora of attacking full-backs to choose from, including Cody Drameh and Ethan Laird, so they would fit like a glove into this tactical element of his style.
However, the 49-year-old also likes to utilise an aggressive, pressing and reactive counter-pressing style when defending, and that would take the Blues a while to get to grips with his demands.
In terms of building up attacks, Marsch looks to penetrate through his opponents by playing slick three-player pass combinations, typically consisting of a full-back, winger and attacking midfielder.
This is how he looks to exploit the opposition by overloading the wide areas while attempting to make it difficult for the opposition to stop his quick passing.
How does Marsch approach his transfers?
Marsch was criticised during his time at Leeds for bringing in too many players he previously worked with.
He brought in the likes of Rasmus Kristensen, Tyler Adams, Maximilian Wober and Brenden Aaronson from RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig respectively.
The majority of his signings, including a club-record deal to bring Georginio Rutter to the club, all failed while he was in West Yorkshire.
As a result, Leeds were eventually relegated back to the Championship in 2023 and that was largely down to the mess he made in the transfer window.
If Marsch was to take the job at Birmingham, it would be interesting to see whether he’d go down the same path and bring in players he’s familiar with as it was a strategy that didn’t work at Leeds.
On the flip side, his time at the Whites can blind people from the fact he has a track record of developing talented young players.
During his time at Salzburg, he played a part in the development of Erling Haaland, Dominik Szoboszlai and Hwang Hee-Chan, who have all gone on to become world-beating stars.
Indeed, it is promising that he can spot a talented player when he sees one, and he’d aim to follow a similar strategy at Birmingham.