Former Premier League striker Darren Bent believes Leeds United will sack Jesse Marsch unless he beats Liverpool or Bournemouth.
The west Yorkshire outfit face Liverpool today at Anfield before hosting newly-promoted Bournemouth next Saturday in a crucial period for Marsch.
Marsch had an encouraging start as Marcelo Bielsa’s successor last season but supporters’ optimism has been wiped out as Leeds have managed to pick up just nine points from 11 matches this campaign.
Leeds are winless in their last eight Premier League matches and have lost six of those games, including a 3-2 defeat at Elland Road to Fulham.
Ahead of their match with Liverpool today, Marsch addressed his side’s poor form: “If we go game to game and you look at the fact we haven’t won in eight games based on how we’ve performed over the eight games, it’s almost impossible to believe that two points is all that we’ve earned.
“But that’s our reality right, in those eight games and all the phases in those games? What if Luis (Sinisterra) scores at Brighton on the two-inch line and it doesn’t go wide?
“What if we score the penalty against Arsenal? What if – you can go through what ifs, but it doesn’t matter, right?
“You could still look at the metrics and you could look at different things and you could say, we’re actually doing OK, which I believe.
“But in the end again, right now, if we continue losing matches, then everything in the entire project is in jeopardy. We’ve got to figure out a way to stop that.”
Only Nottingham Forest and Wolves are below Leeds in the Premier League table and former Tottenham striker Bent reckons Marsch needs to win one of their next two matches to avoid the sack.
Bent told talkSPORT: “If they get beat at Liverpool, which I think they could do, if they get beaten by Bournemouth with that big gap of the World Cup coming up, I think they’ll move on from him.
“If they don’t get three points from those games, he’ll get the sack. They need to beat Bournemouth.”
Jack Harrison is hoping Leeds can “stay positive” and start climbing the table, he told the club’s official website: “Really disappointing, it’s been like that for a few games now.
“We’ve been playing well and up until the final third it’s been good, we just can’t finish off the last action or get the goals we need.
“It’s so important to stick together as a team and try to stay positive.
“We’ve been working really hard as a team and I think that’s what is great about being here, everyone brings their best every day and is willing to improve the team in whatever way we need to.”
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