Dean Smith sends Leeds chilling warning with plan to heap pain on Jesse Marsch

Norwich head coach Dean Smith has called on his side to play their own game at Leeds and pile the pressure on Jesse Marsch by inflicting a third straight defeat on their new manager.

The 48-year-old American is looking to save Leeds from the drop. He arrives as a replacement for iconic boss Marcelo Bielsa. The Argentine will live long in the memory of Leeds fans, though results on the pitch had taken a startling nosedive this season. That said, he will forever be revered, leaving Marsch with near-impossible shoes to fill.

His first two games, however, have not gone well. Leeds were unlucky to lose Marsch’s first match – a 1-0 setback at Leicester. However, they were not at the races in his second match in charge, a woeful 3-0 home loss to Aston Villa.

That woeful run of form has left them just two points above the drop zone.

And it all means there is a lot at stake when fellow strugglers Norwich arrive at Elland Road on Sunday.

Marsch is urged his men to be brave and keep faith with their own game plan.

Smith, meanwhile, insists that, no matter what tactics Marsch might decide to deploy, his squad must pay attention to their own game plan.

Furthermore, Smith is hopeful he can return to Norfolk with three points in the bag.

“He has only had two games in charge, so will be getting little messages across to the team in terms of what he needs,” Smith said.

“But the key for us is concentrating on ourselves rather than the opposition. We need to make sure that we put in the kind of performance which we did in the second half against Chelsea.”

Smith added: “What is moving in the right direction is the quality of chances that we are creating and we should be taking more of those.”

Marsch felt his team played with an element of