Then Leipzig head coach Jesse Marsch reacts during the match against Paris Saint-Germain on November 3, 2021 in Leipzig, Germany. Photo: IC

The most famous American coach in English football is probably Ted Lasso of AFC Richmond - never mind that Lasso, played by Jason Sudeikis, is fictional and the main character of the Apple TV show, Ted Lasso.

The fictional coach began as a joke character to help US broadcaster NBC promote the arrival of English Premier League matches to the States.

Now new Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch hopes to make sure that he is not a punchline after arriving to replace the sacked Marcelo Bielsa.

Marsch is well aware of who he is replacing at Elland Road.

"I think almost every job I've had, I've followed a club legend," Marsch told club broadcaster LUTV. "There's massive challenges to that. I have a lot to prove to our fanbase that I'm the right guy to follow such a hero like Marcelo Bielsa. But I think the key is when they see the team play and they play with passion, heart and they show that they're also intelligent and clear with the playing model and they're aggressive, then the fans will tolerate the coach even if they don't like his accent or if he's not as popular as the previous coach.

"My respect and admiration for Marcelo Bielsa is massive. How he's helped transform Leeds United into a Premier League team is pretty amazing. Everything that's been done has laid an incredible foundation and coming into this moment I just want to try to do everything I can to help take the club into the next phase of our history.

"I think I was identified by the club as a good follow-up to what Marcelo has created," Marsch added. "I think my style of play, my aggressiveness, the desire I have for teams to be intensive and to run and to make things difficult for the opponent fits with what has been done over the last three and a half years.

"It will be a big challenge to do it in a short period of time and I'll make sure we evolve in a way that can be successful for what the future may bring but do it now. I have to really identify how to do the important and simple things right away and then build complexity as we continue to move forward."

The club certainly hope that he is the right man to take them out of the bottom three of the English Premier League and ensure top flight survival - a hope which took another hit last week when the side lost 4-0 at home to Spurs in what would prove to be Bielsa's final game in charge.

"We are delighted to welcome Jesse to the club and excited for him to lead us into this new chapter," said Leeds director of football Victor Orta.

"Jesse is someone we identified a number of years ago during his time at Red Bull Salzburg and we believe his philosophy and style of football aligns with that of the club and will suit the players very well. We have a long-term plan and firmly believe he can take Leeds United to the next level and are excited for what the future holds."

The immediate future holds a trip to Leicester City at the weekend, followed by Aston Villa's visit to Elland Road the following Friday.

Marsch has little time to make an impact and the club are aware of his immediate targets.

"We are really pleased to have quickly secured the services of our first-choice head coach," said Leeds chief executive, Angus Kinnear. "Whilst the short-term objective for Jesse is obvious, we believe he has the courage and ambition to build on the strong foundations we have created over the last four years and elevate the performance of the club over the long term.

"He had a great deal of success with New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg and has demonstrated during our many meetings that he is a great fit with the footballing culture of Leeds United.

"At this challenging time, it is important that the club remains united from top to bottom. The fans have been amazing throughout Andrea's tenure and we have no doubt they will unite behind Jesse and ensure the team quickly returns to winning with style."

They will take wins any way that they can get them right now and Marsch has shown his ability to inspire his players - most famously when the video of his halftime team talk to his RB Salzburg players at Anfield went viral.

The Austrians were 3-1 down at the interval before Marsch spoke to his players.

"Be more ruthless against Van Dijk, we play with too much respect. Too much respect," Marsch said, in a video that would later go viral after his club put it on their YouTube channel.

"Are they strong? Yes. But it doesn't mean that we should be nice to them and don't tackle them or fight.

"They have to feel us guys, they have to know we're f**king here to compete, not just that we're here to stylistically going to try and play the same way, but we came to f**king play."

Play they did, levelling the scores at 3-3 before Liverpool found a winner. Marsch had made his mark though and his next stop in the Red Bull football empire would be RB Leipzig, where he replaced Julien Nagelsmann last summer. It did not last long, with Marsch leaving after five months.

Now he finds himself in England and he knows he also has to overcome the obstacle of being an American - just as he did on his European stops.

"You know this because you watched Bob Bradley [who was sacked after 11 games at Swansea], right," Marsch told Sky Sports in 2020 when he was at Salzburg.

"I saw him suffer. I also know what a good man he is and what a good coach he is. Watching that was so painful for me. I thought about it a lot. I spoke to him about it. I could see the suffering that he went through.

"If my idea was, at some point, to get over here, I knew that I was going to have to learn from what happened to him."

Marsch knows that to do better than Bradley or former Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner - the only other American to manage in the English Premier League - then he has to win.

"In the end, you are always going to be judged by results," he told Sky Sports in that same interview.