Leeds United's VAR controversy to leave Jesse Marsch pleasantly surprised after video review

Leeds’ opening day fixture against Wolves ended in a 2-1 victory for the Whites, courtesy of a Rodrigo strike and Rayan Ait-Nouri’s own goal.

United went in level at the break after Daniel Podence’s sixth-minute opener had been cancelled out by Leeds’ Spanish forward.

Tempers flared in the crowd and on the touchline during the opening 45 minutes after an incident which left Danish full-back Rasmus Kristensen flattened inside the Wolves penalty area.

Goalkeeper Jose Sa collided with the 25-year-old in mid-air, failing to make contact with the ball as he attempted to clear a set-piece with his fist.

Kristensen’s header back across goal came to nothing while protestations from the Leeds bench began immediately with Jesse Marsch claiming a foul had been committed.

Video Assistant Referee Jarred Gillett deemed Sa’s aerial challenge a fair one, relaying that information to referee Rob Jones, much to the dismay of the Elland Road crowd.

Fortunately for Leeds, the penalty incident did not have a material impact on the final scoreline but could so easily have been a hotly-debated talking point had United failed to take all three points from the game.

While discourse surrounding the incident centred on Sa’s collision with the Whites defender, upon second viewing head coach Jesse Marsch may well have been pleased with what he saw.

The American is known to re-watch matches after the final whistle and will have paid close attention to the set-piece routine which birthed the first-half flashpoint.

Leeds’ delivery from a deep position just inside Wolves’ half was swung in from the left-hand side towards the right-hand corner of the six-yard area.

As the ball was to be played in, Kristensen vacated his position at the front of a pack of Leeds players, sprinting around the back to the position where the collision eventually took place.

In doing so, the Dane lost his marker and would have had a free header to nod back across goal if he had not been impeded by Sa.

Set-pieces in particular is an area Jesse Marsch hopes to make marginal gains from this season.

The head coach has previously shown ingenuity at set-plays with previous clubs and saw his side score three times from such situations in their opening pre-season friendly against Blackpool last month.

This latest example demonstrates a variation which may be of use to Leeds throughout the 2022/23 campaign.