The Athletic's Phil Hay has shared his damning verdict following Leeds United's Premier League defeat to Aston Villa.

What's the story?

The Whites lost their first home game under Jesse Marsch on Thursday night, with the 3-0 scoreline seeing the Yorkshire club dragged ever deeper into a relegation battle.

Following the loss, Hay revealed that some of the supporters at Elland Road had left, and he issued a chastening claim about the club's prospects of staying up this season.

Writing on Twitter, he said: "That was dreadful. Crowd have voted with their feet and Elland Road was half-empty by full-time. Six defeats on the bounce and simply have to beat Norwich on Sunday. Would be a mistake to assume there will be three worse teams."

Worrying times for Leeds

After the dismal defeat to Spurs, Leeds and Andrea Radrizzani took the bold decision to sack Marcelo Bielsa in the hope that a new manager could come in, hit the ground running and pull off a miraculous escape.

Instead, these early couple of weeks of Marsch's leadership have further taken the air out of the place, with many fans seemingly yet to be convinced by their new manager.

Whereas Bielsa was able to build a long-term culture at Leeds and create a real affinity with the fan base, Marsch has had to come in on day one and look to achieve results.

It was always going to be a tough ask, but questions will surely now persist about whether the right call was made in getting rid of a club icon in Bielsa so soon before the end of the season.

It was a gamble, to say the least; and as Hay claims, it's one which will have Leeds very worried.

AND in other news: Marsch must unleash "phenomenal" rarely-seen Leeds star, he's more exciting than Joffy