PRE-SEASON 2022: ?

Jimmy Summerville been given Raphinha no10 for the season.... surely he's got to be given a chance in EVERY squad for the first couple of months and given a run.... not just 10mins towards the end of the game.

I can't see him getting in with Harrison, Rodrigo and Aaronson being the first choice 3 behind Hattrick straight away but I'm sure Rodrigo will be dragged at half time a few times and Aaronson put in the middle....

While Sinesterra is out for a couple of weeks and then has to get match fitness, Summerville HAS to get a prolonged run.

He could be like a brand new signing....

So the bar for Harrison appears to be set at £39million ( if reports are true). Newcastle latest bid of £33million turned down. Assuming they can muster the additional £6million, are we really going to offload him to the barcodes?? I think he is an integral part of our team, but I suppose money talks. I'm just praying this is just a pile of clickbait sh*te!

Has anyone got info on the behind closed doors game that was played on Saturday? Some random rumour stated that those fit squad members who did not play Sunday play a full 90 minutes in the game. It has been near impossible getting info on it.

Overall this seasons pre-season was miles better than last years so there is a positive right there to start with

Yes we lost Rapha & Kalvin but lets be honest we cant compete with the big boys "if" they shine the spotlight on one of our talents, so good luck to them both.

Ive not seen too many of the pre-season games but listening to Jesse's interview after Sundays game im hopeful we will be well away from the dreaded relegation dogfight come March/April 2023.

The new guys seem to have made an impression and time will be needed fro them to bed in but Roca & Aaronson in particular have been impressive from what ive seen.

Sad to see Kiko go over the weekend again i wish him well but lets face it he would never have taken IM number one jersey.

Wolves next Saturday really looking forward to it, and for the fans that have a ticket i really hope they stick with the team, afterall mistakes will happen especially in the first game "real" game back, so patience and plenty of noise and im certain whoever JM selects as his starting xi will taste what its like to be LEEDS

MOT

Well we certainly looked lively yesterday. We won’t be given that much freedom to get at teams in the premier league though. Nice to see Rodrigo getting some goals, some nice touches and passes from him too. We all know he has it in his locker, he just needs to open his locker more frequently Than he haa over the last two years.

The new lads looked to have settled in. Aaronson Had a great game, the pass for Bamfords first was quality. As I’ve mentioned before, he gives us something we have lacked in the centre of park previously. Get on the ball and run with the ball being direct through the middle. Previously we relied on getting the ball wide to be able to run at opponents. This just gives us another option.

I know it was only pre season and the real test will be next week, but I’m feeling happy With the business we have done. We’ve lost two big players, but looking at The bigger picture , I’ve got a feeling/hope that we have got a stronger and better team and squad in return.

only time will tell.

Well, that was fun!

If we could defend we'd be unstoppable. Shades of Bielsa there....

Just willing the Lionesses on before our game 😃

what's our starting lineup?

Good starting X1 out for 1845ko but Costa and Poveda on the bench!

Look forward to seeing Sonny Perkins come on though....

Costa trained with the first team on Friday as did Sonny Perkins.

So a bit of comparison here in Australia for EPL training sessions. According to what was seen in the open Leeds 2 sessions and the one Aston Villa. Both clubs were doing very similar training but there was one clear difference between the 2. Leeds were conducting all training at about 60% with regular stoppage for coach instructions and explanations which is to be expected with new players. Aston Villa were going at 100% with players who were not up to task or slacking forced into what looked to be a "B" team. Regularly was the coaching staff giving instructions individually to B team players who then earn back into the A team drills. This continued all session. Gerrard was demanding perfection and pushing them.

Lets hope we can over come our injuries and squad new-ness so that we can push to that levels.

Didnt see any of the game so wont / cant comment, although reading your comments im getting the impression that JM still hasnt settled on his starting xi, ok pre-season friendlies are for trying out things and ive no issue with that but with the Wolves game only 2 weeks away now surely we should be more settled and aware of what the tactics are.

Not beaten which is a positive, but against a "b" team JM cant be pleased with that.

I see lumturd were thumped 4-0 before jumping on the plane back to england,

Everton at 4/1 to be relegated looks tempting as do Brum at 2/1 thats a lovely 14/1 double

The biggest thing i took out our preseason to date is that this season getting up at 2 and 3 am to watch leeds is going to see me need to buy a fair few more cases of Red wine, Jack Daniels, Crown royal whisky and something for the next afternoon hang overs.

Last years pre-season was a disaster. This year I am more optimistic although I can only see a mid table finish. There are too many team worse than us. A striker and LB would increase my confidence.

What I took from the game is that Meslier has a very odd shaped head.... it looks like he has turned up for the game on a motorbike and forgot to take his helmet off for kick off

Full Time 1-1

Match rating somewhere between "Meh" and "Pfffft".

Very few standouts for us - will let others give player rating I'm not enthused

Pitch crap

Opposition a clunking B team

Officials - more strict but still bang average at best

Greenwood is wasted that deep.

Klich is ahhhhhh.

Hjelde is good left CB.

66 mins - Palace Goal 1-1

Caught with our pants totally down from our own corner - if Klich is the last man back we're done for

60 mins - Klich and Gyabi on for Rodders and Roca

Roca showing signs of frustration coming off.... needs an arm round him

54 mins Summerville earns a mega-soft pen

Rodders! 1-0

Second Half

James, Greenwood, Gelhardt, Summerville, Hjelde on

Bamford, Aarondsen, Adams, Struijk, Koch off

Hjelde as a CB, Harrison drops back to left wingback. Greenwood as one of the 2 CM so he's definitely dropped back from his old No10 role

The grounds men need to hang their heads in shame. Pitch is terrible. We will be needing to sign a new central midfielder. Think Forshaw got up on the wrong side of the futon as he is perhaps injured again. Sinesterra injured.

Want to see Greenwood in the number 10 role and Gelthart at 9.

Good question on Summerville.

He chose to chuck Rodders on instead, which given Sinisterra's performance was a like-for-like swap.

We do have a bit of wing back width, but noticeable how much the whole team converges on the ball to press which leaves us exposed to fast switches and long balls.

Cheers Soopa 👍

My stream keeps going in and out and didn't get package as was away.... any decent streams for 2nd half?

Why didn't Summerville come on for Sinesterra as a natural winger? Are we playing narrow? No point in having wingers then!?

Only good thing is I had 40+ booking points.... thanks Palace and lunch is paid for 👍😂

HT 0-0

Which idiot said they were looking forward to this game??

As an entertaining spectacle - what a bag of knackers.

Don't think much of this Palace B team, don't think too much more of us either, although we've been better than them.

If I squint I can kind of work out what we're trying to do......

We still need a LB

The pitch is really affecting the game - we're trying to play more than Palace, so it's affecting us more.

Still, there's been an outbreak of Rodrigo's Passing Palsy in the squad.

30 mins gone - now Forshaw off.

Palace B team here playing bloodbowl, not football.

3 yellows in 35 mins for Palace - 1 for Llorente

Sinisterra starts on the right. Clearly hurt himself early - looks like Hamstring.

He's looked like a tractor so far this pre-season and he's not fit.

Struijk at left back. Umm we just got him high on confidence once more in his natural position of left centre back but due the clubs in ability to sign a left back he is going to have to play out of position again.

Lets hope both Adams and Forshaw do not go walkabout in their role as double holding midfielders or we will get carved up. If both can stick to the formation then we will be fine. Get early ball to Sinesterra so we can see his magic.

Surely it'll be a back 3 of Koch, Llorente and Strujik with Rasmussen and Harrison as WBs....

Forshaw and Adams holding with Sinesterra and Aaronson supporting Hattrick....

Morning all,

Trust we've all either taken holiday, opted to work from home or retired early to be tuned in to today's friendly? If not, never fear - dodgy updates and poor player ratings will inevitably follow on this thread 😊

I'm looking forward to this one - feels like we're going to be closer to seeing what the season will look like.

Everton already crying misery and looking like they'll struggle, which is nice.

So after a bit of research and going by the 2 preseason open training sessions here in Australia Jessie Marsh has a unique way of doing things. While clubs like Aston Villa, Man united, Crystal palace have all been here working on 2 a day sessions with brutal fitness regimes our club are doing one a days with each session being heavily focused understanding of desired playing style.

Now this has got me wondering if it is being run this way due to previous seasons high injury tolls and the amount of new players. Is this the way Jessie Marsh wanted to run preseason or is it a case of lets make do to best of a situation we are in.

On a side note just few fans turned up to the Fremantle open training session. I think it was around 2 thousand or so. Also Mr Bamford was enjoying some Australian coffee down the main street of Freeo. He seems to really enjoy promoting Leeds as he is always there for local media work. It was funny watching him and Michael Bridges chatting and a kid yelled out who is more injury prone in a Leeds shirt. The look on their faces was priceless.

Can anyone explain to me why NONE of the leeds players confronted McGinn for his reckless tackle (in a fcking preseason friendly on a 16 year old)???????????

I know we have signed alot and brought in fresh faces into the dressing room over the past few weeks but fck me it looks like our lads didnt give a fck about Archie. The young fella is crying on the floor and we've done NOTHING.

Jezz wouldnt have happened if Billy, Giles, Big Jack, Batty, etc was on the pitch.

Im beginning to wonder with all the new faces and much of the MB dressing room dismantled now are we losing our team spirit / bond that got us through the last 4 years??

Anyone get any update on Archies injury?

Does anyone know what side of the bed Forshaw gets out of yet?

If anyone is interested the full match replay is available to watch on LUTV, or through the mobile app. There are also 9 mins of highlights.

I have watched the highlights only, so cant give a full reflection of how we played. The clips I did see looked promising with some neat build up play. James looked sharp and was unlucky not to notch a goal for himself.

I have no idea who Dan’s source is re Forshaw, just seems to me that if Forshaw got out of the left hand side of his bed this morning Dan would be telling us he should have got out of the right hand side. He’d be fuming about it too.

Apparently it was heard by fans at the tunnel after the game Meslier asking Forshaw why he did not demand the referee do something after what happened to Grey and Forshaws response wàs it happens in football.

If this is true I will be extremely angry at a senior player responding to a younger player like this.

Now the game was okay from us in pieces but we are not gelling yet. We need that attacking central midfielder/second Striker. For my it has to be Greenwood. Struijk and Koch are our best pairing at CB and we have to come up with a nick name for our RB. Our 2 holding midfielder are pushing a tad to high and are cramming the space of the front 4. Bamford tried alot of one touch play but it really called for hold up play instead. Bit rusty is a clear issue for him.

Starting with that awful challenge on young Gray. No doubt he'll miss a couple of months (at least).

A horror tackle, fully intentional and that bxstxrd put his body into it as well.

Red all over.

If you thought Premiership/Championship officials are poor.

These were on a different level.

Mings, that prxck, should have had 2 bookings in the first half, ref didn't even speak to him. Gray wins the ball with a perhaps hefty challenge and gets a booking, Buenshitty made a meal off it (some great play acting).

First 60 mins it was a good contest, against a strong Villa team we held our own.

Meslier brilliant saves.

Kristenson, very strong, proper defender, pops forward. Looks the part (one little minus, some of his passing). Otherwise very impressed with him.

Koch: again solid, but lost control of the ball in midfield and but for Meslier we would have been 1 goal down.

Llorente: defended well, but in general his passing was off cue.

Davis: half decent in the first half (got skinned once) However, wouldn't want us to start the season with him at LB.

Adams, so much better, good movement, nipping things in the but.

Rocca, still did ok, but with Villa given us little time & space on the ball, he was less effective.

Harrison; busy & hard working, got behind the defence a few times, crossing could have been better.

James: could have scored a couple of goals, mixed bag of good & poor things.

Aarondson: looked better in the n°10 role, but will have to get used to tempo and challenges in the Premiership. As said before, looks a bit lightweight.

Bamford: got himself about and these 60mins will have done him good (fitness wise) → more to come.

Game lost a lot of it's fluency after 60 mins.

Pascal replaced Llorente after 45mins, did ok,

Hjelde, to me looked far better than Davis at LB.

Drameh, can perhaps cover for Kristenson, however can't see him getting a starting spot.

Forshaw & Klich: both did well.

Sinesttera: again hardly got on the ball, didn't do anything of note. Unfit???

Summerville: tried, but another one that will hardly make the starting 11.

Rodrigo: this time he took Patrick place, it didn't make a difference...

Nothing came off, beginning to think that the ball would perhaps stick better at my gran's feet. Hopefully we can get rid of him & Casilla for the price of one.

Greenwood: I'm starting to change my mind, only on for a bit, be he's certainly growing on me. Looks more & more ready for first team action.

Villa Takeaways

Meslier is still great

Kristinsen is fitting in great - like him

Koch and llorente and Struijk all capable in pairs at the back

Davis not ready yet

Adams better, Roca very good indeed, but a card risk

Aarondsen needs to get sharper and stronger, but did get invovled in some good interplay

James and Harrison still patchy

Bamford getting back to full fitness and very welcome

First half - 4-2-3-1- looked good....

After that

Gray - worried about the ankle damage from the bad McGinn tackle

Sinisterra - has the acceleration and turning circle of a Massey Ferguson, hope it's just a fitness thing.

Not much of use to take from the second half.

Oz ref that s crap

Second Half

Struijk on for Llorente at HT - he did get a head clash in the first half. No other changes

55 mins and there's some bromances blossoming. Diego Carlos and Bamford love each other already - couple of tit for tat challenges.

60 mins - Sinisterra, Forshaw, Klich, Rodrigo, Summerville, Gray, Drameh on for Bamford, James, Roca, Aarondsen, Harrison, Adams, Kristinsen

62 mins another Villa pen - Leif Davis handball and it's 0-1

65 mins yellow for Gray - heavy challenge on Buendia

68 mins Davis off for Hjelde

69 mins McGinn yellow on Gray, a very poor challenge and obviously a revenge hit - it's getting tasty and it's unnecessary in a friendly. Gray off again and Greenwood on.

Scrappy doesn't do this justice now it's effectively 2 new teams - no structure at all.

OK - I'm ready for full time now. Adopting the U11 approach of everybody chasing the ball doesn't really do the job at this level!

and there it is

0-1 Full time

Rasmus looks like he will be a cult hero. Double pivot of Adams and Roca looks good. Davies does not look out of place. Koch is our best CB. Meslier is amazing! Just the forward players looking sloppy

Rasmus looks like he will be a cult hero. Double pivot of Adams and Roca looks good. Davies does not look out of place. Koch is our best CB. Meslier is amazing! Jst the forward players looking slop

Rasmus looks like he will be a cult hero. Double pivot of Adams and Roca looks good. Davies does not look out of place. Koch is our best CB. Meslier is amazing! Jst the forward players looking sloppy.

Somebody had to do it, so I hauled myself out of bed for the Villa friendly..

First Half

Meslier

Kristinsen Koch Llorente Davis

Adams Roca

James Aarondsen Harrison

Bamford

So a very strong Leeds lineup and Villa very much a first team too.

Pace was vey fast to start with, lots of high press and interplay - Leeds had the best early chance via James, but once the half settled Villa came into it.

They got a penalty for handball that simply wasn't, but Meslier pulled off a worldie (twice) to keep the clean sheet.

Villa had the best of the latter stages of the first half but didn't actually get a shot on target apart from a longer range effort on the counter after Robin Koch made an error. Leeds did have another go via Bamford and a scuffed rebound from James.

Some strong challenges, felt like a Premier League game in patches.

Half Time 0-0

,

Good workout and I agree with most comments on here.

No-one let us down and there was plenty of effort.

Only concern is our high press left us open to the counter and as we play so narrow oppos have space out wide.

JM know this and I am sure he will address before the Prem season starts.

KK looked more than good enough in goal. Roca looks great but may get a few bookings.

Joffy is just Joffy. A superstar in the making as can be said for Darko and Archie.

Given some of our players have only been here a week or 2, it was promising.

Forshaw was great in CM, James looks far better playing out wide.

Koch has to be the CD, left or right.

Sinister-Terror played it safe but as his game time increases, I am sure he will come good.

Real test will be v Cagliari a week before the season starts.

This is already a better preseason than last year.

Missed most of the first half with trouble getting a stream. I did catch the first goal which in my opinion was made by Forshaw’s first time pass. (I’m sure someone on here thinks he needs 4 touches to get the ball under control). Roca looked very assured in the middle too.

second half I liked the look of Gyabi, and greenwood. Dare I say it Klich played some of the best passes but seemed to be on a different wave length to some of his team mates.

From various reports on here and LeedsNewsNow sites it seems that Rasmussen, Roca and Gyabi were very good overall 👏👏

Great header by Geldhart and showed that he really wanted it and bullied the defender.... he must be ahead of Hattrick in the pecking order!

Taking into account we're up against fairly weak opponents I'm far from impressed.

Poor defending for their goal, not tracking back & standing off by our full back,

At times (more in the first half) we played some nice stuff, but there were a lot of sloppy passes too.

Goalie: Klaesson: 7 - one excellent save → looked comfortable

CB's: Koch & Struijk: 7 both solid enough (Pascal should have scored)

RB/WB: Kristensen: 6 - got forward well, in general also defended well, stood off for their goal, don't know why but I'm not convinced (yet).

LB/WB: Harrison: 7 - good in attack, available, crossing not always there, defending not his cup of tea.

Roca: 8 - always available, kept things simple, I like him.

Forshaw: 6 - sprayd some good passes but not every pass found his target,

Rodrigo: 4 - got involved a lot, but for every single thing he did well, he virtually effed up twice. In general his passing was way off and gave the ball away on numerous occasions.

Aaronson: 5 - hardly noticed him, barely involved...

James: 7 - scored a nice goal and got the assist for Gelhardt.

Gelhardt: sharp.

Sinesterra; 6 - came on for James after 30 mins, but struggled to make an impact.

looks pacy.

From those who came on in the second I would say Klich was decent, Bamford looked unfit & rusty, Gyabi is a big/strong lad and did ok for an 18year old.

Young Gray, WTF on for 15/20 mins, but this boy is seriously good, gets on the ball with ease, takes everything into his stride, looks effortlessly in all he does.

Against such poor opposition, at times the ease with how they got at and past us is obviously a worry.

Our team also looks fairly narrow with a lot being asked from the overlapping fullbacks/wingbacks.

This in combination with our high press makes us vulnerable on the break.

Fairly often our strikers & attacking midfielders are left with very little room to manoeuvre and run in.

Not sure that players like Sinesterra, James, Summerville, and even Aaronson are well equipped for that system.

Still, very early days and fitness levels will no doubt improve.

Will take time for the new players to adapt and gel with their teammates.

Daniel2 - I note from the content of many recent posts you're not impressed at all with Leeds. Totally entitled to your opinion of course but....

You've had a pop at pre-season, the selections and now some of the players.... is it really that bad?? I can agree with Rodders being a bit lost, but Adams was OK for a first outing, we've won both games comfortably....

First site of Adams in a Leeds kit. God i hope he improves as he looked so far off the pace. Guess has not settled in with his team mates.

Just seen our first two goals

James took his well

But really impressed with Joffys 2nd, showed real desire to get on the end and bury that header. Keeper no chance, defender left on the grass

Played neat and tidy but Rodrigo was the weak spot as the attacking midfielder.

2-1 ht

James subbed; 30min - played well

2-0 so far; 2 goals in quick succession - James & Joffrey

Are we not meant to see less of Forshaw? F8ck off forshaw is captain

Why not put Dremah at left back?

So it will be James on the right, Rodrigo central and Aaronson on left?

Why isn't Meslier at least on the bench?

Looks like Harrison will play LB which I've always thought he could do but I suppose we tried this with Alioski who wasn't a proper defender.... think Harrison would be a great wing back and can play another attacking player ahead of him. We need a FB to be able to DEFEND first and foremost though!

I'm abroad and can see the game is live on Hesgoal but worried about streaming it on the phone. Does anyone know if it'll be OK and won't affect phone with spam etc as usually stream from an old laptop which wouldn't matter if went off....

The interview with Marsch indicates they are seriously evaluating Davis and that he will be first choice in Australia. That's fine by me. Davis is at a good age, he's 22 now, he's had a long apprenticeship. His potential quality was never in doubt. I'm pretty sure he's oven ready. If not, then Drameh is.