Straight into the serious question from the start. Is our preseason already a debacle? Why, well lets start with the followin points.
- We are 6 days away from the first trail game an we do not have 60% of our squad in training yet.
- Rumoured that this could be the easiest preseason in terms of Fitness work that any professional players as undertaken. Heard from someone who was lucky enough watch 2 days this week that other then a light warm up and a beep test nothing else is done.
- Manager is actually partaking in training as one of the boys instead of demanding or coaching excellence. More a style of pub team training.
- Best performing player in everything are actually players who are either from 18's or being linked elsewhere.
- Clubs publications of squad numbers, player in coming & outgoing, team kit release is like s sunday league conference team.
Now of course other may not see it this way and maybe I am of the opinion that preseason should consist of a program of extreme hell week. Surely there still should be that loading stage to get miles i to the legs. Any how, what are others thoughts and comments?
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Does anyone know what side of the bed Forshaw gets out of yet?
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.
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.
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.
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.
2-0 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....
JM confirmed Firpo's out for at least 8 weeks. Perhaps we'll now look at getting in a LB on loan. If not Davis will more than probably stay.
Just read a report that Firpo is expected to be out for 8 weeks. I was hoping that he was going to have a decent season for us and turn things around. This won’t help him if the YEP are correct.
Palace looks like have left out a host of players from the tour as the don’t meet entry requirements to Australia or Singapore
Does it mean players like Bates and McKinstry are going on loan? Have we already sent McCalmont and Boguez (maybe still injured) on loan?
Jeez I didn't pick up Firpo not in the squad.... thought he'd finally turned the corner towards the end of last season after injuries, loss of form and yellow cards!
Squad list for Australia. Anyone know why no Firpo?
Obiously Costa and Kiko are on their way out.
Goalkeepers
Harry Christy
Kristoffer Klaesson
Illan Meslier
Defenders
Liam Cooper
Leif Davis
Cody Drameh
Leo Hjelde
Robin Koch
Rasmus Kristensen
Diego Llorente
Pascal Struijk
Midfielders
Brenden Aaronson
Tyler Adams
Adam Forshaw
Archie Gray
Darko Gyabi
Mateusz Klich
Marc Roca
Forwards
Patrick Bamford
Joe Gelhardt
Sam Greenwood
Jack Harrison
Daniel James
Rodrigo
Luis Sinisterra
Crysencio Summerville
Not sure if it has been announced but during the WA leg of the tour on July 20th Leeds are holding a open training session allowing fan to watch from the sidelines in Fremantle.
Scunthorpe beat our
Thanks, Soopa. Very good supplement to the ratings of Graham Smyth (whose opinion often is worth reading 😊):
https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/leeds-united-4-0-blackpool-graham-smyths-player-ratings-as-young-guns-shine-in-pre-season-opener-3760776
Leeds 4 - 0 Blackpool
Here's my bag of takeaways, up for review with others who watched:
1) Formation used was 4-2-3-1 it looked good - employed a high press which allowed control of possession.
2) lack of fatigue - never felt like we had to hold on like with the U23's and preseason last year.
3) More coherence - can swap players in position with less disruption
4) Much better than LY in terms of feel - no effort needed to win easily
5) Despite a short break the change in style felt tangible in approach
6) No set piece issues
Players by position:
Goalkeepers - Meslier is Meslier, very little to do. Klaassen had one direct break to deal with in the second half and did well.
Defence - not really tested - Struijk and Koch looked comfortable. Firpo and Drameh very advanced and effective offering width. Davis and Shackleton got less involved second half, Moore and Mullen looked calm and competent.
Midfield - big takeaway was Archie Gray getting the most minutes - he WILL play first team at some point next season. Roca has a nice left foot, good distribution and doesn't mind a tackle - like him. Forshaw fit in second half.
Forwards - Gelhardt very much himself, Greenwood looked assured, Harrison set up a goal, he's quality. Matteo Joseph Fernandez leading the line in the second half and scoring.....
Still to come - Ayling, Kristensen, Dallas, Llorente, Cooper, Adams, Klich, Aarondson, Summerville, Sinisterra, James, Bamford.....
I am happy tonight.
OK - so it's a disjointed friendly - early in the season and with 22 players used, so treat feedback with caution....
BUT won 4-0
60 mins
Harrison, Roca, Drameh, Gelhardt, Struijk, Greenwood, going off
McGurk, Forshaw, Shackleton, Bate, Moore, Joseph on
side note - Mark Jackson, Cam Toshack set in place this season, 2 new coaches joined this week
changes at halftime - not so dramatic
Meslier replaced by Klaasen
Miller on for Rodrigo
Mullen on for Koch
Davis for Firpo
We've named a strong side for the first half, so this may be expected, but compared to last off season it's chalk and cheese so far.
Still have Bamford, James, Sinisterra, Aarondson, Rasmussen, Adams, Cooper, Llorente, Dallas etc to return.....
Set pieces better too.
2-0
Goalscorers so far Koch and Firpo - that tells you a lot
operating a very high press - a strong side to start the game so not a surprise, but total control so far
Why could they not put this game on Friday am up in York for the races this weekend