Good Morning. It's Friday 15th July, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Winning start to Australian tour Leeds got off to a winning start in their pre-season tour of Australia by brushing aside A-League opponents Brisbane Roar yesterday morning. Jesse Marsh's men made their intentions known from the start, having the ball in the back of the net after only 19 seconds, but unfortunately Aaronson's strike was ruled out for offside. Dan James opened the scoring on 22 minutes. Forshaw's diagonal ball carved open the Roar defence. He took a touch to accelerate past his marker, taking him wide right of the penalty area, before blasting the ball past Macklin Freke at his near post. The Welsh International turned provider for the second, less than two minutes later. His inch perfect cross to the back post was graciously received by Joe Gelhardt. His bullet header from close range gave Freke no chance! Roar grabbed a goal back against the run of play deep into the first half, when Struijk's block fell kindly for Knowles, who made no mistake from close range. Leeds made plenty of changes after the break, but seemed to lose their momentum, and shape. The hosts went close to levelling on the hour mark, but Klaesson's outstretched dive denied Jay O'Shea. They continued to ride their luck minutes from time when Jez Lofthouse was presented with an empty net, but couldn't get his shot away. please log in to view this image Leeds make final bid for Belgium star Various media reports are suggesting that Leeds have made a last and final offer in their bid to land Club Brugge forward Charles de Ketelaere. The 21yo Belgium International was expected to have joined AC Milan by now, but the Serie A Champions have money concerns, prompting speculation that Leeds have now made an audacious €37m (£31.6m) bid to test Milan's resolve. Whilst Leeds can outmuscle their Italian counterparts financially, de Ketelaere apparently has his heart set on a move to the San Siro. please log in to view this image Kalimuendo talks intensify Talks are set to intensify between Victor Orta and PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi over Arnaud Kalimuendo. The PSG squad fly out tomorrow for a pre-season tour of Japan, and currently the French U21 International is booked on the flight. The Ligue 1 outfit are resigned to losing the rising star, but are holding out for £21m, and have asked for various stipulations, including a buyback clause in his contract. Leeds need a striker, and it is looking incredibly unlikely that a deal can be reached with Charles de Ketelaere. Victor Orta has already registered his interest in the French U21 International with a £17m offer last month, but PSG are holding out for more. Newcastle, Ajax and Atalanta have also been credited with an interest in the 20yo. please log in to view this image If Espanyol calls me, I’ll go right now Kiko Casilla has his bags packed, and is expected to depart Elland Road and day now. The 35yo former Real Madrid shot stopper has fallen down the pecking order at Elland Road since the Jonathan Leko racism affair, and spent last season on loan at Elche. It is believed that both parties (Casilla and Leeds) have agreed to terminate his contract, allowing him to return to Spain. Casilla is said to be waiting for a phone call for his next club, and if that was Espanyol, he would leave at this very moment. please log in to view this image
Kiko must be back in Spain by the end of this week, surely? Also expecting Costa to be gone by next weekend and maybe going back to Portugal?
Happy that we’re sorting the squad size out, we all know it was an issue last year, and it’ll be needed whatever the injury situation is, with the 5 subs permitted this year. Difficult to draw any conclusions about the new players until we see them in proper matches, and we won’t really be able to judge whether it’s been a decent transfer window until probably the World Cup break. However if we can top up the squad with a striker and LB before our first PL game, pretty much all the obvious gaps have been filled ( other than keeper). My only concern is losing 2 experienced PL players in Raphina and KP and replacing them with imports with no PL experience. Even those with CL or Europa League experience will find the Prem different gravy. Just hope the new players fit in quickly and we get better football to watch than Jesse managed to deliver in his first 4 months. MOT
Morning all. Main points from yesterdays friendly were; 1) We played the narrow system that Jesse introduced when he first joined. Think everyone is familiar with what it entails but for anyone wondering it's basically a swarm method which helps massively in winning the ball back but leaves the team vunerable once the opposition have bypassed that first phase. 2) Lack of creativity. Apart from Dan James who only played the first 30 mins no one created anything of note or looked capable of taking players on and/or making things happen in an attacking sense. 3) We looked exposed defensively. At times against a poor side we were stretched at the back and failed to mark attacking players who were breaking quickly. This weakness against the transition could be real problem for us using the narrow system Jesse prefers. 4) We now have 3 Adam Forshaws. Early days for the new guys Rocca & Adams and so we await to see which if the three will be the starters but there are definite similarities about them all.
Good morning everyone Jesse imo had one job to do, and one job only, which was to save our season and halt the downward freefall,it was never going to be pretty football especially with the tools at his disposal, but he and the team managed it, but as I said it was never going to be pretty, but the end justified the means. The jury is still out with me on to how we do or play, but so looking forward to another premier season with a new look team, will be exciting whatever happens, mot everyone it will soon be (as the mask said) showtime.
For me we ran out of ideas around the box. Yes new players getting to know one another but we dominated the game but never found the killer pass so seemed happy to play tippy tappy and hope for someone to find space. A bit depressing at times but a lot of the players will not play with some of the players again in the same 11. Sinisttera looked sharp but frustrated waiting for the ball or frustrated because wanted to flick the ball into a gap only to see his team mate go the wrong way. Obviously going to get better
Agree with all your points but not concerned about point 4. Feel like Roca looks a player and Forshaw looked good alongside him and I’ve always felt he’s a good option in that position when he isn’t injured so it’ll be 2 of those 3 starting with Gray and Gyabi pushing which looks a fairly decent bit of depth. Lack of creativity with those players however our full backs should be going up the field to help the front 4. As mentioned our front 4 look to be lacking creativity. Admittedly Aaronson and Sinisterra only played a small part yesterday so hopefully they’ll start to gel and be that creativity that we need. It will certainly be interesting without Raphinha as he was always someone who could make something out of nothing. Bamford looks like he’s got a way to go yet which has also been echoed by Marsch and the man himself so on current showings it’s looking like Gelhardt and James will be two starters and the other 2 positions up for grabs but Harrison has the experience so the others need to show more than him to get the nod.
Some interesting observations. I didn't watch the games as i don;t think pre-season tells you much, but i get we're seeing how JM's preferred playing style works with more time/newer players etc. A few comments... Agree with pros/cons re point 1, it's meant to be more sophisticated than the U7s 'swarm' it looks like. A defender's pass triggers the press, but they're not actually all trying to get to the receiver... they're blocking passing lanes. The advantage of being central/narrow is if you do win the ball back, these pressers are now in dangerous attacking positions themselves. We are exposed if the press is beaten, but the intention is the exposure is likely wide (its the crossfield pass that better players often utilise to beat a press. This looks dangerous but not actually as dangerous as getting ripped through the middle as was often the case with the M2M Bielsa approach. That's all just theory. The devil is obviously in the detail, and if your point 3 was correct then some people maybe don't know their jobs yet. So hopefully it's user error not system error. If it's the latter it will be a long season. Re point 4) I can only comment on what youtube clips i've seen and scouting reports i've read, but obviously roca and adams were signed as a dual pivot to replace the single dm role of kp. So you would expect them to be defensively savvy with decent distribution. My belief was that roca would be the better distributor and adams the more defensive minded of the two. Adams is seriously quick. Forshaw i've always seen as a give and go neat link man central midfielder who's meant to be an allrounder but never that comfortable in a dm role. So i perceived all 3 as different. Maybe i should watch the game but apparently it was sh*t so i can;t be arsed
Doesn’t mean anything. They put four past Liverpool in a friendly. What’s chances of that in a competitive game? Zero. I wouldn’t read too much into pre season yet
Marsch in his interview yesterday, said words to the effect of "we were forced to use DJ up front last season... we all know it's not his best position. DJ prefers to come in off the left flank. JM is trying to encourage him to play on the right to get cross's and shots in without cutting back. Maybe pure coincidence but it brough a goal and an assist yesterday.
spot on... I'm excited about it. Realistically we've lost our best two players and are replacing them with a volume of younger 'talent' that are not yet and may never be at that level. Could go either way, but under the circumstances, avoiding relegation is the realistic objective this season and anything else a bonus.
Morning all With the new season fast approaching, I have given some deep thought () to what I would do if I were Orta for the coming season and have come up with the following: I am going for a 4-5-1 formation as follows: I am aware he hasn't played much for the last couple of years but wanted some real experience in goal and have recalled Chesh to the line up. Paddy Kenny on steroids will never let you down between the sticks. As the old song goes, you'll never beat the Chesh (or something like that). My system requires solid Full Backs so I have gone for Ristac and Hemase. What we lose in terms of flair is more than made up for with good, honest reliability. Centre Half and skipper is Doc. The booming Ian Paisley voice and conviction in his own beliefs make him a natural leader. Perhaps surprisingly, I have paired him with Oldschool. Not everyone will be happy with the lack of height at the back but my reasoning is, sharpness of mind should make up for any lack of pace. The man to cover the gaps at the back while Doc is busy arguing with the ref, the opposition, his team mates, tea lady etc. Holding Mid I wanted a football brain, someone to pull the strings so Emu gets the nod (someone who talks a good game is always useful). Now, for the flair in my team. Centre mid we have someone with all the attributes of Gazza packed into one tiny dynamo Irish body, our one and only Shaks. Alongside Shaks we have the man who, in his own words was very similar to Sheridan back in the day only slower, yes, the ever silky / slippery Jammy. please log in to view this image On the wings and I like this. Firstly, Georgie Best himself, OLOF. Swashbuckling Irish flair with a touch of steel. No trouble in our changing room with this guy, scruff of the neck Vinny stuff and a mean Guitar Riff at half time. On the other wing, a no brainer (literally), Wakey. With the physique of Pat Nevin and the running power and intellect of Forest Gump we can't go wrong here. Run Forest, run please log in to view this image Gone for a good old fashioned bustling Centre Forward with WJ. Spends a lot of time in the treatment room but always out on the grass on a Saturday. Plenty of bundling the ball in the net with this guy please log in to view this image Subs: Ell - Mr reliable, never misses a training session or game and always has a good story. Eire - too much grumbling to be a first team regular but would never be afraid to throw him into action when required. Forza - straight into the side as soon as OLOF or Wakey get themselves into trouble. Leeds of London - similar to Matt Le Tissier, full of ability but too laconic for my system as a starter. Lee - oh Lee, so much talent but that can't be bothered attitude costs you your place. Davy, for sentimental reasons, I just can't leave Davy out of any squad of mine even if he is getting on a bit now. Blono, occasional brilliance but we just don't see it often enough. Dirty - perfect for winding his team mates up when we need a bit of fire in our bellies. Can't stop the youth development either, it is part of our Leicester model so, 60, Walt and Sea Dog get squad numbers. Controversial I know but I did consider bring Chippy back into the fold but have finally accepted that, in the modern game, his style is just going to cost us with frequent Bookings and more than the odd sending off. Finally, Head Coach. The deep thinking, possibly over analytical, attention to detail approach worked so well for us for so long with Bielsa so this was easy. Aski, do you want the job?
