please log in to view this image Leeds United v Monaco 22nd July 223 at the LNER Community Stadium, York After only remembering yesterday that the game was today, maybe it was trying to tell me something. After traffic hold ups on the M62, M1 and then the last four miles to the stadium, by the time three grandchildren and myself had parked up, we had missed kick off. Even though we left Brighouse an hour later than envisaged, we still had over 2-1/2 hours to get there and still didn’t make it in time. We saw Sam Greenwood outside the ground and even he couldn’t find his way into the stadium. He wasn’t playing today and was wearing a boot on his foot but I’m unsure of what injury he is carrying and how long he will be out of the team. That wasn’t the last of it because my sister had bought the tickets as I had a lot of trouble when trying to get them, and she didn’t get there until after us. We weren’t the only ones delayed as the queues all around the ground meant there were lots more fans who didn’t get there in time. One of the stewards said they couldn’t delay the start of the game due to Monaco having a plane to catch afterwards. The delays didn’t end there as there was a problem with the tickets loading onto my sister’s phone but eventually, we got in having missed 25 minutes of the game. It was still 0-0 at that stage so we hadn’t missed much action and it was a case of working out who the team was. Team: Meslier, Cooper, Ayling, Gray, Hjelde, Summerville, Rutter, Struijk, James, Ethan Ampadu (making his debut), Sinisterra. Subs: Cresswell for Cooper (45), Gnonto for Summerville (45) Gelhardt for Sinisterra (45). Mass subs (66): Drameh for Ayling, Sam Byram (making his debut) for Hjelde, Shackleton for Ampadu, Gyabi for Gray, Bamford for James, Joseph for Rutter. Subs not used: Klaesson, Van de Heuvel, Poveda, Bate. Monaco won the game 2-0 with a penalty (59), (78). Attendance: Approximately 7,500. Referee: Bobby Madley. Bookings: None. Overall, the game saw plenty of end-to-end action without too many threats on goal for either side. James put a great low cross in after some good work down the wing, but no one was there to put the ball into the net. Leeds put quite a few strong challenges in and to be honest, we were lucky to escape without getting a booking. Summerville and Gnonto also took knocks in the game which needed the trainers on, so it wasn’t just Leeds dishing out the challenges. Sam Bryam an ex-player of Leeds was on the bench, but I’m not sure if he is on loan or signed permanently now as I hadn’t seen anything about him coming back. I’m assuming this is why Leeds played a behind closed doors game during the week against Barnsley as far as I’m aware so they could watch him play. In the second half, Monaco was awarded a penalty and duly scored from it despite a good attempt from Meslier going the right way trying to save it. Despite making more subs a few minutes later, Leeds couldn’t prevent them from getting a second goal with a header that looped high over Meslier into the top corner after a great cross. Bamford came close to scoring in the last few minutes of the game, but Monaco held out to be the winners on the day. At the end of the game some of the players stayed on the pitch and were running up and down part of the pitch. Hopefully our fitness levels will improve now. As I’ve said previously, with the sleeping pods taken out at Thorpe Arch, they could probably do with them now and it shows how shortsighted Marsch was by wanting them taken out in the first place. Forshaw has left with his contract at an end, so we now have a lot of youngsters in the team who put up a good show. Whether anyone else will be out of the door and anyone else in by the time we play Cardiff, only time will tell. With the game at Burton on Thursday against Notts Forest and a further friendly against Hearts next weekend, hopefully we will have more of an idea who will be staying at the club. After getting a ticket for the Burton game, I made up my mind that I would postpone my trip to Stirling due to be on the same day and would go there in September instead. My daughter Danielle is now due to have major surgery on Monday at short notice, so it is better that I am not so far away overnight. My family still have many challenges ahead of us and I’ve my fingers crossed that all goes well with Danielle, but that doesn’t stop me thinking of other friends going through their own traumas and sending them lots of love. As, I’ve said many times before, make the most of life as you don’t know what’s around the corner. See you at Burton, LUFC – Marching on Together! please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Byram was released and asked FARKE if he could train to keep fit. FARKE has put him on trial. FARKE said yesterday he will make a decision on Byram in the next few weeks
If Byram can do it, so can we! We should all turn up at Thorp Arch, and ask Farke if we can train with them.
