Nottingham Forest v Leeds 27th July 2023 at the Pirelli Stadium, Burton on Trent please log in to view this image I just want to thank everyone for their comments and good wishes for my daughter Danielle this week as she faced major surgery on Monday. She has a long road of recovery after over six hours of surgery to remove a choledochal cyst, her second one after having one removed 10 years ago. As always, the Leeds United family comes together to support each other in times of need, and we are very grateful for the support. After heavy traffic until after Sheffield, we arrived at the ground with 45 minutes to spare until kick off. I’m glad Keith was driving as I get so tired, hence always driving to Leeds to catch the coach to away games. The team were training on the pitch as we got into the stand but there seemed to be a lot of smiling faces amongst the players. With lots of them being youngsters some returning from loan, with some of the older heads amongst them, I’ll be honest, but I always wanted that to be the way we rebuilt our team. Training has definitely been upped under Farke and it will be interesting to see what happens on the pitch. Before Bielsa came we always ran out of steam around 70 minutes but to me, under Marsch, that reduced to 45 minutes which was atrocious. Fitness has always been the make or break to me and having been so unfit last season, it is good to see the team being put through their paces again. It also seems to have impacted on them as a group as they had a good vibe amongst them which will always be a good thing when playing as a team. Before the game kicked off there was a minute’s silence that was immaculately observed by both sets of supporters, for Trevor Francis the first million-pound player and Chris Bart-Williams who both died this week and had previously played for Forest. Team: Meslier, Cooper, Byram, Ayling, Shackleton, Bamford, Gelhardt, Ampadu, James, Sinisterra, Cresswell. Subs: Gray for Ayling (45), Poveda for Sinisterra (45), Gyabi for Ampadu (56), then mass subs (67) Struijk for Cooper, Rutter for Bamford, Gnonto for James, Hjelde for Byram, Joseph for Gelhardt. Subs not used: Klaesson, Bate, Van den Heuvel, Leeds won the game 2-0 with goals from Bamford (66) and Poveda (85). Attendance: 5,114, 1,900 Leeds fans. Referee: Craig Pawson. Booked: None. I was very pleased with what I saw tonight from the Leeds team. The first half saw us well in control for most of it, having an early shot on target from Sinisterra that was saved by the keeper. Our passing looked crisper on the whole even though there were still some mistakes, but there was a lot of battling performances out there tonight. I thought Shackleton and Byram were impressive in the first half and Cresswell and Poveda in the second half. Forest had a couple of chances with Meslier making a save to keep them out and Shackleton bringing another save from their keeper as we went into the break on even terms. The second half saw a couple of changes before the mass subs again as most of the players were given some game time. Things got a bit scrappy at times then, but Leeds grew into the game and started making some direct runs towards the Leeds fans standing behind the goal. Bamford intercepted a back pass after good pressure from Gelhardt. He dummied the keeper and blasted the ball into the net to put us into the lead not long after the Leeds fans had chanted his name, after a great pass across the box missed everyone in the middle. Immediately after the goal, Farke made the mass subs. Cresswell made a fantastic tackle to deny Wood a chance at goal. I was just on my way before the game finished, to get my flag down from where I’d hung it in the corner, as Poveda hit a shot hard and low to score a second goal for us after good work between Gray and Rutter. That was it game over, and our first win on our pre-season travels and first win under Farke. Apparently Byram is training with Leeds as he doesn’t have a club whilst he is recovering from injury. He certainly didn’t look out of place today though and played well. There is already a difference in the team from Farke and his assistants input which is good to see. Scoring two goals gives us a psychological boost too especially seeing as last season we found that very hard to do as well as keeping a clean sheet. It was good to see Meslier jump high about the players and catch the ball too. Having a proper goal keeping coach will make such a difference to him. With the last of our pre-season games on Sunday travelling to Scotland to take on Hearts, it will be a long day with an early get up call before the season starts in earnest on 6th August. We don’t know who will still be here or if anyone else is coming in at this moment, but after today, I feel a lot more positive for the forthcoming season. See you Sunday, 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 please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
As we’re all aware friendlies don’t mean much but no doubting last nights win was a welcome one. Farke seems to be making progress with what he has. More important it’s great to see your daughter on the mend
Thank you. For once we had a win during preseason and scored a couple of goals. It probably isn’t as long ago as I think since we last did that but it gives a positive feeling. Obviously there is a long way to go to end up in the right direction but it feels like we have hope again.
