Back on the road after our exploits in East Lancashire on Tuesday night, Elland Road is the venue for our first away league match. Played United in April and came a distant second when the home side won easily by three, Baptiste was also sent off so it was a wonderful experience for the away support that day. Since then bothclubs have changed manager and in Leeds case they have swapped one Italian owner for another although the new bod seems to be a bit more level headed at the momenet. They have started off rather well winning both games 3-2 at Notlob on Sunday then beating those lovely chappies from Vale Park 4-1 on Wednesday with a hat trick from Samu Saiz, like us they masde a few changes however difference being they won. New manager Thomas Christiansen who is Spanish has brought in quite a few new players and they have shelled out a bit of money on improving the squad with a lot of influence from abroad. Given that they have the likes of Wood and Jansson already at the club, they are going to pushing at the right end of the table this season. Thought they were one of the two best sides we played last season the other being Fulham. Tough task hopefully we will put out the side that beat Wednesday last Saturday although interesting selection between Hugill and Maguire. Never been the luckiest of grounds for us although the 6-4 still rates as one of those memorable nights of all time, slight change of tack, Jon Parkin who scored a hat trick for us that night, scored for York on Tuesday the 20th season in a row that he has managed to score a goal. Last time out for United Full Time: Leeds United 4-1 Port Vale Leeds: Wiedwald, Borthwick-Jackson, Ayling (Gomes 70), Shaughnessy, Anita, Vieira, Klich (Bridcutt 58), Dallas, Saiz, Sacko (Alioski 58), Ekuban. Subs not used: Peacock-Farrell, Wood, Hernandez, Phillips. Manager Looks Ahead To Leeds Clash 4 Hours ago Manager Alex Neil is looking for his side to impose their style on Leeds United this weekend. Both sides are under new management since the last meeting of the two sides in April, but the PNE boss feels his side will be well prepared to take on Thomas Christiansen's side at Elland Road. Speaking to iFollow ahead of the game, Neil said: "I think it's going to be subject to change in terms of the way we play. I saw them against Bolton and we've watched a lot of their pre-season stuff so we will have a good idea of what they will do, how they will try and do it. "Having looked at them I don't think there is a huge deal of change in terms of their style but to be honest it's ultimately going to be about how well we can perform on the day. On the threat posed by the Leeds attack, the gaffer continued: "Going forward is their biggest strength for me, they've got Hernandez who plays just in behind Chris Wood, technically he's very good. They've got Roof who plays off the right hand side who very direct and obviously Chris Wood is top proven goalscorer "We are going to have to make sure we keep them quiet and then hopefully try and impose our style on them and let's hope that our attacking players can go an have an impact on the game. North End kicked off the season with three points on Saturday against Sheffield Wednesday, and after nine changes in the midweek cup game against Accrington Stanley, some of those involved against Wednesday will be likely to make a return. On those who featured on Tuesday night, the manager said: "To be fair to the lads they worked their socks off, nobody ever goes into a game and doesn't want to play well, they tried as hard as they could last night. "We had good opportunities, we had 25 shots at goal which we didn't take advantage of and the lads will now try and work their way into the plans for Saturday. "Ultimately all I can do as a manager is give them an opportunity to play and then it's really down to them to perform and stake their claim. "There will be some decisions that are easier than others come the weekend, but I will have a clear idea on exactly how about we go about it and who will be involved." Big Match Preview: Leeds United v PNE please log in to view this image After last weekend’s opening day victory over Sheffield Wednesday, it is back to league action for the Lilywhites on Saturday with a trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United. Like North End, Leeds opened the season with three points, defeating Bolton Wanderers in front of the TV cameras at the Macron Stadium last Sunday, before defeating Port Vale in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. This was a first win for the new man at the helm, Thomas Christiansen, whose side got off to an excellent start, after a summer of change at Leeds, with a new owner as well as a new manager and a number of new signings. The Opposition Midfielder Mateusz Klich, goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald and attacker Ezgjan Alioski are among the players that the Whites have recruited so far this summer, along with Everton defender Matthew Pennington on loan, after Kyle Bartley returned to Swansea City after his loan spell and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson from Manchester United. Samu Saiz, is another to come in and he announced himself with a hat-trick against the Valiants in the league’s cup competition, although he was also involved in an incident that left people talking about that rather than his impressive goals haul. In their opening league game a couple of Leeds defenders suffered injuries, but the manager will be hoping the players are suitably recovered for the weekend. Speaking after the Bolton game, he said: “Berardi’s injury was his shoulder and Matthew Pennington’s was his ankle. “We will know more in the next couple of days. It’s disappointing, but at the same time I was very pleased with the contribution of Conor Shaughnessy and Vurnon Anita.They came on and did well, so there were negatives and positives and overall I enjoyed it a lot.” PNE Team News Alex Neil will be hoping that Josh Harrop is fit to be available for his competitive debut in a North End shirt, whilst he has decisions to make up front after Jordan Hugill’s brace in midweek. Skipper Tom Clarke is of course sidelined, but there are very few other issues for the manager to contend with as he looks to make his selections. The Officials Taking charge of Saturday’s game is Northumberland official Scott Duncan. His last North End game was the 3-0 home win over Reading in March, which was his third PNE game of last season, having been referee for the EFL Cup win over Oldham Athletic at Deepdale and the defeat at Sheffield Wednesday in early December. The previous year he was the match official for the League Cup tie at Crewe Alexandra, which saw a 3-1 win for the Lilywhites. The previous year he took charge of the team twice, both at Deepdale, our 1-0 home win over Oldham back in August 2014 and the 2-2 draw with Leyton Orient in January. This is Scott’s sixth year on the EFL lists, having been appointed to the elite group in 2012/13, taking charge of his first PNE game in what proved to be Graham Westley’s final home game, against Shrewsbury Town. Stat Attack • This is our 26th league game at Elland Road but only the 24th time we have played Leeds United there. Our first two visits there, in 1913 and 1914, were to face Leeds City who entered the Football League in 1905. Leeds City were thrown out of division two in 1919 after failing to co-operate into an investigation in alleged payments to players during the First World War, which was banned. • Leeds United were formed the same year and took over ownership of Elland Road, entering the league the following season. Our first return visit to Elland Road came on 13th September 1924, when we lost by 4-0. This set the trend for meetings ever since, with 17 of the 27 games featuring three goals or more and only one goalless draw, back in 2005. The high point for North End fans of course was our thrilling 6-4 victory in 2010, having been 4-1 down approaching half-time. Jon Parkin's hat-trick that night is the only one by a North End player in this fixture. • Our only previous away league game on this date was at Grimsby in 2000, when goals from Michael Appleton and Jon Macken secured a 2-1 victory at Blundell Park. We have also won three League Cup ties away from Deepdale on this date, at Rotherham, Rochdale and Crewe. • Jordan Hugill is the most recent of the six post-war players to make their debuts on this date. Jordan's first game for North End came in the previously mentioned League Cup tie at Rochdale when he replaced Kevin Davies in the 80th minute.
Leeds United 0 Preston North End 0 Att 32880 (663 visitors) The only disappointment in respects of this game was the sending off for two yellows of Pearson, the second was a yellow however the first was debateable thought he won the ball cleanly in the tackle however the cards from Mr Duncan's pocket were out at such a rapid rate that it was if it the was the ref's aim to get the North End number four from the pitch asap. Secondly the response of some opposition fans who actually cannot understand they teams like little old Preston do not lie down and surrender easily. North End playing in green put in their best away performance since the draw at Villa Park last season and fully deserved the point they got and personal view if Pearson had not had been sent off could probably have won it. First half we took the game to the hosts although didn't really create a lot of chances apart from a Browne effort which was well saved by Wiedwald after Hugill had won a challenge with the centre back. On the break the hosts looked dangerous but in truth also didn't trouble the keeper. Roofe should have done better when he cut in from the left and a Wood shot went wide. Brown should have put North End ahead after great work by Hugill, failed from close range, Cunningham headed wide from a corner and then had a goal disallowed for offside after seeming to head in off the bar. Then the sending off, Leeds dominated Wood being denied by a great one handed save by Maxwell, who pulled off another fine save from I think Wood, also a defender cleared from the line fiollowing another Leeds attack. Leeds struggled to make the spare man count thanks to some excellent defending from the back four and twice in the final minutes we could have sneaked it, Johnson got to the by line, nobody was able to get to the cross and Wiedweld tipped Harrop's shot onto the bar in the last minute. Top performances by all but Hugill was tremendous today ran his gnadgers off. Finally it might take Alioski a bit to get used to the air in Yorkshire poor lad seemed to collapse frequently during the game. Leeds 13 Felix Wiedwald GK 2 Luke Ayling DF 3 Cameron Borthwick-Jackson 82' DF 18 Pontus Jansson DF 6 Liam Cooper © DF 14 Eunan O'Kane MF 7 Kemar Roofe 61' MF 23 Kalvin Phillips 61' MF 19 Pablo Hernández MF 10 Ezgjan Alioski MF 9 Chris Wood FW Substitutes 30 Bailey Peacock-Farrell Sub 8 Vurnon Anita Sub 15 Stuart Dallas 82' Sub 35 Conor Shaughnessy Sub 25 Ronaldo Vieira 61'74' Sub 45 Caleb Ekuban Sub 21 Samuel Sáiz 61' Sub - PNE 22 Chris Maxwell GK 14 Darnell Fisher DF 3 Greg Cunningham © 68' DF 23 Paul Huntington DF 17 Thomas Spurr DF 4 Ben Pearson 31'60' MF 37 Callum Robinson MF 8 Alan Browne 90' MF 11 Daniel Johnson MF 29 Tom Barkhuizen 65' MF 9 Jordan Hugill FW Substitutes 28 Mathew Hudson Sub 20 Ben Davies Sub 2 Marnick Vermijl Sub 12 Paul Gallagher 90' Sub 10 Josh Harrop 65' Sub 7 Daryl Horgan Sub 24 Sean Maguire Sub Leeds United head coach Thomas Christiansen: "When you play for that amount of time with one player more and do not win, it is an opportunity lost. "We have to impose ourselves on our home ground and we did not do that in the first half. "We gave the ball away too easily and when you play against a good team you suffer. We did not have the speed in the game that we should." Preston manager Alex Neil: "For 60 minutes I thought we were great and were the better side. We controlled the ball, we were aggressive. I thought we dominated which was really pleasing. "Once we went down to 10 men we had to change our approach. They had a man more and that makes it more difficult for us to press. "The lads worked extremely hard and kept their shape and discipline. They showed just how much it means to them individually and collectively."
From the Leeds horses mouth " ...when you play a good team...". Hugill must be worth £10m by today's rates. No wonder Mick was after him: his type of player.
When the wall come to your place on saturday could you do me a favour - give them a good thrashing Thanks Please pass on my regards to Mighty, TC, Steve, Ringo etc if they come onto your board in the next few days
