19th July, 2024. Pre-season friendly
Happy new season everybody! It's good to get back on the horse.
Last night's first public friendly merely confirmed what we already knew - we have cleared out a significant number of fringe players during the summer and lost two regular first-teamers in Archie Gray and Glen Kamara. Hence, as well as the bulk of the players who regularly featured last season, the numbers were made up with a host of youngsters, some of whom have just signed their first pro-contracts. The well-thought of young defender James Debayo started at left-back and we saw minutes from Charlie Crew, Sam Chambers, Luca Thomas, and 15-year-old Harry Gray.
It was difficult to see exactly what formation Leeds were using at times but, after the game, Daniel Farke confirmed that he had gone with three central defenders - partly enforced by the fact we have so few full-backs at the club, a fact confirmed with the news that Rasmus Kristensen had departed earlier in the day. So we saw Meslier in goal with Joe Rodon alongside Ethan Ampadu and Debayo with the width provided by Dan James and Junior FIrpo. In the middle we got our first glimpse of Joe Rothwell who started with Ilia Gruev and Georginio in midfield and Piroe and Mat Joseph, complete with new Cree Summerville look-alike hairdo, up front.
In the second half we saw the introduction of Pascal Struik who looks fully recovered and seems to have bulked up somewhat - he looks a real unit these days! We also saw Karl Darlow, Summerville, Gnonto, Joffy Gelhardt, and Charlie Crew for the second half and there were minutes for Chambers, Gray, and Luca Thomas late on.
There is no point guessing what the performance last night means for the new season - all you can say is that it was a good work out in impossibly hot conditions and everyone looked really sharp. Daniel Farke didn't seem impressed with the performance after the game but I thought we looked good albeit we have no idea what sort of a side Harrogate really are. One thing that did stand out though was that Joel Piroe's touch throuhout his time on the pitch was poor. Time and time again he gave up possession cheaply. For the rest, no complaints at all. Rothwell looked the sort of steady, thinking midfielder we probably could have done with at the back end of last season, Mat Joseph looked the pick of the strikers and will surely run Patrick Bamford close for a start next month if and when Bam Bam gets fit. Joe Rodon looked as classy as ever, Georginio as tricky as ever, Dan James as quick as ever and Ilia Gruev as busy as ever. Gnonto and Summerville were both quiet and who knows if they will line-up in August.
The goals were all good goals. The first saw Joseph and Dan James work together well down the right and Joseph flash the ball low across the face of goal where Junior Firpo steamed in to stab the ball home. The second saw Georginio react quickly to volley the ball powerfully into the right side of the net after a poor headed clearance from a right wing corner and the thrird, seconds before the end, was a fierce strike from Sam Chambers that the keeper got in the way of with an instinctive dive but couldn't stop.
For the spectators it was a typical pre-season battle against the brilliant sunshine, the huge queues for a beer and the sweat inducing heat! Let's hope it's cooled down before we turn up at Elland Road for the Valencia game - it's ironic that the English weather has been rubbish all summer until our first public game! It was great to see all the regular away day faces though. Buckle up Leeds fans, it's going to be a wild ride again I reckon!
Pre-Season Friendly
Harrogate Town 0
Leeds United 3 (Firpo 12’, Georginio 61’, Chambers 90’)
Leeds United: Meslier (GK) (Darlow 46’), Firpo (Struijk 46’), Ampadu (C), Piroe (Summerville 46’), Rothwell (Crew 46’), Rodon (Byram 46’), Joseph (Gelhardt 46’), James (Chambers 85’), Georginio (Gray 76’), Gruev (Thomas 85’), Debayo (Gnonto 46’). Sub not used: Cairns (GK).
Referee: Andrew Kitchen Booked: Crew (Leeds) Venue: Exercise Stadium Attendance: 3,920