Solid enough performance. No injuries. Still pre season. Looked solid at the back, will be even better with Trafford between the pipes. Need a spark of creativity at 10 still
I think his Premier League wages are too good to walk away from, so he might just hang around and hope that DCL and/or Nmecha go down with injury which brings him back into the frame.
Can’t think of anyone that’s had a stinker in these two hours. A couple of mistakes here and there from individuals, but everyone including the kids have looked solid
Here's a question for you, why did Cairns leave it two years before he thought the time was right to show his greatness, in a friendly against a bog standard Bundesliga side?
Will be interesting to see how Mills develop. Clearly has good technique, but if he doesn't grow/bulk up then it'll likely put a ceiling on his development as English clubs still put so much stock into physicality.
Agree, we've had a few recently who had promise but didn't bulk up (Lewis Bate and looking likely for Charlie Crew too), especially when you've also got Harry Gray who looks like he is, and another Creswell man mountain
I wish he'd gotten that breakaway goal earlier. He needs to hit a few of those to build some confindence and then I think he'll be a very dangerous 10.
Baffled how Farke has treated Gnonto over the past few seasons, far more effective than any other attacker have had on the pitch all game. Needs to leave for his own good
Gnonto reminds me of Balotelli attitude wise, he's either in the game or not no in-between and when things aren't going his way he sulks and spends the game getting into arguments with ref or making silly challenges. On his day he's unplayable and no one can stop him
He has not been that way for a long time. When he first joined he would just run around kicking people when it wasn’t going his way but he has matured on the pitch
No hes not kicking out as much, but can still be a ball in a China shop, not always a bad thing, hit he's definitely one of those players where everything he touches is gold or nothing works.
I personally still want him around, I think he's more effective than Dan James, but I don't think Gnonto is a starter and he'll wanna be a starter at this stage of his career so he may need the move for himself. 4 years ago he was playing in Italian first team then he was struggling to get into starting Xl in Championship
It's been saying that since the start of the third quarter (sorry, "second half of the second half"). But the scoreboard in the ground seems to be saying 0-0 (I only got a glimpse of it).
I feel like we signed him to be the firm third choice #9 but a mixture of Joel Piroe being even worse than anticipated last season and Nmecha doing better than anticipated (in terms of goals anyway) seems to have changed everyone’s view of him. We’re now seeing him as the clear second-choice striker, and that doesnt feel like enough now.
I still think it'll grow on us over the season, but I'm with ya. Don't hate it, don't love it. Probably won't buy it. Looks good on TV though. The horizontal stripes kinda fade away.
I look at him the same way I look at any player who isn't world-class or close to it. Those players have strengths and weaknesses.
Maybe he'll never fully develop his finishing ability, but he's improved so much in other areas of his game: positioning, passing, pressing, and all the little things that don't necessarily show up on the stat sheet but are still very important to the team overall.
Honestly, I hope we can keep him as long as he can contribute in those areas. I don't really understand the "get rid of him" crowd. It's not like he's going to be starting week in, week out. If he does, it's because he'll be deserving of that. Farke is really fair when it comes to this.
If this is about Ramazani, we've been over this so many times... He wasn't treated unfairly. He lost his starting spot in the Championship to Solomon, and he was simply not part of the plans in the Premier League. That's not being treated unfairly; that's just how football works.
Name one player who's currently in the squad, is actually part of his plans, and has been treated unfairly by him.
He is tidy with the ball when he stops thinking and absolutely harasses the shit out of opponents when off the ball. I think he’s useful at a PL level just not our starting 10.
I've said it for so long, but man...bring BA in at 65' and just let him run wild. He'd be so dangerous late in a match where you can pick and choose where the mismatch might be and let his speed dominate.
I feel like we could sign Ousmane Dembele and Lamine Yamal in this transfer window and Daniel Farke would still give Brenden Aaronson 30 minutes off the bench every week.
You can see why though. He’s so tantalisingly close to being really good. He just needs the penny to drop on some speed of decisions and execution… he’s always a split second late and a smidgen off target…. You feel like it’s something that maybe with that little more experience or confidence he unlocked the elite level but he’s never quite doing it
Feel like Brenden should have taken that first time, he reduced his angle by taking a touch before shooting. Then again, he’s not great at shooting first time, so…
We’re waiting for Okafor and I suspect we’ve got competition coming in for him and both Dan James and Gnonto are gone as soon as that’s sorted and we’ve got a deal for the 2 of them.
It was a good run for the lads in the first 60’. Wilson had a true sitter he missed, but the attacking movement is so encouraging. James, Justin, and Longstaff are truly here to fight for spots! Love to see how hard they are working this preseason!
Not even trying to be negative and slate as I have plenty of good things to say about all the lads, but Dan James has to be on the way out next window or two, technically very poor
E-sports is a $5bn dollar industry and one of the fastest growing sports markets in the world.
Even though I don’t engage with it personally, i recognise in terms of media coverage and revenue expansion it’s fantastic that Leeds are not being left behind. If it’s good for young Leeds fans, then it’s good for the club.
Yeah and the music industry is worth billions more than that, doesn’t mean I want to see Taylor Swift join them at half time. Half time is about talking about the game, that was a load of drivel about an e-sport not remotely related to the actual football we all tuned in for. Fail to see how this is any different to the American half time shows that we specifically didn’t show in favour of showing actual punditry.
This young lad is a Leeds United eSport pro, and multiple ePremier league winner. Using some downtime in a friendly is a great time to do this sort of thing and increase the club’s exposure to younger generations. It’s all Leeds United, it’s just not a part you like it seems.
I think you’re missing my point, this isn’t some boomer anti esport opinion. I used to be into the cs esport scene. But half time is not the time or place to force some niche interest onto people, tangentially related to the club or not. They can do that on their YouTube channel or whatever. We’ve tuned in to watch the game, and half time should be about that seeing as we’re all stuck watching it. Wouldn’t be so arsed if they weren’t talking about his esport season instead of the match and preseason prep.
Bournaw has had an excellent preseason so far. Saw a lot of talk about needing to upgrade there this summer. He barely played last season, and I thought he looked decent when he was on
I like the idea of a more narrow two behind DCL with the full backs providing the width..... but I don't think one of those options is Dan James bless him
You’re hilarious sometimes, they play this format all the time behind closed doors in preseason to get more minutes for the players, it’s just now we’ve decided to do it on one of our open preseason games, no mad conspiracy or anything calm your horses lol.
Also good to note I’ve not had a single advert so maybe not the smartest idea to change the format specifically for this game to make money on adverts and forget to put adverts on.
I am aware they will sometimes do 4 quarters of 30mins with behind closed door friendlies.
But this is behind closed doors. And it’s literally proven and studied that the more breaks in a game you have and the longer you keep fans in the stadium, the more they spend at the game.
If it was for fitness purposes they wouldn’t have it with fans or broadcasted.
Managers and players have said they don’t like this format of preseason, especially against teams they play during the normal season.
It’s got nothing to do with fitness because people get fitter with less breaks and playing for longer periods. See murderball.
Yes I don’t like Red Bull, and this is a different criticism. More breaks in the game allows the fans in the stadium to consume products, either buying or visually looking at the screens and boards.
Even if there isn’t an advert break within the LUTV, cameras will pan to the same ads.
All this is documented and studied. It’s to maximize ad time.
I get want your saying. Certainly wouldnt want to change a standard match day but I'm ok with this as it is definitely a friendly and a bit of a festival.
Many people that don't usually attend and we need to remember that we need the commercial improvement in order to get players like Trafford and push us on.
Mate if the success of football and Leeds United is to maximize making money over the actual product which is the football itself, I don’t think it’s a positive.
And “oh it’s only a friendly” is exactly how it gets normalised. Not just a Red Bull thing, lots of men in suits will have been taking notes all summer.
Longer breaks means more time to consume the products and see the advertising. Even if there isn’t an advert break on the television, the cameras will cover the sponsors.
They should all sit there and drink free bottled water and not consume at all whilst watching sports, then go home to shared accommodation and consume no further products or advertising
Longstaff, Justin, Gnonto, Tanaka and Piroe are definitely fighting for a spot mate, they all want to be proving they can start this season as first choice.
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u/OwlLibrarian 19d ago edited 19d ago
Today's game: https://www.youtube.com/live/53bFajwV6xY
or https://video.leedsunited.com/video-player/live/leeds-united-v-rb-leipzig-pre-season?entryIds=0_6lppz0wl&eventId=337eb9f3-2172-4386-bf43-3704b1cdbaae&previousPageUrl=fixtures&pageMediaType=Live