The Opposition View: Leeds

In a game that sees most greens travel north more in hope than expectation, Sam Down talks to Paul (The Leeds Therapy) for a West Yorkshire perspective.

Hi and thanks for joining us. First of all, what do you make of your start to the season? 

Overall, I am very pleased with the start especially considering our two main attacking focal points in Summerville and Rutter left in the summer, but, I do feel that with the acquisitions we have made we are more balanced this season and trust me when I say Tanaka in particular is a monster in midfield

How did you find your summer after losing so many star men? 

We all kind of knew that Summerville would be leaving. In all honesty, he was to good for this league we were all just a little surprised that it was West Ham that he ended up at. We all thought it would be Liverpool or Chelsea. We then had the release clause issues to deal with which meant we lost both Rutter and Gray. The latter, in my opinion, will turn out to be generational: he is that good. It was still a shock to see him leave, but sadly, money talks. The big surprise was Rutter, no-one saw that coming but arighton stumped up the £40mil release clause money and off he went. Everyone at the club loved him, he was just levels above, and could turn a game by himself. I think he is starting to prove himself at Brighton and good luck to him.

The club kept faith with Daniel Farke despite the failure to get promoted last season, was that the right call? 

In short yes. He’s done it twice and had it not been for the freak of a season in terms of the teams at the top we would have gone up. Our issue was a lack of experience when we needed it. I do think the championship is weaker this year and I do think we will go up.

Who has impressed so far this season? 

Ramazani has been brilliant, a proper live wire. It’s just a shame he is injured. Gnonto is really maturing this season and is relishing a more senior role. On his day, he can be a talisman, Pascal our LCB is very good too and has slotted back into the team after a difficult last season with injury. The standout for me is AO Tanaka, our Japanese centre mid: he’s just incredible, currently averaging a pass success rate of over 90%. Genuinely, he is levels above and how we got him for £3m baffles my mind

And any weak areas we can exploit? 

Generally we don’t concede many chances but our big issue has been not playing at pace. When we play quick, we are very good. When we slow it down too much, we can make the game easier for the opposition. We have also struggled with breaking down a low block as teams generally tend to pack out the midfield against us.

Thinking long term, are you confident the ownership can get Leeds back to the premier league long term and thrive at that level? 

Yes, absolutely. The recent announcement of increasing the capacity of the stadium to 53K is great news, alongside our new commercial venture with RedBull. We appear to have sensible owners who know how to get things done and seem to genuinely want to do well at Leeds. Given what we have had to put up with in the past…I mean, we had an owner that liked to drink a bit of vino then get on X and start shouting at people, not to mention a director of football that wanted to be the star of the show.

What were your thoughts on Argyle last season?  The two clubs played a lot with the cup tie/replay? 

We did have a running joke about that last season we all thought we should have bought shares in a hotel down there! Genuinely, you have the makings of a good side and I think you’re maybe 3/4 players short currently. You’re very strong at coming back from losing positions, your last game as a prime example. You’re good at creating chances and protecting a lead however, individual errors are costing you this season and your inability to score on the road is hurting you. I don’t think Rooney is the right guy to manage you; I don’t think he has the experience needed for this league.

And this year? I imagine Wayne Rooney can expect some stick with his Man Utd connections? 

No Comment……………..

Finally, a score prediction? 

I’m going to go with 2-0 Leeds but, with this being Leeds and everything being in our favour, nothing would surprise me…