Beaten in the Wembley play-off final last year, Leeds have made a strong start to the new season as they attempt to bounce back to the Premier League at the second time of asking - Nico Franks and Gruev Armada (@timmsy_ks) gave us the latest.

So far so good for Leeds, what have you made of it so far?

NF: We're ticking along fairly well and barring some shoddy groundsmanship at the Stadium of Light (poor Meslier) we'd be nicely tucked in to the automatic spots. Losing at Millwall on Wednesday was a blow – Neil is not the Harris I wanted to succeed this week. We tend to lose at the Den however so that defeat is just part and parcel of being in the Champ. Crucially, Sunderland and Sheffield United, our competitors for those top two spots, pale in comparison to Ipswich and Leicester, so this season doesn't have the same feeling of peril as 23/24.

GA: After the summer sales which caused a lot of worry and resentment we appear to have landed on our feet. There have been some shaky performances, especially to start the season and aberrations like the Sunderland equaliser but we seem to be trending in the right direction through a combination of good form, the lack of a Leicester or Ipswich to punish every dropped point, surprisingly solid defence and some really astute transfer business.

Leeds in the league so far…
Leeds 3-3 Portsmouth Struijk pen 10, Gnonto 46, Anderson 90 – Sorensen 23, Lang 41, pen 90
West Brom 0-0 Leeds
Sheff Wed 0-2 Leeds Aaronson 24, James 48
Leeds 2-0 Hull Joseph 63, Piroe 81
Leeds 0-1 Burnley Koleosho 18
Cardiff 0-2 Leeds Ramazani 30, Piroe 87
Leeds 3-0 Coventry Gnonto 16, Bogle 49, Piroe 79
Norwich 1-1 Leeds Sargent pen 15 – Ramazani 60
Sunderland 2-2 Leeds Rigg 9, Firpo og 90 – Piroe 22, Firpo 56
Leeds 2-0 Sheff Utd Struijk 69, Joseph 90
Leeds 2-1 Watford Ramazani 4, Aaronson 7 – Baah 47
Bristol City 0-0 Leeds
Leeds 3-0 Plymouth James 30, Piroe 33, Aaronson 38
Millwall 1-0 Leeds Tanganga 40

Is it more sort of... functional than particularly brilliant or entertaining? I mean, first world problems of course. Perhaps a product of the attacking talent you lost in the summer?

NF: Very functional. The dissatisfaction with our style of play continues but only really breaks cover when we lose or draw, for obvious reasons. Gnonto has more or less stepped out from behind Summerville's shadow and Ramazani looks sparky, but is injured. Our midfield is more dynamic than last season, though expect plenty of sideways passing as we prod and probe.

GA: You could argue we are a more well rounded and balanced team than last year. The loss of Summerville and Rutter as attacking threats could only make us more functional but the football hasn't been awful and some of the players we've brought in have been excellent. Any loss of attacking fireworks has been offset, some by decent replacements like Ramazani, some by players already here like Gnonto, Piroe, James and Aaronson and the rest by a seemingly rejuvenated defence and midfield

Latest public opinion on Daniel Farke?

NF: Farke's plan A, when we score first, works pretty much every time in the Championship. But he is still yet to prove himself capable of making game-changing substitutions, which doesn't bode well should we get promoted. Too often it feels like our many wins are down to our big bucks and talented individual players, rather than a tactical system or tweak that Farke has specifically implemented. However, he speaks a lot of sense and is clearly one of the good ones. Would be good company on a package holiday.

GA: I've always been quite ambivalent about Farke and still feel that he should have done better last season but given the departures he's done really well to get us together and towards the top two which is the expectation for a squad like this. In the summer the realisation that it could be far worse kept me just about in the Keep Farke camp and while still occasionally frustrating, he's got good backing from the fans.

Assessment of transfer window in hindsight?

NF: Some solid signings but the injuries to the core of our midfield (Ampadu and Gruev) forced us into signing 34-year-old Joshua Guilavogui as a free agent, which felt a bit desperate. He has the potential to become a cult hero however, if only because he's seems very happy to be here, is quite tall and looks like he could pop up with a goal or two at the back post.

GA: The summer transfer window felt more disappointing then than it actually was. Selling Archie Gray was sad given his home grown status and club-family links, but the departures of at least one, possibly all three of Summerville, Rutter and Gnonto felt fairly inevitable given the pull of the Premier League and our failure to get in it. That said we recruited well enough to fill the gaps with Japanese midfielder Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell for a combined £3million plus loan fee, proving arguably a more effective midfield pair than Gruev and Ampadu, particularly astute signings. Add to that Largie Ramazani: an exciting winger with a lot of potential, the permanent signing of Joe Rodon, return from injury of Pascal Struijk and the redemption arc of Brenden Aaronson and it's arguable that we came out of the window positively although it certainly didn't feel it at the time.

Ins >>> Joe Rodon, 26, CB, Spurs, £10m >>> Largie Ramazani, 23, LW, Almeria, £7m >>> Jayden Bogle, 23, RB, Sheff Utd, £5m >>> Ao Tanaka, 25, CM, Dusseldorf, £3m >>> Isaac Schmidt, 24, LB, St Gallen, £2m >>> Alex Cairns, 31, GK, Salford, Undisclosed >>> Joe Rothwell, 29, CM, Bournemouth, Loan >>> Manor Solomon, 25, LW, Spurs, Loan >>> Joshua Guilavogui, 34, DM, Unattached, Free

Outs >>> Georginio Rutter, 22, CF, Brighton, £45m >>> Archie Gray, 18, CM, Spurs, £40m >>> Crysencio Summerville, 22, AM, West Ham, £25m >>> Luis Sinisterra, 25, LW, Bournemouth, £20m >>> Glen Kamara, 28, CM, Stade Rennais, £8m >>> Marc Roca, 27, DM, Real Bets, £3.5m >>> Charlie Cresswell, 21, CB, Toulouse, £3.5m >>> Diego Llorente, 30, CB, Real Betis, £3m >>> Robin Koch, 27, CB, Frankfurt, Free >>> Cody Drameh, 22, RB, Hull, Free >>> Kristoffer Klaesson, 23, GK, Rakow (Poland), Free >>> Jamie Shackleton, 24, RB, Sheff Utd, Free >>> Luke Ayling, 32, RB, Boro, Free >>> Ian Poveda, 24, RW, Sunderland, Free >>> Rasmus Kristensen, 27, RB, Frankfurt, Loan >>> Sam Greenwood, 22, AM, Preston, Loan >>> Darko Gyabi, 20, CM, Plymouth, Loan >>> Sonny Perkins, 20, CF, Orient, Loan

Stand out players and weak links in the side?

NF: Tanaka is supremely tidy and the second coming of assist-machine Junior Firpo remains a joy to behold. Piroe is frustrating as ever but seems to be Farke's preferred starting option, whereas giving Joseph more game time could pay dividends by the end of the season. Jayden Bogle hasn't impressed me at all. It's great having beautiful boy Struijk back from injury and our defensive solidity bodes well for the rest of the season, we just need to be more clinical at the other end of the pitch.

GA: This is much harder than last season but my personal pick is Ao Tanaka. A ridiculous bargain at £3million from Fortuna Dusseldorf in the 2 Bundesliga, he's the midfield conductor we were crying out for with a fantastic ability to spread play and retain possession.

What's to stop it blowing up at the end as it did last season?

NF: Individual errors at pivotal moments are the only reason we're not sitting pretty at the top, so any more of those and we may need to revisit ways to get that gypsy curse lifted. These things do tend to even themselves out over the season, mind.

GA: Personally I think the league is not as difficult as last season so perhaps poor form won't be punished as ruthlessly as it was last year by the eventual top two. Arguably the answer to this question would be that the worry is still there especially if we don't add in the January window in certain areas, but I think we're better defensively and a more balanced team, relying less on individual brilliance to win games.

Revised expectations for the season?

NF: The same: we'll get fewer points than last season but go up automatically, probably as champions. At the risk of jinxing it, I could see our away form improving to give us some breathing space from third by the end of the year followed by a January/February slump before a late rally to secure promotion with a few games to go.

GA: The expectation has to be promotion. There's no arrogance there despite it appearing to be. Leeds have a very talented squad, assembled with finances that most championship clubs can't match and a top two finish is the absolute minimum expectation with the resources we have.

Links >>> Leeds United official website >>> Yorkshire Evening Post — Local Paper >>> Yorkshire Post — Local Paper >>> The Square Ball — Fanzine >>> WACCOE — Forum >>> Marching on Together — Forum >>> Not 606 — Forum >>> SB Nation — Blog

The Twitter @loftforwords, @NicoFranks, @Timmsy_ks

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TacticalR added 14:19 - Nov 9 Thanks to Nico and Gruev. That was some serious money brought in through summer sales, but at least it sounds like Leeds have managed to bring in players to cover for the players sold. Although he was never able to up his game in the Premiership Farke has at least shown that there is a role for Dothrakis in football.
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