Leeds' Premier League dream under Marcelo Bielsa turned into a relegation and another big cheque for Fat Sam which has left Championship promotion specialist Daniel Farke with a chaotic situation to make sense of this summer. Nico Franks and Gruev Armada (@timmsy_ks) gave us the lowdown on how it's going.
You guys went back to the Premier League on such a wave of momentum and feel good under Bielsa, how do you turn that into relegation under Sam Allardyce in such a short period of time? What went wrong?
GA: The short answer is the hubris of the then Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani and some exceptionally poor decisions by DoF Victor Orta. Having signed some good players in our first season, notably Raphinha, the following windows were not as successful and the quality of the team, when Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips left, declined significantly. Victor Orta's belief that motivational speaker and part time football manager Jesse Marsch was the natural successor to Bielsa and signing players to fit his chaotic, narrow idea of tactics was a huge misjudgement. While Marsch kept us up initially, it seemed more luck (and Raphinha) than judgment and with a summer window where we seemed to rely on players that Marsch had worked with before, there was a feeling of dread all through the season after coming back down to earth from the early wins.
NF: Basically our ego-driven chairman at the time, Radrizzani, held onto the tiller for too long while putting too much power in the hands of Victor Orta, whose track record of signings is as patchy as the wifi at Elland Road. After failing to sack Jesse Marsch when we could have used the winter World Cup break to bring in someone more qualified, we had no decent options by the time we let the living breathing Ted Talk go. Hence rolling the Allardyce with Big Sam and losing to a hungover West Ham when three points could have saved us.
Leeds in the league so far…
Leeds 2-2 Cardiff Cooper 49, Sommerville 90 – Bowler 23, Ugbo 39
Birmingham 1-0 Leeds Jutkiewicz pen 90
Leeds 1-1 West Brom Ayling 72 – Thomas-Asante 52
Ipswich 3-4 Leeds Rodon og 7, Broadhead 45, Chaplin 90 – Rutter 10, Gnonto 14, Piroe 19, Sinisterra 75
Leeds 0-0 Sheff Wed
Millwall 0-3 Leeds Piroe 15, 77, Rutter 81
Hull 0-0 Leeds
Leeds 3-0 Watford Piroe 67, Byram 70, Anthony 89
Southampton 3-1 Leeds Armstrong 2, 35, Smallbone 31 – Struijk 58
Leeds looked to be really finding their rhythm back in the Championship, but a big defeat at the weekend - what have you made of it so far?
GA: I was shocked by the performance and result at Southampton. Especially following a comprehensive dismantling of Watford this was a real awakening to the reality of the Championship. Southampton have good players and weren't going to struggle for long, but still a real disappointment in terms of performance and result. Championship games unpredictable though so there's a feeling that this was a one-off rather than a trend.
NF: Watching Leeds is fun again and results like the one against Southampton happen in the Championship, so not to worry. Two 3-0 wins in one week last month got everyone very excited, but we’ve drawn quite a few against some poor teams, which may haunt us come the end of the season.
Thoughts on Daniel Farke's appointment, how he's done thus far and what he's changed?
GA: I think Daniel Farke was the sensible appointment by sensible owners and that in itself represents real progress for the club. Unlike the three managers we had last season there is reasoning behind his decision that anyone can follow, and his pedigree for getting teams out of this division made his appointment a no-brainer. Apart from tactics, I think the main change from a fans’ perspective is having the feeling that someone calm, considerate and rational is in charge.
NF:The way he handled Gnonto’s ill-advised strike early on in the season shows he is a very astute, intelligent manager, and he’s generally charmed the pants of every Leeds fan since his arrival with his catchphrase ‘unbelievable hard’ and pitchside tekkers. The move back towards holding onto possession and passing the ball to each other has been welcome after Marsch-ball. We’ve played some lovely stuff recently and we’ll win more than we’ll lose with him in charge, in the Championship at least.
Run us through your summer transfer window. Interesting technique to have all the big earners who brought you down able to walk out on loan. Couple of players trying to force moves. Looked a bit messy, what shape have you come through it in?
GA: I think once the initial anger at Victor Orta for allowing these loan clauses to happen had subsided, the summer window was actually very successful. Some of the departures hurt a bit, Tyler Adams was popular and Sinisterra would have been another cheat code in this division if he could stay fit, but ultimately it felt good to wipe the slate clean and start again. The incomings have been (and you may notice a theme here), sensible. Ethan Ampadu, Glen Kamara and Ilia Gruev are solid, good midfielders at this level, Joe Rodon is a good solid centre half. We had been crying out for a striker so going out and buying one of the best in the division in Joel Piroe was again, a sensible decision. There were a few areas we could have done more in, notably we were linked with Ilias Chair to fill the no ten role, and a left back, but Sam Byram on a free transfer has done well there. In terms of where we stand now- stable and able to move forward. We have young players like Rutter, Gnonto, Archie Gray who can shine at this level and a solid spine to the side that we've missed since our first Premier League season.
NF: We held on to just enough of the really high-quality players I think we need to get out of the Championship (Summerville, Rutter and – now sadly injured – Gnonto) while getting rid of the bad apples who didn’t want to be here. The additions of Ampadu, Piroe and some smart loans have softened the blow of losing Harrison, Sinisterra and QPR legend Tyler Roberts.
Ins >>> Joel Piroe, 24, CF, Swansea, £12m >>> Ethan Ampadu, 22, DM, Chelsea, £6.9m >>> Ilia Gruev, 24, CM, Werder Bremen, £5m >>> Glen Kamara, 27, CM, Rangers, £5m >>> Karl Darlow, 32, GK, Newcastle, £300k >>> Sam Byram, 29, LB, Norwich, Free >>> Djed Spence, 23, RB, Spurs, Loan >>> Jaidon Anthony, 23, LW, Bournemouth, Loan >>> Joe Rodon, 25, CB, Spurs, Loan
Outs >>> Tyler Adams, 24, DM, Bournemouth, £22m >>> Rodrigo, 32, CF, Al-Rayyan, £3m >>> Tyler Roberts, 23, Tart, Birmingham, £500k >>> Robin Koch, 26, CB, Frankfurt, Loan >>> Joel Robles, 33, GK, Al-Qadsiah, Free >>> Brenden Aaronson, 23, CF, Union Berlin, Loan >>> Rasmus Kristensen, 26, RB, Roma, Loan >>> Marc Roca, 26, DM, Betis, Loan >>> Diego Llorente, 29, CB, Roma, Loan >>> Max Wober, 25, CB, Borussia Monchengladbach, Loan >>> Adam Forshaw, 31, CM, Norwich, Free >>> Jack Harrison, 26, LW, Everton, Loan >>> Luis Sinnestera, 24, LW, Bournemouth, Loan >>> Sam Greenwood, 21, AM, Boro, Loan >>> Cody Drameh, 21, RB, Birmingham, Loan >>> Sonny Perkins, 19, CF, Oxford, Loan
Stand out players and weak links in the side?
GA: In terms of standout players, Georginio Rutter has started the season on fire. Bought for a ludicrous fee of £36m and in the way of Victor Orta, not the striker he was supposed to buy, he has started to gain confidence and his skill, pace and first touch can be frightening. Joel Piroe can look anonymous but is generally just 'there' when a ball comes into a dangerous area. Summerville and Dan James have the pace and trickery to frighten anyone and Ethan Ampadu is just a solid, no-nonsense ball-winner. To find our weak links you'd start with the defence. Long-serving Luke Ayling and Liam Cooper are not what they were. There are still a few square pegs in round holes in the back line and this was exposed at Southampton where the defence, but notably Liam Cooper had a nightmare.
NF: There are a few stalwarts from our last time in the Championship who are beginning to look a bit creaky, like Liam Cooper and Luke Ayling, but only the most cold hearted of fans want rid of them. Stand out players so far this season have been Georginio Rutter, who looks to be growing in confidence and can be a handful, while Piroe’s scored quite a few already and looks to be the steady goal scorer we’ve been desperate for. Archie Gray is a future England star but his gametime is being carefully managed to avoid destroying his wee legs. Ampadu has been our most reliable performer by far and looks to be a bit of a steal.
Revised expectations for the season?
GA: In terms of expectations I think I'm still on the fence between playoffs and a tilt at automatic promotion. All the ingredients are there for us to win enough games to be around the top two, but the question is whether Farke can get us going consistently enough before we're too far behind to make up ground. I would say that top six is both the aim and the minimum expectation.
NF: I’m going to raise my initial prediction before the season started, which was fourth and losing in the play-off semi-final, and say second, optimism suitably raised after a first home win in nine games against Watford the other week and seeing the general standard of the Championship this season.
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