Leeds 1 Bolton 0: Redfearn boosted as Leeds show sign of gelling
Yorkshire Post 1/9/14
by Leon Wobschall at Elland Road
AN agitated owner having plenty to ponder as he surveyed events at a West Yorkshire stadium. Sound familiar?
This time around, the person in question was wearing a Bolton Wanderers tie and not Leeds United.
Trotters owner Eddie Davies is the one with the pressure on his shoulders as he mulls over the increasingly fraught future of his manager, ex-Leeds striker Dougie Freedman.
Meanwhile United president Massimo Cellino, who decided to act and sack Dave Hockaday the day after watching Leeds bow out of the Capital One Cup at Bradford, must have puffed out his cheeks in relief as the final whistle ended a tough week.
The dramatic events ahead of the Bolton game were such that, owing to printing deadlines, Hockaday’s manager notes were still included in the programme.
A message from the president was distributed to the press before the game, in which he owned up to his self-proclaimed mistake in appointing Hockaday.
And then the football began, with United under the caretaker command of Neil Redfearn for a third time.
In a chaotic week, United – who announced the signing of Brazilian play-maker Adryan on a season-long loan shortly after the final whistle and signed Cagliari centre-back Dario Del Fabro yesterday – did not reserve the drama for matters away from the pitch. Ever will it be thus.
The most frenetic of denouements, in which goalkeeper Marco Silvestri was the hero, making a stunning double save in stoppage-time to deny ex-United forward Jermaine Beckford and Lee Chung-Yong, saw Leeds gain three precious points heading into the international hiatus.
The relief was palpable at the final whistle, with Silvestri taking a deserved bow in front of the Kop. Do not let it be said life at Leeds is ever boring.
For Redfearn, hastily handed the reins and with just one training session with the players ahead of the game, there was immense satisfaction with a fortuituous 17th-minute goal from former Bolton loanee Stephen Warnock settling the issue. Lucky, but who cares?
As for whether he might put his hat into the ring to take over permanently, Redfearn was ruling nothing in or out.
One thing is for sure, his changes worked a treat on Saturday, particularly the promotion of Academy products Lewis Cook and Alex Mowatt.
Cook, labelled the “best player on the pitch” by Redfearn, was outstanding all through the game.
On a win against the club where he started his career, Redfearn said: “It’s a good win and it puts the club in a better frame of mind going into the international break as there was a bit of upheaval during the week.
“The good thing is that the overseas players gelled really well with the British players. The young players played a real part. There was cohesion about the side. They ran for one another.
“Marco also made half a dozen saves which were right out of the top draw.”
On his elevation to caretaker boss, and the future, he added: “I met the president on Thursday and he told me the situation. He asked if I would help and I said I would. There was no way I wasn’t going to.
“But I have got a big job on with the academy; we have had quite a bit of change in the summer.
“Quite a few things have changed, some people have gone with redundancies and what have you, so we are in the process of putting things back together now.
“I will have a chat with the president and see what he wants to happen.”
Redfearn made six changes from the side bruised at Valley Parade, with Casper Sloth handed a full debut and first home league starts arriving for Cook, Mirco Antenucci and Giuseppe Bellusci.
Silvestri made his first positive intervention to superbly tip Joe Mason’s shot onto the woodwork before a goal from an unlikely source came 17 minutes in.
Good work by Billy Sharp and Antenucci set up Warnock, whose low effort across goal was intended as a cross, only to deceive Adam Bogdan and sneak in.
For the rest of the half, United played some intelligent, neat football at times, but the second half was a backs-to-the-wall exercise.
It did not help when Warnock left the fray due to an ankle injury, with Leeds forced to dig deep still.
Thankfully for them, Silvestri proved resolute, denying Jay Spearing, Mason, Chung-Yong and Neil Danns before a brilliant late intervention to thwart Beckford and Chung-Yong.
It secured a much-needed win, although Warnock spared a thought for the axed Hockaday in his post-match utterances.
He said: “It’s very difficult as he came in as a bit of an unknown and won the dressing room over in Italy, and that is no mean feat.
“Within two weeks, him and Junior (Lewis) got the lads onside and we understood the way he wanted to play. We were buying into what he wanted to do and you could tell that by our performances. I think he can go out with his head held high as that is not an easy feat to do after 10 weeks.
“He came in on Friday to say his goodbyes because I think he wanted to thank the lads for their efforts and we wanted to thank him for what he did for us as well.
“I have been at many clubs where managers are turned over and that is the way it is now.
“Twenty years ago, you maybe knew you had a manager for a season or two seasons.
“That has changed now and you have to adapt to new managers coming in and I think we have to adapt to that now.”
by Leon Wobschall at Elland Road
AN agitated owner having plenty to ponder as he surveyed events at a West Yorkshire stadium. Sound familiar?
This time around, the person in question was wearing a Bolton Wanderers tie and not Leeds United.
Trotters owner Eddie Davies is the one with the pressure on his shoulders as he mulls over the increasingly fraught future of his manager, ex-Leeds striker Dougie Freedman.
Meanwhile United president Massimo Cellino, who decided to act and sack Dave Hockaday the day after watching Leeds bow out of the Capital One Cup at Bradford, must have puffed out his cheeks in relief as the final whistle ended a tough week.
The dramatic events ahead of the Bolton game were such that, owing to printing deadlines, Hockaday’s manager notes were still included in the programme.
A message from the president was distributed to the press before the game, in which he owned up to his self-proclaimed mistake in appointing Hockaday.
And then the football began, with United under the caretaker command of Neil Redfearn for a third time.
In a chaotic week, United – who announced the signing of Brazilian play-maker Adryan on a season-long loan shortly after the final whistle and signed Cagliari centre-back Dario Del Fabro yesterday – did not reserve the drama for matters away from the pitch. Ever will it be thus.
The most frenetic of denouements, in which goalkeeper Marco Silvestri was the hero, making a stunning double save in stoppage-time to deny ex-United forward Jermaine Beckford and Lee Chung-Yong, saw Leeds gain three precious points heading into the international hiatus.
The relief was palpable at the final whistle, with Silvestri taking a deserved bow in front of the Kop. Do not let it be said life at Leeds is ever boring.
For Redfearn, hastily handed the reins and with just one training session with the players ahead of the game, there was immense satisfaction with a fortuituous 17th-minute goal from former Bolton loanee Stephen Warnock settling the issue. Lucky, but who cares?
As for whether he might put his hat into the ring to take over permanently, Redfearn was ruling nothing in or out.
One thing is for sure, his changes worked a treat on Saturday, particularly the promotion of Academy products Lewis Cook and Alex Mowatt.
Cook, labelled the “best player on the pitch” by Redfearn, was outstanding all through the game.
On a win against the club where he started his career, Redfearn said: “It’s a good win and it puts the club in a better frame of mind going into the international break as there was a bit of upheaval during the week.
“The good thing is that the overseas players gelled really well with the British players. The young players played a real part. There was cohesion about the side. They ran for one another.
“Marco also made half a dozen saves which were right out of the top draw.”
On his elevation to caretaker boss, and the future, he added: “I met the president on Thursday and he told me the situation. He asked if I would help and I said I would. There was no way I wasn’t going to.
“But I have got a big job on with the academy; we have had quite a bit of change in the summer.
“Quite a few things have changed, some people have gone with redundancies and what have you, so we are in the process of putting things back together now.
“I will have a chat with the president and see what he wants to happen.”
Redfearn made six changes from the side bruised at Valley Parade, with Casper Sloth handed a full debut and first home league starts arriving for Cook, Mirco Antenucci and Giuseppe Bellusci.
Silvestri made his first positive intervention to superbly tip Joe Mason’s shot onto the woodwork before a goal from an unlikely source came 17 minutes in.
Good work by Billy Sharp and Antenucci set up Warnock, whose low effort across goal was intended as a cross, only to deceive Adam Bogdan and sneak in.
For the rest of the half, United played some intelligent, neat football at times, but the second half was a backs-to-the-wall exercise.
It did not help when Warnock left the fray due to an ankle injury, with Leeds forced to dig deep still.
Thankfully for them, Silvestri proved resolute, denying Jay Spearing, Mason, Chung-Yong and Neil Danns before a brilliant late intervention to thwart Beckford and Chung-Yong.
It secured a much-needed win, although Warnock spared a thought for the axed Hockaday in his post-match utterances.
He said: “It’s very difficult as he came in as a bit of an unknown and won the dressing room over in Italy, and that is no mean feat.
“Within two weeks, him and Junior (Lewis) got the lads onside and we understood the way he wanted to play. We were buying into what he wanted to do and you could tell that by our performances. I think he can go out with his head held high as that is not an easy feat to do after 10 weeks.
“He came in on Friday to say his goodbyes because I think he wanted to thank the lads for their efforts and we wanted to thank him for what he did for us as well.
“I have been at many clubs where managers are turned over and that is the way it is now.
“Twenty years ago, you maybe knew you had a manager for a season or two seasons.
“That has changed now and you have to adapt to new managers coming in and I think we have to adapt to that now.”
