Leeds and Elland Road deliver on their big night while Everton look WORSE than last season — Mail 19/8/25
By AADAM PATEL
Daniel Farke called on the Leeds fans to make Elland Road a
fortress but he knew that would only be possible if his side started
positively. And they delivered.
Under the lights, Leeds raced out of the blocks and set the
tempo doing everything but score in the first half.
‘Great credit to Leeds. They were incredibly intense,
especially in the first 30 minutes,’ said David Moyes, who admitted his
opponents were the better side.
Both Jayden Bogle and Gabriel Gudmundsson were relentless
down the flanks while the Leeds midfield won the battle.
The only thing Farke’s side lacked was a killer edge in the
final third. ‘When you’re that dominant, you need players with that firepower
at the end,’ he admitted. It took a moment of fortune to get the penalty in the
second half but it was no less than they deserved.
At Norwich, Farke won only six of his 49 Premier League
games but if this performance was anything to go by then he will have a much
better record at Leeds.
In the 41st minute, David Moyes stood on the Elland Road
touchline with his hands on his head. It summed up Everton’s display. There was
one team that looked like they had just got promoted and it certainly wasn’t
Leeds.
Everton were all over the place in the first half and if it
wasn’t for Leeds’ wastefulness, this game could have been over. David Moyes’
side went through pre-season without winning and they struggled to cope with
Leeds’ intensity.
They looked rattled from the outset and it took them half an
hour to get a touch in Leeds’ box and until the second half to get a shot away.
Worryingly, they look like a downgrade from last season.
For all the talk of new signings, eight of Leeds’ ten
outfield players were from the side that got them promoted to the Championship
and this would have done wonders for their confidence - albeit against an
Everton side that looked like relegation contenders for much of the first half.
Crucially for Leeds, the three debutants who started all
impressed too. Lucas Perri was hardly called upon in the first half but made an
important save after the break to deny Carlos Alcaraz and keep a massive clean
sheet. Down the left, Gabriel Gudmundsson showed exactly why he was one of
Leeds’ early arrivals, bombing up and down the flank.
The Swede was their best player on the night. While Anton
Stach displayed his class with 86 touches - more than anyone else - and will be
such an asset for Leeds in midfield. It was left for the ‘excellent’ Lukas
Nmecha to win the game with just his third touch to cap off a perfect evening
for Leeds.
A display befitting of a captain
‘A key player for us is my captain.’ That’s how Farke
described Ethan Ampadu, who led from the outset and ran the game from the heart
of midfield. Alongside Stach and Ao Tanaka, the Leeds midfield trio were simply
too good for Everton.
That Sean Longstaff was only required to come on in injury
time illustrated how energetic and relentless they were and if it wasn’t for
Ampadu picking up a worrying knock in the second half, he too would have played
the full game.
As for Tanaka, this was an early sign that he has what it
takes at Premier League level. Without Abdoulaye Doucoure, Everton lacked any
sort of presence off the ball and were bullied by Leeds.
Beto endured an evening to forget up top for Everton. In
pre-season, Moyes admitted that he was disappointed in the striker and wanted
more from him.
Well he offered nothing against Leeds. In mitigation, there
was a lack of service for the 27-year-old but he managed just 22 touches and
could barely hold the ball up whenever he got it, giving it away cheaply on a
number of occasions.
On talkSport, Troy Deeney said Beto ‘couldn’t trap cement’
if he tried. Thierno Barry came on in the 86th minute and arguably did more
than Beto. As for Jack Grealish, he initially looked rusty after coming on in
the 71st minute but did offer glimpses of his quality with a few silky touches.