Tyler Adams' Leeds United dressing room surprise as Victor Orta plan begins to take effect - YEP 21/7/22
Tyler Adams described himself as a ‘pest’ upon signing for Leeds United earlier this month
By Graham Smyth
Tyler Adams is not backwards in coming forwards so wasn't
going to slip quietly into the Leeds United dressing room.
A highly confident 23-year-old, Adams felt no nerves rocking
up at Thorp Arch as a new boy in a relatively well-established group, but he
wasn't entirely sure of the reception he would get.
Speaking weeks on from his first day in training, as Leeds
United prepare to face Crystal Palace in Perth, Adams raves about the greeting
he has enjoyed.
"Honestly, this group has been so welcoming and
obviously that caught me a little bit by surprise," he said after training
at HBF Park.
"You know, whenever you're the new guy in the locker
room, you know, it can cause a little bit of upturn but coming in and knowing a
few of the guys already, playing against Jack [Harrison] in the past, knowing
Jesse, knowing Brenden [Aaronson], knowing Rasmus [Kristensen] and some of
these guys, we've come in new together and that's a good feeling.
"I can't believe how everyone, Pascal, Patrick Bamford,
Klichy, Daniel James, all of them have just been so receptive to me. Some of
them I've played against in the past, so just having that relationship with
them already, but they're such good guys.
"There's good banter, it's a little bit different to a
German locker room, which is nice, you can come in and speak your native
language. So yeah, I'm comfortable with them already."
He's more than comfortable with the workload, too, having
almost rolled straight from one season into another.
"Fitness wise I feel really good," he said.
"We had four national team games in the summer, two and
a half weeks off and then I moved here so that was one of my shorter breaks
that I've had and I'm feeling good. Still trying to ramp things up, get sharp
and tidy with the ball and continue to work through the games ahead of the
season."
The off-field chemistry is visible with this Leeds squad.
New faces have mixed with Leeds veterans during periods of downtime and Adams
has been spotted spending time with various different groups of players.
This time away has helped gel Marsch's group together in the
social sense and that in turn should have on-field benefits.
"So far, so good," said Adams.
"It's good to get this exposure in Australia against
the Premier League teams in the Premier League competition. But I think for me
and obviously a bunch of other new guys, it's about gaining chemistry with some
of the players."
One player with whom Adams has already started striking up
an on-field bond is Marc Roca.
The pair were brought in this summer by director of football
Victor Orta with the aim of dovetailing in the middle of the park in order to
cover all bases.
They had their first run out together against Aston Villa in
Brisbane and may get more game time as a double pivot in the Crystal Palace
game.
Adams believes a partnership that can keep the Leeds
midfield on an even keel is already forming.
"I didn't play against Marc in the Bundesliga, we
didn't have the opportunity to play against each other but I spoke with Dani
Olmo who I played with at Leipzig and he told me right away that me and Marc
are gonna have a good connection," said Adams.
"A good balance of feistiness, tidy with the ball, he's
a lefty, I'm a righty, so we already have our sides figured out sort of thing.
It's still at the developing phase. But I think that we have a really good
balance when we play with each other.
"So, you know, we're just continuing to establish
ourselves, work on the tactics and fine tune things for the start of the
season."