Testimonial two touch in the U21s - The Square Ball 16/8/22

AFTERNOON OUT

Written by: Rob Conlon

Taking two years off the Premier League 2 and rebranding it as an Under-21s competition this summer should have made it feel fresh and hip, but sometimes reserve football is less about developing for the future and more about maintaining the present.

If Norwich City Under-21s arrived at Thorp Arch on Monday afternoon expecting a match against Leeds’ usual youth team, they should have sensed something was up when looking over to the TV gantry at the far side of the pitch and spotting United’s first-team boss Jesse Marsch. It doesn’t really feel like an Under-21s game if Jack Jenkins isn’t playing for Leeds, but even new signing Darko Gyabi had to sit to one side, allowing Marsch to watch half a dozen of his first teamers get a useful ninety minutes into their legs. Midfielders Gyabi and Jenkins were swapped out for Adam Forshaw and Sam Greenwood, the backline featured Cody Drameh and Leo Hjelde, on the wing was Crysencio Summerville, and the diamond in the middle was Mateusz Klich, wearing the number 10.

Such a first-team line-up attracted Luis Sinisterra, Stuart Dallas, Tyler Adams, Joel Robles and Marc Roca to come along and watch part of the game. Even first-team commentator Bryn Law was drafted in by LUTV, telling us about regularly playing against U21s left-back Keenan Carole’s dad, former Leeds winger Seb, for Wetherby Vets against Harrogate Vets. “I don’t ever get anywhere near him, I have to say,“ Bryn had to say.

If Norwich still hadn’t worked out something was different, the penny dropped in the first minute of the game. A defender stopping themselves getting nutmegged by Carole was Norwich’s only touch of that opening sixty seconds, which ended with Leeds winning the ball back on their goal-line and Summerville shooting into the side netting. Summerville was involved in all of Leeds’ most dangerous moments, shooting again into the side netting, creating Sonny Perkins’ goal that made it 2-1 to Leeds, and hitting the post with a stoppage time header, ensuring the match finished 2-2. Summerville has taken Raphinha’s number 10 shirt for the first team and has also inherited Rapha’s rolled up shorts, so he simply has to be really good.

In the midfield Forshaw, Greenwood and Klich were playing testimonial two-touch, moving the ball and remaining players around the pitch like chess pieces on board. Forshaw’s cameo for the seniors at Southampton meant he was only given the first half against Norwich. It’s unclear whether his substitution was to look after him or the rest of the team. Wearing the captain’s armband, Forshaw was taking responsibility of the ball if it was ever in his vicinity, even if it meant tackling or colliding with his own teammates on three separate occasions.

Klich, meanwhile, was content drifting around the pitch whenever Leeds were in possession, finding space or creating space for others by dragging defenders with him. That didn’t mean he was slacking off the ball. “I’ve got Klichy running thirty or forty metres back to recover, and what an example that is for the young pros at this club to see that,” U21s boss Michael ‘Skoobs’ Skubala told Leeds Live afterwards. Klich’s cross in the first half confused Norwich’s left-back into gifting Mateo Joseph the opener, and Leeds’ funnest moments were usually started by Klich getting on the ball, including a beautifully crafted ‘winner’ for Joseph that was ruled out for offside.

Norwich were largely hypnotised by the grown-ups’ comfort in controlling the pace of the game, but it meant any sudden change of thrust upset Leeds. A minute after taking the lead in the first half, Abu Kamara equalised when Leo Hjelde was turned in the penalty area and couldn’t stop the pass across goal. Kamara levelled for a second time when Cody Drameh hesitated, expecting a foul to be called, only for Norwich to continue, allowing the striker to curl a nice finish into the far corner.

Leeds usually turn to Klich as the team’s renegade, but he wasn’t going to waste any mischief at a level lower than himself. He left Sam Greenwood trying to fight most of Norwich’s side when it got a little feisty in the second half, and ended the game moaning at the referee for blowing the full-time whistle just as he passed the ball forward for one last attack. Whether the chance would have led to a Leeds winner was unimportant to Klich. He seemed more annoyed that the whistle prompted the cameras to remain on the centre circle and stop following the pass, which means only Klich and nobody else will ever get to know how pretty it was.