Leeds United 4-1 Hannover: Spot on — Square Ball 25/7/24

Don't tell anyone

Written by: Rob Conlon

Such is Leeds United’s commitment to keeping our pre-season tour of Germany a covert operation, they orchestrated an advertising campaign and kit release that meant on the morning of our surprise friendly against Hannover, fans were queuing up outside the club shop at Elland Road rather than the runway of Leeds-Bradford Airport. It was probably for the best. The internet can only cope with so much hype for one day. So whisper it quietly, Leeds weren’t just good in beating Hannover 4-1, they might even have been proper good.

After experimenting with an exotic 3-4-3 at Harrogate last week, Leeds reverted to the familiar 4-2-3-1 of last season. New club captain Ethan Ampadu returned to central midfield next to Ilia Gruev, two players thought to be too similar to play alongside each other. The formation was irrelevant for the first thirty minutes, however, as the Peacocks were trialling total football. One minute Ampadu was pressing high up the pitch on the edge of Hannover’s penalty area, the next minute he was dropping into a back three as full-backs roamed forward. Gruev was following his own free spirit, giving United an early lead by running off the shoulder of the last defender, rounding the goalkeeper, and coolly sticking the ball into an empty net.

The goal was created by a no-look pass from Brenden Aaronson, playing off the left wing and wearing the number 11 shirt to match. It was difficult to take my eyes off Aaronson in those opening stages, not just because he was heavily involved both in and out of possession, but because I was watching and waiting for how long it would take before he fell over pleading for a free-kick. The early signs were positive, Aaronson flicking the ball over defenders’ heads tight by the touchline with Junior Firpo, trusting his talent where previously he’d have taken the easy option of crying for a foul.

Seventeen minutes were on the clock before he did finally fall over, but with a defender nipping at his heels and giving him a nudge in the back, it was an easy free-kick for the referee to award. Having the nous to know when and where you can buy those decisions helped make Bill Ayling a cult hero at Leeds, so maybe there’s hope for Brenden yet. He still struggles to cross a set-piece beyond the near post and spooned an ugly shot over the bar shortly before half-time, but he can leave the goalscoring to Ilia Gruev for now, apparently. Pre-season friendlies won’t determine his reputation at Leeds, but if these were Aaronson’s first small steps on the road to redemption, they were at least in the right direction, and keeping him largely upright.

It was 2-0 by half-time, Leeds pressing so aggressively that Joe Rodon was helping win back possession high up the right wing (Pascal Struijk was doing the same on the left). Gruev’s tackle nudged the ball to Georginio Rutter, whose first-time pass found an unmarked Joel Piroe in Hannover’s penalty area. Taking his time and a couple of touches, Piroe let a defender get back and the ‘keeper set his position, then thumped the ball past them all anyway. Wilf Gnonto had earlier missed a one-on-one from a narrow angle after being put through on goal by Georginio Rutter, whose footwork was so filthy I felt the need to close the curtains before watching a replay.

Half of the team was changed at the break, including Jayden Bogle coming on for his first appearance in a Leeds shirt. The fluency remained the same. Starting from a free-kick in their own penalty area, Leeds strung together twenty passes, back and forth, left to right. By the time Crysencio Summerville’s through ball gave Mateo Joseph a chance he wasn’t missing, Gnonto and Illan Meslier were the only players in yellow not to have had a touch. Last season, Daniel Farke described Leeds’ first goal at Millwall as being so wonderful “you can put it straight away in a book and sell it”. If it wasn’t so uncouth to say such things about pre-season friendlies, Leeds’ third against Hannover would already be on the shelves of Waterstones.

Leeds were at least kind enough to gift Hannover a goal of their own, Struijk accidentally chipping a back pass to Meslier into the air, leaving his ‘keeper with an uncomfortable clearance on the half volley while being knocked over by an attacker closing him down. Meslier got back up just in time to be beaten from the edge of the area. If pre-season is about learning lessons, this was a simple one for our new vice-captains: don’t do that.

The concession prompted four more changes and the reintroduction of Max Wöber, finally playing as the left-back Leeds were meant to sign eighteen months ago. When Wöber first joined the club he promised he’d “give everything for this badge”, so maybe this is Farke testing whether Max will eventually keep his word. As fourth-choice centre-back and Junior Firpo’s understudy at left-back, it’s over to the self-anointed ‘Warrior’ to prove whether he’s got the stomach to fight for a place in the team. There are no such worries about Joseph, who continues to make himself unignorable, completing the scoring by sniffing out his second from the edge of the six-yard box after Bogle had driven to the byline.

Like I say, this was all good stuff. Good enough to make me question whether Hannover must be rubbish or were playing their first friendly of the summer. The answers are encouraging: they finished a respectable enough sixth in the German second tier last season, and this was their sixth friendly ahead of their new campaign beginning next week. Before facing Leeds, they were unbeaten in pre-season. They’ve even been showing off in their last two fixtures, playing 120-minute matches across four thirty-minute quarters. Maybe they were just knackered, or maybe Leeds were indeed proper good. After Leeds won at Harrogate, Farke criticised his players for being “a bit slow in the head”. This time, he had nothing to complain about — Leeds’ performance was “spot on”, he told LUTV. And if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me.