Joe Salah — Square Ball 18/8/26

More than enough

Written by: Rob Conlon

First it was Jaka Bijol, meeting Brenden Aaronson’s volley into the ground with an ungainly leap into the air and an even more ungainly overhead kick that bounced into the defender next to him and drew a chuckle from Bryn Law and Tony Dorigo in LUTV commentary. “Jaka Bijol, I love his ambition,” said Dorigo. “But a centre-half bicycle kick, I’m not sure I’ve seen too many of them before.”

Step forward, Tarik Muharemovic, only a couple of minutes later, reacting quickest to Ethan Ampadu’s long throw that dropped into Dominic Calvert-Lewin and popped back into the air, proving to Dorigo that it really can be done even if it never makes much sense. In the words of Bryn Law, “That is ridiculous!” Muharemovic seemed to agree with the absurdity. “I mean, I don’t even know,” he told LUTV afterwards. “I just jumped, I tried and thank God it went where it went.”

But James Justin has already been there and done that. Four months ago his acrobatics against Wolves inspired a similar shout from Bryn: “That is sensational!” And so Justin laid down a new marker to his fellow defenders. Overhead kicks? Old news, brothers. Let’s see yer best impression of Allan Clarke.

Justin’s goal to make it 3-0 against Augsburg was a thing of beauty, Leeds’ best goal of a pre-season full of good goals. Justin started it all off from a throw-in, attempting a cross that was blocked, only to immediately win the ball back and set in motion a passage of pass and move that ended with the defender drifting off the left wing, playing a one-two with Calvert-Lewin and take a touch that sent three Augsburg players in different directions before sending the goalkeeper the wrong way as he finished into the bottom corner.

Augsburg ‘keeper Finn Dahmen had seen enough. He’d already had Anton Stach’s low strike deflected past him at the near post within the opening fifty seconds and could do nothing to stop Muharemovic’s improvisation. But something about Justin’s goal melted his brain, lifting himself of his haunches to berate his teammates’ inability to stop Leeds’ Total Football.

At this point it should be pointed out Augsburg were rubbish, as lethargic as a team that was just starting pre-season rather than ending it ready for competitive action. Either side of a 15-0 win over third-tier Austrian side Schwaz, they’ve now conceded eleven goals in three friendlies. Last season their Bundesliga campaign mirrored Leeds’ first season back in the Premier League. A poor first half of the season left them 15th, only three points above the relegation zone, before eight wins — and a change of manager — dragged them up to ninth, four points from a European place. Even their points per game average of 1.26 was almost identical to Leeds’ 1.24.

What that says about the Bundesliga, I’m not sure, so I’m instead hoping it says a lot about how Leeds have improved this summer. According to Daniel Farke, United were far from their best too:

“I told the lads after the game, I have to calm myself down a bit because it’s the fifth week of pre-season. This week, especially after obviously having the long trip in the US and this week with lots of traveling to Dublin.

“We were back home, I think at 3 o’clock in the morning. The next day, we had another tactical meeting and also tactical training sessions. So I put lots of input into the last week and you could feel that perhaps I have tried my players a lot during this week, and they were not 100% sharp and fresh.”

Which might explain why Leeds breezed through the second half against Augsburg, using the final twenty minutes to practice reverting to a back four, with even Joel Piroe getting a runout as a number 10. There were still moments of charm: Joe Rodon streaking away down the right to almost recreate his assist against Fizzy Leipzig for Calvert-Lewin and earning the nickname “Joe Salah” from Farke; oles being sung around Elland Road as James Trafford rushed out of his goal and picked a pass into midfield, where Anton Stach beat three players (soon followed by Brenden Aaronson falling over one); and finally, a final kiss of a goal as Sean Longstaff won the ball in midfield, Ao Tanaka turned into space and fed Lukas Nmecha, who dinked a chip over Dahmen with another delightful finish that belied his occasional clumsiness.

By the time the referee put Augsburg out of their misery and blew the final whistle before ninety minutes were officially up, it felt like everything was coming together for Leeds on and off the pitch. Unbeaten since their opening friendly against Wrexham and with new signings looking comfortable, the squad continues to take shape with Nico Elvedi about to take the place of Sebastiaan Bornauw, a plea from Piroe’s agent sparking reported interest from West Ham, and the promise of more business still to come with the first XI already appearing well set — with Farke announcing a new leadership group after the game of Ampadu, Rodon, Bijol, Calvert-Lewin and Justin.

The real test will come at the City Ground against Notts Forest on the opening day of the Premier League, but for now it feels like Leeds have squeezed exactly what they need out of pre-season, a sense summed up by Joe Rodon’s choice of song to accompany an Instagram story: More Than Enough.