Mighty Leeds Weblog

Harrison met Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers following a late deadline-day bid but the deal fell through. Mark Walker Jesse Marsch insists neither Leeds nor Jack Harrison wanted the player to leave the club during the transfer window. Harrison travelled to Leicester for talks with their manager Brendan Rodgers after the Foxes had made a reported late bid of £20million, but the deal fell through. Marsch said the 26-year-old midfielder, who has 18 months left on his contract at Elland Road, will now sign a new deal with the Yorkshire club. “In the 11th hour something came from Leicester,” Marsch said. “We’d been talking with Jack for quite a while about renegotiating his contract and it had gone well, but it had stalled at different moments. “We’ve spent a lot of money in the last couple of transfer windows, I think very wisely, and we’ve invested very wisely. “Before all the powers that be could get together from different angles, then in the 11th hour there’s some internal dis...

Leeds United midfielder Jack Harrison is expected to agree a contract extension at Elland Road after a deadline day transfer to Leicester City failed to materialise, according to Sky Sports Joe Donnohue The Whites’ man is set to extend his stay at Elland Road after Leeds decided to pull the plug on a prospective move to the King Power Stadium earlier this week. Harrison is reported to have travelled to Leicestershire, in case an eleventh hour deal could be struck between the two clubs on deadline day, but was informed that Leeds had rejected Leicester’s approach and intended to open contract negotiations. Sky Sports now claim Leeds are willing to offer improved personal terms and agree an extension to his current deal which expires in June 2024. Despite last month’s uncertainty over the player’s future, Leeds have been interested in prolonging Harrison’s contract since before the January transfer window. As recently as last summer, club chairman and majority shareholder Andrea ...

MAMBA MENTALITY Written by: Rob Conlon Even when Jackie Harrison is the story, he never gets to be the story. Facing the LUTV cameras after Leeds’ win over Accrington, Harrison’s contentment with his afternoon’s work was reflected in the cap he was wearing backwards, just like all the coolest kids wear theirs. Except Harrison isn’t considered one of the coolest kids at Leeds anymore. Four seasons at the same club makes a footballer old news — part of the furniture, like the old leather sofas in the West Stand hospitality areas that seem to have been there since Don Revie used to sit on them. Nothing is more exciting than a shiny new toy, so it didn’t take long before Jackie was being asked about how great Georgi Rutter is. It’s impossible to compete with the hype of a record signing, even when you’re Leeds’ third top scorer since returning to the Premier League, have created more goals than any other Leeds player in that time, and are the subject of a bid from a divisional rival....

IN THE MOMENT Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman Leeds United went to Accrington and went into the fifth round of the FA Cup, efficiently if not joyfully, and given the fun has usually been at our expense in these situations that’s good. Feels odd, though. When the world’s oldest cup competition meets football’s tiredest joke the results are supposed to be more chaotic than this and part of me feels a little cheated. Jesse Marsch keeps insisting that he’s here to change this about Leeds United: “I’ve heard this a lot … [that] we always think we have to do it the hard way. Honestly, part of the job of being the manager of this club is to change that mentality.” But better coaches than him have demurred to the weight of our history, settling for adding something instead of changing things. It’s brave of him to try but I’ve never been keen on the idea and this game is why. The FA Cup. Live on the BBC on a cold Saturday lunchtime. Lower league opposition, away from home, a club ow...

Two goals in as many second-half minutes from Junior Firpo and Luis Sinisterra killed the tie Mark Walker Leeds avoided another FA Cup upset by winning 3-1 at Accrington to reach the fifth round for just the fourth time in 20 years. Jack Harrison’s stunning strike gave the Premier League side an interval lead and two goals in as many second-half minutes from Junior Firpo and Luis Sinisterra killed the tie. But it was not all plain sailing for Jesse Marsch’s side and Sky Bet League One side Accrington deservedly pulled one back through teenage substitute Leslie Adekoya’s first senior goal. But Leeds, dumped out of the cup by the likes of Hereford, Histon, Rochdale, Sutton, Newport and Crawley in recent years, had too much quality for their hosts and reached the last 16 for the first time in seven years. The opening exchanges were fast and furious. Accrington skipper Sean McConville stung Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier’s palms with a 25-yard drive and Shaun Whalley was denied...

Leeds United eased their way into the FA Cup fifth round as goals from Jack Harrison, Junior Firpo and Luis Sinisterra ensured a 3-1 victory at Saturday’s lunchtime hosts Accrington Stanley. Lee Sobot Accrington put Leeds under early pressure but a series of Illan Meslier saves helped keep the hosts at bay and the Whites squandered the game's best early chance as record signing Georgino Rutter fired wide. Leeds, though, went ahead in the 23rd minute thanks to a terrific strike from Harrison who rifled the ball home from 25 yards out after Patrick Bamford's lay off. The frame of the goal then denied the Whites a second goal as Sinisterra's shot on the turn from the edge of the box rattled back off the post. The lively Rutter, Marc Roca and Rasmus Kristensen then had chances to add to Harrison's strike but Accrington continued to pepper the Whites goal only to be continually thwarted by Meslier who did spill one cross which Junior Firpo cleared. Patrick Bamford also...

Leeds United did it the easy way in their FA Cup third-round replay. By Stuart Rayner Yes, you read that right. From the moment Willy Gnotno scored a stunning volley after 26 seconds, the only team at Elland Road who looked capable of beating Leeds was Leeds. The pessimist who remembered the first game might not have been sitting comfortably when Rodrigo made it two in the 34th minute, but when Gnonto added his second two minutes later, it really was time to get out the cigars. When Cardiff City had a goal harshly chalked by referee Thomas Bramall's review, they could safely be lit. It was if the Whites forgot they are supposed to be the worst team around when 1-0 up, but in case you doubted it was really them, Luke Ayling clumsily let a Sheyi Ojo cross through his legs for former Sheffield United player Callum Robinson to score a not-in-any-way-consoling consolation goal.. In the second half Patrick Bamford helped himself to his second and third goals in two games as...

BEST YET Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman In a pleasant but fruitless reversal of recent trends, Leeds United set up to play very well against Aston Villa, and did. Instead of turning in a forlorn half and having to change, they dominated and should and could have scored more and won. The flip was that, as United’s hopes grew into a goal, the changes for chasing the game eroded all the good stuff they’d been doing. Leeds didn’t play worse all night than in the last ten minutes, when they were trying to clinch a comeback draw. It had been chaotic all night, the good kind of chaotic, but by the end, nobody in a Stilton shirt knew where any of their cheesemates were playing, defenders were panicking about nothing at all, Illan Meslier was miles out of goal and slowly clotheslining Philippe Coutinho round his neck. With his thigh. Which was actually quite impressive. With more and more attackers on the pitch in something like a 2-1-7 formation, Leeds lost sight of their one re...

There was no sign of Leeds United's incoming striker, Georginio Rutter, on Friday so Patrick Bamford getting off the team bus at Villa Park had to suffice as a sight for sore eyes. By Graham Smyth A second successive season of injury struggle has deprived the Whites of their 17-goal 2020/21 campaign frontman for nine of 20 top flight games. In previous weeks his return would have been quite the story. The excitement over 20-year-old Rutter's arrival - his Thursday flight was tracked online all the way from Frankfurt to Yeadon by thousands of supporters before the trail went cold as he underwent a medical - took the spotlight off Bamford, however, and the man going deepest under the radar – Rodrigo. The man having the season no one saw coming. Rodrigo wears 19 but his 11 goals, 10 of which have come in Premier League games, have made him Leeds number 9 and vital to their keeping heads above water in the bottom half of the table. A record signing in 2020, the Spain internat...

Aston Villa 2-1 Leeds United: Leon Bailey and Emi Buendia scored for the hosts who held on to the win despite Patrick Bamford’s late reply Nick Mashiter Leeds paid the price for wasteful finishing as gritty Aston Villa snatched an unlikely 2-1 Premier League win. Leon Bailey’s early goal and Emi Buendia’s header grabbed the points, Patrick Bamford netting a late consolation, as the hosts rode their luck at Villa Park. Emi Martinez brilliantly denied Jack Harrison and Wilfried Gnonto while Rodrigo had a shot cleared off the line and a goal disallowed for offside. But Villa hung on, scoring at vital times, to leave Leeds wondering how they left empty handed. The hosts recovered from their embarrassing FA Cup exit to Stevenage, which had taken the gloss off what has been a positive start to Unai Emery’s reign. They needed a performance and result to banish any hangover, especially following last week’s underwhelming derby draw with Wolves. They got a result, if not a stellar...

It was yet another coulda, woulda, shoulda night from Leeds United. This broken record needs changing. By Stuart Rayner For over an hour they were the better team at Villa Park, even if it all evaporated once Emi Buendia headed his team 2-0 up in the 63rd minute. In a season of what-might-have-beens, this loss took the biscuit. Even Patrick Bamford's late goal rubbed salt into the wound, making the final score 2-1 but there was never much danger of an unlikely comeback, for all the good work put in at 1-0. It is probably the fact results are not often reflecting performances which is keeping Leeds coach Jesse Marsch in a job but it is his responsibility to make sure they do. Two wins in 17 games in all competitions is a desperately poor return which would produce a P45 at many a club. It was a long way short of Leicester City away before the World Cup, but there were definite rumbles of "Marsch out!" from the visiting supporters and boos when he went over to t...

Leeds United fell to a ninth loss of the Premier League season as Friday night's clash at Aston Villa ended in a 2-1 defeat despite a host of chances for Jesse Marsch's Whites. Lee Sobot A combination of slack defending, profligacy in front of goal and brilliance from Villa's World Cup winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez meant a dominant Whites showing and fantastic display from Willy Gnonto counted for nothing and extended a horrible run of results to just two wins from the last 17 games. Leeds fell behind after just three minutes as Leon Bailey finished off a rapid Villa break which started from a Whites corner. Marsch’s side produced a strong response and Rodrigo raced through one on one only to see his shot cleared off the line before a superb save from World Cup winning goalkeeper Martinez denied Jack Harrison at point blank range. More chances then presented themselves after the interval but Villa doubled their lead in the 64th minute as Emi Buendia headed ho...

NOT HISTORY Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman For half an hour I thought, through a prism of the past, I was seeing the future of Leeds United, at least for the rest of this season. Brenden Aaronson’s 22 years of talent, stretched by the Premier League and the World Cup, snapped, giving a goal to West Ham. Crysencio Summerville, also cracking in his youth, was subbed off instead of being sent off for leaving immature retributive stud marks just below Vladimír Coufal’s knee. In their place came Jackie Harrison, who from deep in midfield fed Rodrigo with irresistible passes straight and through West Ham’s defence, that had to and did find at least an equaliser. And, setting the tone for the comeback with desperately necessary drive from midfield, was Mateusz Klich. These were two of the players who have delighted us since 2018. Frustrated us, too. Klich had yet another impressive night from the bench, and still managed to miskick a shot sending the ball so high, and so far aw...

Just shy of midnight Mateusz Klich signed his last autograph, posed for one final selfie and jogged to his car. By Graham Smyth It was parked in the players' section of Elland Road's West Stand car park, where it once sat for a full week in the wake of promotion celebrations that rendered him unfit to drive. It's no slight on Klich or what could be a bright future in the MLS to suggest that those were the best days of his career. In his own words, it was Marcelo Bielsa who made him a Premier League player, but in order for that to happen the player had to give the coach everything that he had. Playing all of the football, all of the time - as he did barring that one post-title visit to Derby County when the injury written in brackets after his name in dispatches should have read '(hangover)' - left him tired all of the time and undoubtedly questioning the sanity of it all at times, but the juice was worth the squeeze. Play-off semi-final heartache was exor...

Leeds United 2-2 West Ham United: David Moyes seemed to be heading for a crucial victory thanks to goals by Lucas Paqueta and Gianluca Scamacca but it was not to be Richard Jolly If David Moyes’s losing run is over, it will need more than one draw to ensure he does not lose his job. When Wilfried Gnonto put Leeds ahead, West Ham were headed for a sixth successive defeat and the relegation zone; their most successful manager since Harry Redknapp may have been destined for the sack. Yet when Rodrigo scored Leeds’ classy equaliser, Moyes was denied the victory that would have solidified his position, taken his side above their hosts and lent the impression a new year would bring a shift in fortunes. Instead, West Ham have to console themselves with a first point since October and the sense a huge outlay may not have all been in vain. If Moyes’s signings put his job at risk, perhaps they have now bought him a little more time. Such respite as he got came from players who formed part ...

There were plenty of holes you could pick in Leeds United's last performance of 2022. By Stuart Rayner Rodrigo was once more isolated up front, the curling shot which forced a Nick Pope save in the second half his team's only effort on target. The team lacked width and at times gave the ball back too easily, allowing pressure to mount. The more Jack Harrison plays in positions other than the left wing – he was in the hole of a 4-2-3-1 at St James' Park – the more he looks like a left-winger. But the good things were so much more important than the nitpicking in a valiant 0-0 draw. If you were expecting perfection on an afternoon when the rain hammered down on a ground where Newcastle United have only been beaten under Eddie Howe's management by Manchester City, Liverpool and Cambridge United, your New Year's resolution really needs to be to take a more realistic view of the world. The Magpies have returned from the World Cup in ominous form, and had extend...