Mighty Leeds Weblog

HYPEBEAST Written by: Rob Conlon Jesse Marsch often says Liam Cooper is the best captain he has worked with as a manager. “In terms of a mentality and being a professional and a leader,” Marsch said of Cooper back in August, “he’s the best I’ve ever seen.” Jesse thinks the same about Stuart Dallas. “He is in many ways the heart and soul of the group,” he said after Dallas broke his femur against Manchester City last April, “and one of the guys that I think is always at the forefront in terms of being a leader, and someone who can stand up to big challenges.” Jesse loves the concept of leadership, and places a lot of value on it. “That’s what I think I’ve become more of an expert on than anything else,” he recently said in an interview for the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Philadelphia. During the same talk, he explained his leadership council at Leeds, which includes both Cooper and Dallas: “One of the reasons for the leadership council is I hold our best players and our ...

Leeds United have a raft of players entering the final six or 18 months of their Elland Road contracts at the turn of the year and Victor Orta needs to shape how this club's next phase looks Transfers are only going to dominate the Leeds United agenda more and more from here on out. With more than four weeks until a return to action and then only two matches until the January window opens, it’s easy to see why attention is on the chance to strengthen this squad. However, Victor Orta’s eyes will also be on the players he already has in the building at Elland Road. With the arrival of 2023 comes not only another window, but the final six or 18 months in several contracts at Leeds. Traditionally, clubs like to ensure nobody they are interested in keeping enters the final year of their deal. With a number of players entering their 30s, it’s an intriguing time as Orta plots the transition of this squad. Joel Robles signed his one-year deal in the summer, so a decision will surel...

Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch believes Patrick Bamford is getting closer to full fitness ahead of the Elland Road clash with Arsenal. By Graham Smyth Bamford started against Crystal Palace last Sunday and Marsch felt his striker looked in ‘good physical form’ after a stop-start comeback from last season’s series of injuries. Leeds were keen to manage the striker’s route to full fitness carefully, but a groin injury in the second game of the season at Southampton kept him out of two games and restricted him to substitute cameos against Everton, Brentford and Aston Villa. He has impressed Marsch in training this week and is progressing towards full fitness. "He's getting closer and closer to fully being 100 per cent which he knows he hasn't been in some time,” said the head coach. "He's looked good in training this week. He's part of the solution for us, for sure, in finding ways to score more goals. It's getting him fitter, more up to speed with ...

By Jamie Kemble Leeds United are finally back in action this weekend when they take on Aston Villa. The Whites will have gone 29 days without action by the time they return from the international break this weekend, and fans will be delighted by the return of club action. It has been a solid start to the season from Jesse Marsch’s men, and it will be interesting to see how they stand up against a Villa side with similar ambitions this season. Leeds have been forced to wait to bounce back from their heavy defeat to Brentford last time out, but they will get their chance here. Meanwhile, Villa won last time out, but they are still one point behind Leeds despite playing a game more. Heading into this weekend’s clash, Leeds have a number of injury issues, but there should be good news over Rodrigo, who is on course to return from a dislocated shoulder. Rasmus Kristensen is back in action, while Liam Cooper and Luke Ayling have both featured for the under-21s as they work towa...

Leeds United head coach Jesse Marsch must choose between Junior Firpo and Pascal Struijk at left-back – decision taken out of JM’s hands By Joe Donnohue Leeds’ summer window came to a close without the club having added a left-back to Jesse Marsch’s squad. After sealing incoming transfers for several first-team players, many supporters believed the club’s business would only be completed upon the arrival of an alternative centre-forward and cover at left-back. Last season, Stuart Dallas and Junior Firpo were United’s two main options on the left-hand side of defence but with both ruled out through injury at the start of 2022/23, Marsch was left to find a solution from within his squad. Recently called up to the Netherlands setup for the first time, Pascal Struijk has emerged as the solution to Leeds’ lack of depth in that position. The 23-year-old has started each of the Whites’ league fixtures there this season and some would like to see him remain outside his natural berth ...

Leeds United welcomed back the bulk of their squad ahead of the 2022/23 Premier League campaign this week By Joe Donnohue The day upon which players return to the training ground following their summer breaks is always a milestone in any football season’s calendar. Some return sun-kissed, others sporting new hairstyles, but on the whole the mood tends to be a jovial one, focused on a fresh start. This year’s pre-season calendar already looks very different; it will be the first time in four years that Marcelo Bielsa and his crew of coaches have not welcomed the players back to Thorp Arch. Head coach Jesse Marsch greeted his squad at Leeds Beckett University before they underwent a variety of fitness tests on Monday morning. New addition Marc Roca was present, even if Leeds’ two other summer signings Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen were absent, given an additional week’s rest due to their involvement on international duty throughout June. Leeds released a gallery of...

ON OUR KNEES Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman Way back in August, when Leeds United started their season by losing 5-1 at Old Trafford but things still felt only temporarily bad, I put my faith in Luke Ayling’s grim expression in his aftermath interview. We’d seen it before, when promotion was on the brink at Nottingham Forest, and it had saved us then. I hoped we would let Luke Ayling’s frown, once more, be a turning point. The set jaw, the glowering eyes, the bristling injustice operating like static on a manbun; it got Leeds to safety in the end, but it wasn’t being worn by Billy boy. Something about Leeds United’s ascension was forged in Yeovil, and Chesterfield, and Northampton, the austere origins of Ayling, Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas driving them up and away from a world they wanted to leave behind. In common with them, in the end, was Raphinha, using whatever got him from Porto Alegre to Yorkshire to make sure that, if and when it gets him to Barcelona, it’s onl...

Leeds United head coach Jesse Marsch has discussed injuries to Jack Harrison and Raphinha as well as his verdict on Daniel James' red card By Joe Donnohue Leeds United's failure to gain anything from their latest match against Chelsea has left the team languishing in the bottom three with fixtures running out before the end of the season. Only two games remain for Leeds to pick up points and save themselves from a return to the second tier. They will face Brighton and Hove Albion at home this Sunday, before travelling to Brentford seven days later. Daniel James' red card during the first half against the Blues compounded the misery of Chelsea's early goal and gave the head coach yet another selection headache to contend with. Here are three talking points from the YEP in response to United's latest defeat and imminent relegation danger. In his post-match press conference, head coach Jesse Marsch refused to blame Daniel James for the reckless challenge ...

BRUISED AUBERGINE Written by: Steven York This season Leeds have managed to exist in a limbo state between surprise and predictability. Where the achingly dull ‘win every game’ philosophies of Manchester City and Liverpool are clearly effective — as is Norwich City’s ‘lose every game’ — we have carved a little area for ourselves where surprises are both shocking and expected. When Stuart Dallas leapt into a challenge he didn’t strictly need to make and was left punching the ground in the agony a femoral fracture obviously brings, I expected it. Of course Leeds were going to lose their most reliable utility player at a time when we needed him most. When Leeds most desperately needed some calm and confident football to steady the nerves, balanced precariously over the Premier League’s cliff edge, of course Illan Meslier chose this moment to make a horrible mistake. You couldn’t predict that in the fifth minute of a crucial game our dependable and overworked goalkeeper might commi...

FAT PAD Written by: Rob Conlon When a journalist at Jesse Marsch’s pre-Arsenal presser started his question by saying, “I don’t want to name drop but,” I sat up in my chair and excitedly paid attention. Name drop away! Who could it be? Elon Musk? Bon Jovi? The ghost of Michael Jackson? Pah! What good is that when you can speak to The Actual Michael Jackson! Except the reporter didn’t even drop Mike Jackson’s name, continuing, “I was talking to the Burnley manager the other day.” Oh, right. I was so underwhelmed I didn’t even listen to the question he went on to ask. Something about Robbie Blake? That exchange summed up a surprisingly low key presser from Marsch. Nobody asked him whether, in the wake of Everton’s win and with a bit of time to himself, he still thought losing 4-0 to Manchester City felt like a win, and his weekly update was all done in nineteen minutes before the feed stopped for the questions embargoed for Sunday’s newspapers. A new record? It was so casual Marsch...

Leeds United are set to be without versatile midfielder Stuart Dallas for an extended period of time following a femoral fracture By Joe Donnohue Leeds United's Stuart Dallas will be sidelined for several months after a leg break sustained in the defeat by Manchester City last weekend. A definitive timeframe for recovery is yet to be set for the Northern Irishman due to the severity of the injury which saw him stretchered off last Saturday. The 31-year-old has undergone surgery and already vowed to return 'stronger than ever', but faces a long road ahead. Consequently, Leeds' summer transfer priorities will be expected to shift somewhat. Dallas has featured in each of Leeds' Premier League fixtures since the club's top flight comeback two years ago and will leave a considerable hole in the first-team. Part of the reason for Dallas' longevity in the side has been his versatility across multiple positions. This season, Dallas has played at left...

In his latest column for leedsunited.com, lifelong supporter Jon Howe looks at the role played by Stuart Dallas. Howe is the author of two books on the club, ‘The Only Place For Us: An A-Z History of Elland Road’ - which has been updated as a new version for 2021 - and ‘All White: Leeds United’s 100 Greatest Players’ in 2012. It was American writer and philosopher Benjamin Franklin who apparently first coined the phrase “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes and Stuart Dallas”, or something like that. He said this in 1789, and it feels like that long since the Cookstown Cafu last missed a game. But nothing in football promises permanency and a typically blood and thunder challenge against Manchester City last Saturday, found Dallas caught in the act of trying to steal in and start a counter attack to get Leeds back in the game. For once his vim and vigour was ill-advised, or at least a fraction of a second ill-timed. And for Leeds United, a big infl...

By Craig Scott Stuart Dallas is set to spend six months on the sidelines after the Leeds United star broke his leg at the weekend, according to The Mirror. The newspaper reported via their print edition today that Dallas, 31, has undergone surgery in London on a fractured femur he sustained in a challenge with Manchester City’s Jack Grealish. It is understood that he’s now on the mend and “could be out for six months”. Yet another injury woe If there’s been a theme of the season for Leeds United, it’s been injuries. Patrick Bamford, Kalvin Phillips, Liam Cooper and now Dallas have all had to suffer with long-term issues this season and those four players are arguably the most important in the squad. The goalscorer, the playmaker-in-chief, the captain and Mr Reliable. Dallas can play almost anywhere and usually always plays to a very high standard so to be without him for the rest of this season is a huge blow; to be without him for half a year is earth-shattering. Whe...

The versatile Northern Ireland international had surgery in London. Stuart Dallas has vowed to return “stronger than ever” after breaking his leg during Leeds’ Premier League defeat to Manchester City on Saturday. The versatile Northern Ireland international had surgery in London and Leeds have said the 31-year-old will now undergo further tests. Posting a picture on Twitter from his hospital bed, Dallas said: “Huge thank you for all of the messages I’ve received in the past few days. “I’ve had amazing support from across the world of football – but particularly from Leeds and Northern Ireland. I’d also like to thank Dr Williams, Dr Sarraf and the medical team at @LUFC. “The support I’ve received has meant the world to me and my family. Now it’s time to focus on my rehab, I will be back from this stronger than ever. “In the meantime I’ll be supporting my teams every step of the way.” Dallas will miss the rest of Leeds’ battle for league survival after being injured in a 5...

YORKS Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman Against Manchester City on Saturday, Leeds United had little to no chance to make things better for themselves at the bottom of the Premier League. Burnley had influence, and used it by beating Watford; Everton did all they could, beating Frank Lampard Junior’s inconsistent old boys Chelsea at Goodison Park. Leeds can’t rely on others during the rest of this season, but we can’t stop them doing them, either. The impossibility of United’s weekend was summed up by their playing much better than against Crystal Palace on Monday, but losing 4-0 anyway, while losing Liam Cooper to hopefully a minor injury just before the game and Stuart Dallas to an awful one during it. All the while, Elland Road sang and chanted and cheered. As they proved at Selhurst Park, Leeds fans don’t need a drum. They don’t even need goals or a win, either. A club-organised pre-match tifo? It gave the East Stand useful paper armament for pelting Jack Grealish, but ...

Getting anything against Manchester City really would have been against all odds. By Lee Sobot The task against Pep Guardiola’s title-chasing superstars looked hard enough already without losing first captain Liam Cooper to a knee issue in the warm-up and then Stuart Dallas to a terrible injury at the end of the first half. Over and above anything else, all thoughts are with Dallas and those close to United’s Northern Ireland international star who is now facing a lengthy period out with a femoral fracture. Without him, and several others, Leeds United now have just four more games to ensure they remain a Premier League side and results this weekend have effectively taken their destiny out of their own hands. But whilst Saturday’s encounter always promised to be a gargantuan task, Jesse Marsch’s side ultimately had the chances to get something from it with set piece defending and picking the wrong options in the final third costing the Whites dear. You’d be extremely hard p...

Burnley's dramatic comeback victory and the Elland Road atmosphere during Leeds United's heavy defeat to Manchester City made for a bewildering afternoon of Premier League football. By Graham Smyth At full-time you would have been forgiven for thinking Jesse Marsch's men had pulled off the most unlikely of results, such was the noise inside the ground. Marsch felt it was a 'win in many ways' but the table took on a sinister look and with injuries mounting again, Leeds' season is going to have the nerviest of finishes. Here's the YEP take on an eventful day at Elland Road. Good day Jack Grealish The former Aston Villa man isn't well liked by a large section of the Leeds fanbase, but he enjoys playing at Elland Road. Pelted for 90 minutes with the scrunched up paper that had earlier formed the East Stand's 'Yorkshire' tifo, Grealish responded with a massive smile. Others in the top flight would have made an issue of it. He wasn...