What did you make of the occasion out there tonight and the challenge you faced by Brisbane Roar?
Yeah, good energy in the crowd, good to see a lot of our fans [in the] the one whole end of the pitch, had a lot of Leeds [United] supporters and got to hear some familiar songs and a familiar atmosphere. So that was great.
We had a really good start to the match. Maybe it's a really close goal, whether it's offside or not in the first minute, then we were able to push the game and get the two-zero lead.
Brisbane did a good job getting a goal towards the end of the half and then second half they put a lot into it, but our guys got a little bit more fitness. Pascal [Struijk] was able to play 90 minutes tonight. We were injury free.
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We're working through some of the tactics and there were some good moments and then some moments where we allowed too many counters and too many big chances that way, but we'll keep working on it and I feel like we're moving forward with this group.
Speaking of the counter-attack, there was a trialist on show up front, Joe Knowles, who scored the goal. [It was] a pretty extraordinary moment for him to come on and score against a Premier League outfit.
Great storyline. What did you make of his performance and the threat they put you under?
I saw there was a trialist. I wasn't aware he scored until you just said that, but yes, that's a pretty cool experience for him and a good moment.
In some of those moments, we were just a little bit too open and allowed too many counters which gave them a few too many chances, but congratulations to him.
Archie Gray had a good showing tonight. You said he's a first-team player. How have you seen him develop as a player? What can we expect from him this season?
Archie's only 16, comes up through the academy, but now he's been here with our first team all pre-season, I don't think anyone should treat him any other way than as part of the team. That's a credit to Archie and his mentality and his maturity.
So we decided to use him a little bit toward the end of the match tonight, just to get the balance of getting everybody some minutes, but we got to continue to find ways to challenge him and keep pushing him because we believe in his talent.
You have a few young ‘keepers in the squad. We saw [Kristoffer] Klaesson tonight. Does that create some healthy competition? Can we expect to see Klaesson a bit more this season?
Kris has done a good job for us. Really good job since I've been here. We needed him against Wolves. He's done well in the [under-]23s matches since I've been here, but Illan [Meslier] is our number one ‘keeper and he's a big player for us and he'll be ready for the match against [Aston] Villa.
How are you finding getting the full pre-season with the squad and getting a chance to put your imprint on the squad as a whole?
It's been important. We enjoyed the time together at the end of last year, but it was a very intense, intensely stressful time.
We stayed calm and that was a big reason why we were able to do well in the moment, but yes, certainly we want to, football-wise, continue to develop the way we want to play and create clarity on the pitch. So there were some good, really good moments tonight and then some things we need to work on.
Joe Gelhardt tonight: What did you make his performance and how prominent a role will he have in the season ahead?
The goal he scored was quite good, quite good and he always has some clever moments around the goal. Tactically, he was aggressive in moments against the ball and then with the ball, he was creative and helped us create some chances. He does really well to get up and win the header on the goal. We had two good goals.
Can you give us any insight into how you chose the number of minutes for players in your selection? Dan James got 30. Goal and assist obviously, but he came off after 30.
We were looking at how many training sessions guys have had. We're going to have a real training session tomorrow. So tomorrow, except for Pascal, he'll need a regen day, but the rest of the guys will be looking to continue to build fitness and sharpness and clarity in every way.
So trying to get everybody some time on the pitch to work tactically and fitness-wise, but then make sure we still have some good training days where we can push things so all those guys that played 30, we're just managing them physically or they came into camp a little bit late.
Is that the case with Illan? Just rest?
Yes, we wanted to give more 90 minutes for goalkeepers. So we'll be looking at Illan for the next two matches when we're here.
Can I just get you on Dan James? Thirty minutes, but he made a huge impact in those 30 minutes.
We were forced to play Dan at striker a lot last year, and we know that's not his best position. He likes to play more on the left.
I've been challenging him to play a little bit more on the right, so he can set himself up on his right foot and make some final plays, which he did tonight. He had a really good performance.
We have a lot of good and flexible attacking players. It'll just be a matter of creating chemistry and understanding of roles, but using the different players' qualities at the right moments, and having flexibility within the team to get the most out of all these guys, especially now with five subs in the Premier League.
Having a lot of attacking weapons is something you need to be successful.
And [Adam] Forshaw as well. You’ve signed two central midfielders already this summer and there’s going to be a lot of competition for that role. Do you think he staked his claim?
Adam’s an important player for us. He's a big leader for us. He helped set up the couple of goals with some of the plays he made. He's a very reliable leader and player for us. No question.
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