Encouraging sign-off
Cagliari were relegated from Italy’s top flight last season and will not be held up as the sternest test Leeds United will face across the next nine months, but Sunday boosted confidence, if nothing else. As Jesse Marsch said in Australia, it would be very rare for any team to feel 100 per cent ready for competition at the end of pre-season, but Sunday did at least ease a few of the questions left hanging over the Whites.
The matches in Australia did not do a huge amount to boost optimism for the Premier League season, but this was a promising final run-out. The patterns of play got better as the match wore on, it was clear what Marsch wanted the players to do and, most importantly, it was hurting Cagliari and cutting the Italian side open.
We will come to the individual aspects of the game, but as far as the counter-pressing and attacking goes, it was shown to be effective. On several occasions, Cagliari were dispossessed in their own third by United’s counter-press and gifted the hosts opportunities as a result.
READ MORE: Leeds United player ratings as Kristensen and Aaronson dazzle in Cagliari thrashing
The five minutes of madness which let the visitors in for their two goals again flagged up the weakness Leeds can have to counter-attacks, but they were ruthless with the quantity and potency of chances inside the Cagliari penalty box. It will be quickly forgotten if they lose on Saturday, but a 6-2 win is always going to put springs in steps around the training ground this week.
New signings catch the eye
One of the more reassuring aspects of Sunday’s thrashing was the role some of the new signings played. If Leeds are going to avoid repeating last season’s bottom-four finish, the reinforcements coming into the squad need to have a material impact on results.
Rasmus Kristensen continues to look like a cult hero in the making for the Whites. The Denmark international appeals to the club’s Scandinavian fan base, runs all day, leaves everything on the pitch, smashes into tackles and delivers an end product too.
He seemed to quieten in the second half after his head collision, but in the first half, everything was going through him and Brenden Aaronson down that right flank. Aaronson remained a thorn in Cagliari’s side throughout the game.
The American’s work rate, tenacity, aggression, dribbling, flair and pace made him a huge threat with and without the ball for Leeds. His assists put a gloss on what was a fine performance on his Elland Road debut.
Compatriot Tyler Adams also looked effective in the slightly less glamorous role alongside Marc Roca in midfield. Adams typified the pest he described himself as when he signed on at Elland Road, robbing the ball with sheer willpower before feeding his attacking colleagues.
Marsch and the support will be encouraged by what they saw in three players who already know the system very well.
Missing faces get 90 minutes
The elephant in the room one hour before Sunday’s kick-off was the absence of a raft of senior players Marsch intends to call on in the Premier League next season. Kristoffer Klaesson, Cody Drameh, Leo Hjelde, Archie Gray, Darko Gyabi, Daniel James, Sam Greenwood, Crysencio Summerville and Joe Gelhardt are all understood to have played behind closed doors on Saturday.
While under-21s and first-team fringe options were included on the Elland Road bench, those who will be on the bench this weekend were getting a crucial 90 minutes into their legs one day earlier. Patrick Bamford had mentioned a similar arrangement in Australia last week when the original plan had been for half of the squad to play the entirety of the Crystal Palace match before the other half did the same against another Eagles XI the next day.
However, Palace’s lack of strength and small squad in Australia put pay to that idea. Evidently, Marsch carried it out this time with the aim of giving everyone a full 90 minutes across the weekend.
Klich’s endgame?
It has been a loose topic for discussion this summer, but Mateusz Klich’s slide down the Leeds pecking order really hit home on Sunday evening. When the Poland international was named on the bench with Helder Costa and Ian Poveda, two players clearly set for moves away before September 1, the writing seemed to be on the wall.
Marsch could not dispute there was doubt around Klich’s future and had no certainty he would be at Leeds beyond deadline day. He has a World Cup to think about and injuries or suspensions seem to be the only way Klich will play a lot with Leeds next term.
Football is a ruthless business and Klich will be all too familiar with what the score is. He has had four extraordinary seasons since Marcelo Bielsa brought him in from the cold and the Whites will always be regarded as the backbone of his career.
Bamford and Rodrigo ready to pick up where they left off?
Patrick Bamford and Rodrigo had the makings of something in that first season in Leeds for the latter. Injuries and Covid would spoil the Spain international’s rhythm before the England man’s campaign was written off last time out.
The night Bamford scored his hat-trick at Villa Park was memorably decent for their burgeoning partnership. Cagliari caveat aside, Sunday provided another tantalising glimpse into what this pair could do together with Aaronson and Jack Harrison flitting around them.
Five goals between them will claim the headlines, but Rodrigo’s all-around attacking play, especially his slide-rule passing into Bamford, was very good. For Bamford, he got visibly sharper by the minute and his movement was causing plenty of issues deep into the second period.
A 6-2 win is good for the team and the support, but Bamford and Rodrigo will have taken a special amount of confidence from Sunday and rediscovered some of that Elland Road muscle memory before the real stuff gets underway.
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