Paco Gallardo’s start to life at the helm of Leeds United’s U21s could not have gone better. The Whites have won their first two games under the Spanish coach, seeing off promotion chasers Southampton and strugglers Derby County, with a 3-0 win over the latter on Monday looking nothing short of routine.
They haven’t just retaken top spot in that time, they’ve consolidated it and with four games to go, they’re sitting three points clear at the top of the division. Promotion is very much the aim for the U21s this season and it seems they are in sight of it as they look to push themselves over the line in the next few weeks.
Gallardo isn’t new to the U21s set-up, in fact, he has been working within the youth ranks at Thorp Arch since being appointed as a development coach back in November. However, he was handed the reins when Michael Skubala was promoted to the first-team during the coaching shake-up that followed the dismissal of Jesse Marsch and the subsequent appointment of Gallardo’s compatriot Javi Gracia.
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It’s fair to say, Leeds fans don’t know too much about the former Sevilla midfielder, who coached the Andalusians’ youth and B team before moving to West Yorkshire, but he’s already making an impact, it seems.
“Paco is a great coach,” Michal Pujdak, who will be assisting Gallardo in the U21s dugout said. “He’s coached in the second league in Spain and he’s got vast experience in the game as a coach and technical director.
“Our relationship is great and I’m learning from him, we’re bouncing off each other. I’ve been at the club a long time and I’ve always been given a lot of responsibility so it feels like Paco is exactly that person who trusts me to do the job. It’s great to work from him.
“Every coach is different, it’s difficult to put a finger on [how he differs from Skubala]. Obviously with his Spanish background there is a lot of emphasis on being intelligent with the ball and without the ball.
“We’re trying to help the lads understand how you can manipulate games and for example today, you’ve seen that towards the end of the game [against Derby], when we were leading, we wanted to see the game out and be intelligent but there was a good clear opportunity to go and attack, we still want to do that.
“It’s great to be able to work with coaches with different mentalities because it helps us all develop in different contexts.”
Gallardo wasn’t the only Spanish coach watching on as Leeds saw off Derby on Monday night, with Javi Gracia taking the opportunity to get a glimpse of the U21s for the first time. Gracia was joined at the LNER Community Stadium in York by first-team coaches Skubala, Mikel Antia and Zigor Aranalde.
“I guess at Leeds it is clear there’s a real thirst for young players to progress from the academy into the first-team setting,” Pujdak added. “It’s fantastic to see Javi here in the stands, he’s been able to see some really good performances from the lads knocking on the door and trying to put their names forward, so they can be considered by the first-team manager.”
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