Leeds United defender Robin Koch is hoping this summer’s pre-season preparations will lead to a campaign with less injuries. The Whites began preparations for their third consecutive Premier League season on Monday, with the players who did not represent their countries during the June international period returning to Thorp Arch.
Under Marcelo Bielsa, large portions of Leeds’ pre-season work was based around fitness work, which until last year, worked superbly as the Whites were the fittest team in the country. However, Leeds were hit with several long-term injuries to key players in the 2021/22 campaign, which Bielsa’s replacement Jesse Marsch put down to over-training.
The likes of Kalvin Phillips, Patrick Bamford, Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling and Koch himself all missed long periods of the season, which was the main cause of Leeds’ struggles and huge relegation scare. This year, though, Leeds have already been captured taking part in ball-work sessions, as Marsch looks to get to work on incorporating his principles ahead of his first full season.
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Speaking in an interview with LUTV, Koch admitted that pre-season has so far been a little different to his previous two at Leeds, and is hoping it will lead to a year of far less injury concerns.
He said: “Yeah of course it’s quite normal that you have different pre-seasons in your career. Every pre-season is a little bit different so we are looking forward to it and like last year we have a good team.
“Together we need to prepare, get fit and play a good season with not as many injuries as last year. We are looking forward to pre-season and of course for the season.”
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