Leeds United: Leeds to face Valencia in final friendly
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00:00Yeah, Leeds have one more friendly before the season kicks off. That is home to Valencia
00:08this weekend, of course, you know, a decent Spanish outfit, a La Liga side. So, and we've
00:16chatted about this game off camera as well. It's sort of the last game before pre-season.
00:22Again, it's sort of like the last game before an international tournament. It's by a manager.
00:26It's not quite exactly the lineup you'll, you'll put out against Portsmouth on the opening
00:32day. But there'll, there'll certainly be a lot of hints in our indications because, you
00:37know, I don't think you want to give everything away to potentially those who might be watching,
00:42but there'll certainly be a good few, a good few, maybe seven or eight of the starters
00:47against Portsmouth will probably start in this game against Valencia. So it is of all
00:53the pre-season games, it's probably the most important, even though it's still a pre-season
00:56game, the result still doesn't really matter. Again, fitness and tactical awareness are
01:00still the main, the main priorities, but it's, it's the one where you're one week away and
01:05you think, well, yeah, they sort of need to be in a place where they're nearly good to
01:10go now.
01:11Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah. And, you know, to be quite honest, I think that the starting
01:1511 against Valencia will probably be the starting 11 in the first game of the season against
01:20Portsmouth. I don't see why not. The only things that might, that might sort of complicate
01:24that, you've got the injury situation, obviously. So, I mean, as we speak at the moment, you've
01:29got Somerville, James and Bamford out. And obviously it might be that one of those returns
01:33this week to training. I think James is probably the top of the queue in that in terms of expected
01:37to come back, you know, like at the start of this week, obviously Somerville going for
01:41a scan, but it didn't sound serious. And Bamford's like working his way back on sort of gradually
01:45increasing his load. So, you know, like, obviously I wouldn't see any of them potentially starting
01:49against Valencia, bearing in mind they've had a little bit of a setback or whatever,
01:52but it might be that they then, you know, come back and impressed to such a degree before
01:57the first game of the season that they start. And obviously it goes without saying that
02:00Crisantia Somerville, while he's at Leeds United, is basically one of the first names
02:04on the team sheet. He has to be Championships Player of the Year and whether he stays or
02:07whether Leeds can get him to stay or not remains to be seen. But other than that, I don't think
02:11there's any secrets really about the way Farklag's line leads up or what they're about. They're
02:15just trying to do it very, very well. Yes, they went to three at the back in that first
02:18friendly. But as I say, that was before Jadon Bogle signed. So I suspect it'll be like,
02:22you know, as you'd expect, you know, the sort of system you'd expect. And it's just a case
02:26of what he goes for and what you would say the key calls. And I think the key calls really
02:31are as we sort of just, as we've mentioned, whether or not he goes to Joseph or Peru up
02:35front, that's going to be like, feels like a 50-50. I suspect Joseph will get the nod
02:39certainly in that friendly because he got the nod in the last friendly. So again, if
02:42he does well and gets that chance and plays well in that Valencia friendly, then why wouldn't
02:46you start him in the first game of the season when Bamford's obviously still not back? And
02:51then I think centre midfield is the other one. Obviously, Leeds still looking to strengthen
02:54that position, but that feels like, you know, it's a bit of a toss-up between Rothwell and
02:59Gruev next to Ampadu. And again, like you could see that going either way really. It's
03:03very hard to call which way that will go. So it'll be fascinating to see which way those
03:06two calls in particular go. The other positions, I suppose, especially with them injury doubts
03:11almost probably pick themselves. You know, you're probably talking Aronson's played on
03:14the left a lot during the summer, so I suspect he'll be there. Routier will obviously be
03:19part of the front line as well, presumably at number 10. And then obviously with the
03:22other wingers, like sort of some sort of doubt about him injury-wise, and you probably have
03:26Monto on the other side and the back four kind of picks itself. And then Mellier in
03:30goal, I suppose you could say Struyck or Verbe as a potential, you know, choice, but I think
03:35Struyck's, you know, established, isn't he now? And Verbe is still on the very much,
03:38you know, on the way back, I suppose, after his loans fell. So yeah, I think it'll provide
03:42enormous pointers towards what the line-up will be in the first game of the season. It
03:46will also provide an enormous insight into just where this team are at, I suppose, because
03:51you know, they have won three games in pre-season, but one's Harrogate Town, who are obviously
03:55League Two, the other two are Bundesliga Two opposition opponents. And this is a La Liga
03:59side and a very good one as well, you know, so this will be a totally different, like
04:04a step up in class. You know, ninth last season in La Liga, so I mean, any side that finishes
04:09ninth in that division is going to be a good side. And, you know, we all know about the
04:12Valencia teams of old and stuff and the history with them and everything. So, yes, it's a
04:15huge, huge test. One thing to note is that I think they start their season one week later
04:20than Leeds. So, because of that, yeah, exactly. They'll probably be a little bit further behind
04:26in terms of fitness, which might give Leeds, you know, a bit of an edge, but it's not really
04:30about the result, obviously. But, you know, like, obviously, you want to be going into
04:32the season with a victory. And the other thing to say is, I suspect it'll be, you know, it
04:36always is at Ellenrode, but it should be a great atmosphere because, obviously, the fans
04:39have been starved of it a bit this summer. They've just had that Harrogate Town friendly
04:43and that's it. And then, obviously, you never get to come and see this one at Ellenrode
04:47against Valencia. So, loads of different, like, pointers towards it. You know, a good
04:52match for Leeds to play, good opposition. And, yeah, I mean, if they can get a good
04:56result in that, then, you know, it should be all systems go ahead of the new campaign.
04:59But 100 per cent, I think the main thing to look out for there is who starts, particularly
05:04midfield and up front, because they will surely be a big point. They will surely be a big
05:09point as to what the XI will be on the first game of the season.
05:11Indeed, yes.