Injuries persist
Less than 15 minutes into his first Leeds United start, Luis Sinisterra was hobbling from the field with help from Rishi Dhand and Henry McStay. Welcome to Leeds.
There is only so much the Whites can do about solving the injuries of last season. Training is being managed differently and Zone7 is providing an AI outlook, but the players are humans, not robots.
As much as the club would love to leave its injury narrative in the past with their 17th place finish, they happen in football and they continue to happen at Leeds. Liam Cooper’s Achilles niggle has ruined his tour match plans, while Sinisterra and Adam Forshaw, two possible starters on August 6, have been struck down two weeks before the season starts.
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The pitches in the second and third matches of the tour were not in good condition and the heaviness of the surface cannot have helped a problem like Sinisterra’s. Jesse Marsch was hopeful the pair would not be out for a long time, but time will tell.
For now, they join Cooper, Junior Firpo, Luke Ayling and Stuart Dallas in the treatment room.
Klich benched
Mateusz Klich returns to the UK with the squad as the only fit, senior member of the group without a start in Australia. What’s more, the Poland international was not even among the raft of half-time substitutes on Friday, he only made his entrance deep into the second period.
The 32-year-old is being used by Marsch as the central attacking midfielder in the 4-2-3-1 Leeds have been employing. Brenden Aaronson and Rodrigo are evidently ahead of him in the pecking order, at least in pre-season.
Klich started nine of Marsch’s 12 games last season, but only completed 90 minutes once. The midfielder was getting onto the pitch, but frequently became the first man off the field when it wasn’t working.
In this push to enlarge the Leeds squad and create better strength in depth, Klich increasingly seems to be one of those expected to provide an option from the bench next season.
Signing off from Australia
With full-time in Perth came the end of the match action on this three-match tour. One win, one draw and one defeat provide symmetry to the fortnight Down Under.
Much like Marsch’s run-in last term, Leeds have found it difficult to play well for any prolonged phase in the matches. Brisbane Roar provided a token resistance and still probably deserved to draw.
The loss to Aston Villa has aged well and it’s hard to look back and feel the Villans outplayed Leeds in any way. Crystal Palace were under strength in what was a poor game on a dire surface.
If it’s proved hard to draw too many conclusions on the field, the big plus of this tour has almost certainly come off the field. Aside from the commercial gains of being so public in three different cities, Marsch and the squad have bonded after living in each other’s pockets, and with six new signings bedded in no less.
That kind of chemistry and unity in a group will only really show itself when Leeds are in the trenches at their hardest phase of the season. Marsch needs a group willing to fight for each other until the bitter end and these Australia-forged friendships will only help.
Firming up the Wolves line-up
The starters in Perth had the makings of what Marsch could very well start with at Elland Road on August 6. Cooper’s fate is still to be decided given how little he has played this summer, while the left-back slot is open-ended.
Even if Victor Orta can find and sign a left-back between now and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ visit, it’s a tall order throwing them in with such little tactical integration. Friday’s starter, Pascal Struijk, seems a very good bet to start the season there.
Forshaw would have backed himself to start in midfield, but that knee tweak may just be enough to let Marc Roca and Tyler Adams settle into a brand new double pivot for the new campaign. Sinisterra looked a banker to start the season with Daniel James suspended, but his hamstring issue puts a big question mark next to his name.
Rather than turn to a direct replacement like Crysencio Summerville, Marsch went for Rodrigo and shuffled Brenden Aaronson wider to accommodate the Spain international. That’s the clearest sign yet which way Marsch may go in a fortnight at Elland Road.
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