Leeds United completed their second day of training in Spain on Monday with one fewer player than on day one. Diego Llorente was absent as he headed to Murcia for minor hand surgery, but everyone else was present and correct.
LeedsLive was watching from the pitchside on Monday morning and picked out some of the offbeat moments from training.
Summerville scare
There was another full-blooded, small-sided match on Monday morning under the watchful eye of Jesse Marsch. Tackles were going in firmly, but players were staying on the right side of friendly.
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In one moment, Marc Roca went in for the ball from Crysencio Summerville’s feet and it proved to be a sore one for the Dutch winger. The 21-year-old remained on the turf for a few minutes while play carried on until the medical staff came over to him and Roca came over to rub his head and apologise.
Summerville would hobble off the pitch and get some more treatment while assistant coach Ewan Sharp took his place for the rest of the exercise. The winger would play no further part in training, but he was able to head for the changing rooms under his own steam.
Jackson bridge
The beauty of Mark Jackson’s step-up from the under-23 ranks to the first team last season was the bridge he offered youth players into that senior set-up. Much as Carlos Corberan did for Marcelo Bielsa in a previous United iteration, Jackson can be the sympathetic ear and friendly voice for those taking their first steps in the big leagues.
Mateo Joseph, Sonny Perkins and Darko Gyabi have further underlined their progress by being included on the Spain trip. Joseph, who worked with Jackson last season, was seen having a couple of one-to-ones with the retired Leeds defender between exercises.
Jackson had his arm around him and could be seen making encouraging gestures from afar.
Marsch’s one-to-one coaching
Marsch has always been known as a coach with a personal touch when it comes to his playing squad. During one break in the attack vs defence exercise he had deployed, he took Pascal Struijk to one side.
The Dutch defender came in for a lot of attention from the coaches on Monday. Whenever he had the ball at his feet, the likes of Sharp, Rene Maric and Marsch would be bellowing at him.
He was asked to look for diagonal passes into the pivot midfielders and then long balls over the top if and when Rodrigo was gesturing to run in behind. Marsch would stand with him during this break in play and ask him what he could see and how he made the decisions he was making with the ball.
Ayling quip on the run
Luke Ayling has developed a reputation for being the team joker. The 31-year-old is at the heart of the squad and the craic in the dressing room.
The last exercise of the morning session involved the squad being split into four groups. They were stationed at the four corners of the pitch and then given running drills around the perimeter.
Despite the lung-busting effort every player had to put into it, Ayling would find the spare breath to crack a joke on his way past the spectator stand. One fan, watching on with a leg cast and crutches, was told to bin off the bandage and join in by the right-back. Cue laughter.
Maric goes the distance
While the rest of the outfield players ran around the pitch perimeter in their four groups, Joe Gelhardt was assigned shuttle runs across the width of the pitch. He wasn’t alone.
It wasn’t clear why the striker was given a different session, but Maric, who reportedly stepped back from playing football because of a bad knee, was with him every step of the way. This was no mean feat either.
Gelhardt, a 20-year-old professional athlete, was red in the face with the effort, but his Austrian superior, only 30 himself, but with nothing like the same base fitness, was by his side the whole way.
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