Leeds United’s Under-23s striker Max Dean has revealed that the work conducted on the training pitch in recent days paid off for his goal. Dean netted the second goal of the evening as the Young Whites earned a comfortable 3-0 victory over Manchester United in front of 9,808 supporters at Elland Road.
Stuart McKinstry and Archie Gray were also on the scoresheet for Leeds to earn a fourth home win in a row, but first under the management of Andrew Taylor, who took over from Mark Jackson after his promotion to first team coach. Similarly to the first team, the U23s have also been looking to move away from man-to-man marking when out of possession.
And that was displayed perfectly for Dean’s goal, as Gray applied the initial pressure on Man United’s Hannibal Mejbri. Mejbri looked to twist and turn his way out of the situation, but was then only met by Sam Greenwood, who swooped in on the ball and drove into the penalty area, before putting it on a plate for Dean to slot into the bottom corner.
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Speaking to LUTV post-match, Dean claimed that pressing in packs is something they have been working on in the last week, before then thanking his teammate Greenwood for his excellent assist.
He said: “That’s what we’re working on, getting around players - don’t give them a chance as a group and go as a pack to win the ball back and that’s a prime example. Then Sam’s perfectly laid me off and he’s told me to mention it and say: ‘thank you for the assist’. So thank you Sam for the assist. Then I’ve just got to put it away, like I did.”
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