Football League World
·6 October 2023
Leeds United latest: Mateusz Klich reaction, surprise injury news, Farke frank on Piroe
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Football League World
·6 October 2023
Leeds United's first Championship campaign in over three years sees them in sixth place in the league at present with Daniel Farke at the helm.
The Whites are expected to be among the favourites for promotion this season under his guidance and got off to a stuttering start.
However, they recently went unbeaten for six league games, and despite losing 3-1 to Southampton at the weekend, then got things back on track with a 1-0 win over Queens Park Rangers at Elland Road in midweek.
The Whites edged a close affair when Crysencio Summerville's slotted home from Georginio Rutter's pass to give Leeds an early lead as the hosts dominated the early exchanges.
Leeds missed good chances in the opening 45 through Summerville and Joe Rodon and couldn't put the game to bed.
The game became more of a transitional midfield battle in the second half and both sides found it difficult to create any decent chances until the final 15 minutes when Patrick Bamford had a shot saved while Pascal Struijk also went close from a set-piece.
Rangers could have salvaged a point with three minutes left but Illan Meslier saved a point-blank effort from Lyndon Dykes and the Whites saw the game out in the end.
They play Bristol City next up, with a chance to cement themselves in a play-off place further, as well as to close the gap on the likes of Leicester City, Ipswich Town, and Preston North End.
Ahead of the game, we look at some of the latest news and headlines coming out of Elland Road.
Piroe had a tough night in terms of getting into the game against QPR and Farke spoke, via Leeds Live to provide his verdict, he said: "If we win games and they’re both involved in goals, everything is ok.
"To be there for Joel with four goals already is good, after just a few games, I think seven games and four goals, if he can keep going with that then happy days. Georgi put another assist in and also a really good performance.
"It is not always the day to shine for both of them, they have a fantastic relationship and score goals just for fun, sometimes it’s difficult days and for Georgi I think it was many good situations today. "Joel didn’t have his best day today let’s be honest, but he is still unbelievably important for us and also pleased that I could save him a few minutes in the end, to bring a quality player like Patrick Bamford on because the next game is coming soon.
"He has just played 60 or 65 minutes, I think he’s saved some energy for the next game."
There was a controversial red card surrounding Patrick Bamford and Asmir Begovic, when the striker clipped it over the Bosnian stopper but still went down, and despite the protestations of the veteran 'keeper he was still dismissed by the referee.
It also appeared that Bamford was insinuating to the officials that he wasn't touched by Begovic and he merely was anticipating contact that never came, with some claiming instead that he dived by jumping out of the way, yet didn't stay on his feet.
In the aftermath, QPR boss Ainsworth revealed that Bamford had confirmed he had not been touched, with an appeal now likely. However, Bamford's former teammate, Mateusz Klich, also responded to the incident in classically humorous fashion.
The likes of Junior Firpo, Willy Gnonto, and Djed Spence will be out of action until after the next international break, but a fresh issue emerged from the game.
Having started the game against Southampton at St. Mary's and not mentioned in Farke's pre-match press conference, it came as a surprise to see Jamie Shackleton omitted from the squad entirely.
However, the 23-year-old was revealed to be missing due to a shoulder knock, as revealed by Phil Hay.
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