Good Morning. It's Friday 9th December, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Klich thunderbolt seals Leeds win
Leeds came from behind to beat Elche last night, and lift the Festa d’Elx Trophy, but it was far from the easy jaunt they had expected. Rooted to the bottom of La Liga, winless, and with only four points on the board from their opening 14 games, the Alicante based outfit were not expected to put up much resistance; yet they dominated the first half to such a degree that the statistical heatmaps looked more like forest fires, breaking out uncontrollably in the Leeds half.
They deservedly took the lead on the stroke of half-time, when Josan latched on to a long diagonal ball, slicing the Leeds defence in half. With only Hjelde bothering to track back, the veteran forward had the time and space to pick his target, and open the scoreline with the assistance of the post.
The visitors were only marginally better after the break, but the overall difference between both teams is that Marsch's team took their chances. They equalised on the hour mark. Harrison's perfectly executed through ball allowed Greenwood to nip in front of the defenders and provide an easy tap-in for Gelhardt who up until this point had been starved from service.
Leeds made six changes in the last half hour, and it was one of his substitutes that made all the headlines. Dropped by his Country, and languishing on the bench for large periods of time this season, Mateusz Klich proved there is life in the old dog yet with a spectacular 25 yard screamer that proved to be the winner.
Leeds hold their breath on Summerville injury
Inform forward Crysencio Summerville faces a spell on the sidelines following a collision with John Nwankwo during the early stages of last night's friendly between Elche and Leeds Utd. Both players had to be withdrawn, but it was Summerville who attracted the most concern, as he was helped off the pitch by the Leeds physio's, clearly in agony.
The Netherlands under-21 international has scored in each of his last four top-flight appearances, and has proved more than a capable replacement for Sinisterra, who remains on the treatment table. The extent of Summerville's injury will not be known until tests are done later on today, but early signs are not good. According to match commentator Tony Dorigo...
That does not look okay at all, that is not good news. It’s how gingerly he was actually walking, that’s the worry. He jumped up quickly, but walking back, he has felt it. The most important thing is go off straight away, limit the damage.
Eight first team players out
Following Leeds 2-1 win over Elche, Leeds Manager Jesse Marsch gave a full assessment on the walking wounded. Robin Koch, Patrick Bamford, Junior Firpo, Diego Llorente, Sonny Perkins, Luis Sinisterra, and now Crysencio Summerville are all sidelined through injury, but it's Meslier's absence which is more concerning.
The 22 year old shot stopper has glandular fever, and is not expected to return to training until a week before the Manchester City game. Should he not recover in time, and with Tyler Adams suspended, Pep guardiola could have a field day!
Illan (update) you guys call it glandular fever, we call it mono. We're trying to be safe with him, but also measure him appropriately and see. “It'll be close when we can get him back into training days to a week before Man City. Junior Firpo wasn't as bad as we initially thought, so he actually travelled here and he will be close to training next week." “Patrick Bamford had a successful surgery. We think he'll be ready in about 10 days." "Robin will be ready to train in the week. Hopefully, Cree’s not too bad."
Diego's hand: he had successful surgery and they say two weeks after the surgery he can start participating in training so that shouldn't last too long. For the most part, we should be able to get most of the guys back in training before we play our first match against Man City, maybe even 10 days before. Sonny Perkins, maybe a little bit of a calf issue, but hopefully it's not so bad.
