Good Morning. It's Thursday 29th July, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Stalemate at Ewood Park
Leeds came from behind to grab a share of the spoils at Ewood Park last night as Bielsa's Whites kicked off their pre season campaign in front of 5000 travelling fans.
As to be expected, Leeds controlled large periods of the game; the stats were firmly in favour of the Premiership team, but it was Blackburn who broke the deadlock first. A clumsy tackle from makeshift centre forward Costa game the Lancashire team a free kick 25 yards from goal. McBride's strike 18 minutes from time took a lucky deflection; Meslier could only watch as the ball looped over him and nestled in the far corner.
Leeds were not to be denied. Nine minutes later Harrison found Struijk in space in the box, and hammered the ball through a hoard of players to level the scoring. It's fair to say Leeds looked a little rusty, especially with their wayward passing, but lets be fair. It's their first competitive game since they hammered West Brom on the final day of last season, late in May!
Talking points
Llorente's first half tackle to deny Rovers a one on one with Meslier
Unfair or justified criticism of Costa
How was Firpo's debut
Rodrigo not a No.10
Gallagher turns down Whites
Conor Gallagher has rejected a loan deal to West Yorkshire, opting instead to stay in London and join Crystal Palace. Leeds had already agreed terms with Chelsea, and had given the youngster a tour of Thorp Arch, but whether he was concerned about the amount of game time he would get, or wanting to stay in the Capital, the 21yo has decided against joining the Whites. The England Under-21 international scored twice in 32 appearances for the Baggies last season.
Footballers to be restricted on heading the ball in training sessions
Bosses of English football have recommended a new set of guidelines for heading the ball, giving the emphasis on restricting the number of 'higher force' headers players make in practice sessions in order to reduce long term injury, including dementia! Professional players should be limited to a maximum of 10 “higher-force” headers in any training week. Higher-force headers are defined as any that follow a pass of more than 35 metres or corners, crosses, goal kicks and free kicks. Amateur players should limit heading practice to 10 headers per session, once a week. FA chief executive Mark Bullingham commented:-
We already have the most comprehensive guidelines in the world for youth football and now we are introducing, in partnership with the other football bodies, the most comprehensive adult football guidelines anywhere,
Premier League, Richard Masters, explains:
This is a long-term piece of work - we will now build on these studies and we remain committed to further research to ensure we have the right approach in place to protect the welfare of all players.
Thoughts?