Mateo Joseph's momentum

Mateo Joseph has hit the ground running in Leeds United pre-season as he hopes to stake a claim for the No. 9 spot during 2024/25

Transcript

00:00I don't think we can talk about the Hanover game without talking about

00:03Matteo Josef because it feels like there's momentum building for him right now and

00:10Farke is not one to throw prayers around and he's not one to get carried away. He keeps a very,

00:17very tight rein on the horses but even he was galloping a little yesterday talking about

00:24Matteo. It does feel like there's something just a bit different about Josef and I don't know

00:28whether it's just a lot of little things combined but it's like the quotes, seeing himself on a

00:34level with Pirou and Bamford. He's basically saying I'm in the running for that number nine

00:39spot and Bamford's not quite ready yet. I mean the session Bamford did today looked to me a very,

00:46very intense session and he did play 70 minutes of the two hours we watched him train for on Sunday.

00:53He has been involved a lot so he's getting there. They're building him up but he is getting there

00:58but Josef is there with his fitness right now. He came back in the shape that Farke said has

01:08provided a basement for him to build on for this season. So he's basically come back in even better

01:13shape than he was. He's gone away and worked at it. I think that is a really good sign for his

01:18career to be honest that he's taken a little bit of the frustration from last season and he's come

01:23back to Leeds already ready with a basement fitness that will put him in a position to

01:28challenge. Then he goes into a game like that, he gets two chances, he gets two goals. Yes,

01:33Farke will ask him for more in terms of overall performance and output and pressing and chance

01:39creation and link play and all of that but you can't really grumble can you with that as a second

01:46half performance from Josef? I've always seen him as a pressing forward but with a poacher's

01:51instinct and I think those two goals that he scored against Hanover demonstrate that. He is

01:56going to lead the press from the front which at times last season when Joe Pirro was there he

02:00maybe thought maybe he's not quite at that level, he's not as flighty but then he also does have

02:06that ability to just, especially the second goal, it's a one-touch finish, opens his foot from

02:12Bogle's cross and he just guides into the net. It's a really, really smart finish.