Leeds United: Leeds to face Valencia in final friendly

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00:00Yeah, Leeds have one more friendly before the season kicks off. That is home to Valencia

00:08this weekend, of course, you know, a decent Spanish outfit, a La Liga side. So, and we've

00:16chatted about this game off camera as well. It's sort of the last game before pre-season.

00:22Again, it's sort of like the last game before an international tournament. It's by a manager.

00:26It's not quite exactly the lineup you'll, you'll put out against Portsmouth on the opening

00:32day. But there'll, there'll certainly be a lot of hints in our indications because, you

00:37know, I don't think you want to give everything away to potentially those who might be watching,

00:42but there'll certainly be a good few, a good few, maybe seven or eight of the starters

00:47against Portsmouth will probably start in this game against Valencia. So it is of all

00:53the pre-season games, it's probably the most important, even though it's still a pre-season

00:56game, the result still doesn't really matter. Again, fitness and tactical awareness are

01:00still the main, the main priorities, but it's, it's the one where you're one week away and

01:05you think, well, yeah, they sort of need to be in a place where they're nearly good to

01:10go now.

01:11Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah. And, you know, to be quite honest, I think that the starting

01:1511 against Valencia will probably be the starting 11 in the first game of the season against

01:20Portsmouth. I don't see why not. The only things that might, that might sort of complicate

01:24that, you've got the injury situation, obviously. So, I mean, as we speak at the moment, you've

01:29got Somerville, James and Bamford out. And obviously it might be that one of those returns

01:33this week to training. I think James is probably the top of the queue in that in terms of expected

01:37to come back, you know, like at the start of this week, obviously Somerville going for

01:41a scan, but it didn't sound serious. And Bamford's like working his way back on sort of gradually

01:45increasing his load. So, you know, like, obviously I wouldn't see any of them potentially starting

01:49against Valencia, bearing in mind they've had a little bit of a setback or whatever,

01:52but it might be that they then, you know, come back and impressed to such a degree before

01:57the first game of the season that they start. And obviously it goes without saying that

02:00Crisantia Somerville, while he's at Leeds United, is basically one of the first names

02:04on the team sheet. He has to be Championships Player of the Year and whether he stays or

02:07whether Leeds can get him to stay or not remains to be seen. But other than that, I don't think

02:11there's any secrets really about the way Farklag's line leads up or what they're about. They're

02:15just trying to do it very, very well. Yes, they went to three at the back in that first

02:18friendly. But as I say, that was before Jadon Bogle signed. So I suspect it'll be like,

02:22you know, as you'd expect, you know, the sort of system you'd expect. And it's just a case

02:26of what he goes for and what you would say the key calls. And I think the key calls really

02:31are as we sort of just, as we've mentioned, whether or not he goes to Joseph or Peru up

02:35front, that's going to be like, feels like a 50-50. I suspect Joseph will get the nod

02:39certainly in that friendly because he got the nod in the last friendly. So again, if

02:42he does well and gets that chance and plays well in that Valencia friendly, then why wouldn't

02:46you start him in the first game of the season when Bamford's obviously still not back? And

02:51then I think centre midfield is the other one. Obviously, Leeds still looking to strengthen

02:54that position, but that feels like, you know, it's a bit of a toss-up between Rothwell and

02:59Gruev next to Ampadu. And again, like you could see that going either way really. It's

03:03very hard to call which way that will go. So it'll be fascinating to see which way those

03:06two calls in particular go. The other positions, I suppose, especially with them injury doubts

03:11almost probably pick themselves. You know, you're probably talking Aronson's played on

03:14the left a lot during the summer, so I suspect he'll be there. Routier will obviously be

03:19part of the front line as well, presumably at number 10. And then obviously with the

03:22other wingers, like sort of some sort of doubt about him injury-wise, and you probably have

03:26Monto on the other side and the back four kind of picks itself. And then Mellier in

03:30goal, I suppose you could say Struyck or Verbe as a potential, you know, choice, but I think

03:35Struyck's, you know, established, isn't he now? And Verbe is still on the very much,

03:38you know, on the way back, I suppose, after his loans fell. So yeah, I think it'll provide

03:42enormous pointers towards what the line-up will be in the first game of the season. It

03:46will also provide an enormous insight into just where this team are at, I suppose, because

03:51you know, they have won three games in pre-season, but one's Harrogate Town, who are obviously

03:55League Two, the other two are Bundesliga Two opposition opponents. And this is a La Liga

03:59side and a very good one as well, you know, so this will be a totally different, like

04:04a step up in class. You know, ninth last season in La Liga, so I mean, any side that finishes

04:09ninth in that division is going to be a good side. And, you know, we all know about the

04:12Valencia teams of old and stuff and the history with them and everything. So, yes, it's a

04:15huge, huge test. One thing to note is that I think they start their season one week later

04:20than Leeds. So, because of that, yeah, exactly. They'll probably be a little bit further behind

04:26in terms of fitness, which might give Leeds, you know, a bit of an edge, but it's not really

04:30about the result, obviously. But, you know, like, obviously, you want to be going into

04:32the season with a victory. And the other thing to say is, I suspect it'll be, you know, it

04:36always is at Ellenrode, but it should be a great atmosphere because, obviously, the fans

04:39have been starved of it a bit this summer. They've just had that Harrogate Town friendly

04:43and that's it. And then, obviously, you never get to come and see this one at Ellenrode

04:47against Valencia. So, loads of different, like, pointers towards it. You know, a good

04:52match for Leeds to play, good opposition. And, yeah, I mean, if they can get a good

04:56result in that, then, you know, it should be all systems go ahead of the new campaign.

04:59But 100 per cent, I think the main thing to look out for there is who starts, particularly

05:04midfield and up front, because they will surely be a big point. They will surely be a big

05:09point as to what the XI will be on the first game of the season.

05:11Indeed, yes.

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