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Leeds United: There's more to come from me - Snodgrass
Scotland's loss has been Leeds United's gain, with Robert Snodgrass channelling his Tartan disappointment in the best possible direction.
After injury scuppered his hopes of making his international debut against Japan in Yokohama early last month, the Glasgow-born raider copped further dismay ahead of the last round of fixtures when he was overlooked for the Scots' friendly encounter with Sam Vokes' Wales in Cardiff on November 14.
Fit and raring to go after the best part of three weeks on the sidelines, Snodgrass felt he had done enough to earn his place in George Burley's plans in the principality – after carrying on from where he left off after an eye-catching start to the campaign.
Alas, it was not to be, with the 22-year-old not involved in Burley's swansong – he was placed on standby – and having to be content with negotiating the treadmill of training at Thorp Arch.
Snodgrass may have been a bit cheesed-off but feeling sorry for himself was the last thing in his thoughts, with his performance in the scintillating 3-0 weekend victory at Brighton – on his favoured left side – speaking volumes.
His delicious first-half strike rounded off a pretty perfect day and if his seasonal form continues and if he doesn't make the next international cut, you sense there should be a stewards' enquiry.
On missing out on the international front, Snodgrass said: "I was disappointed, but you need to keep on knuckling down and working hard on your game. And if it comes, then it comes. You could let stuff like that faze you.
"They did well for the first 15 minutes in Wales, but the scoreline was 3-0 and the manager's been sacked and you've just got to wish George Burley the best now in whatever job he takes on.
"I'm just concentrating on matters at Leeds. It was a great day at Brighton; I was on the left side and it gave me a wee bit of joy on my favourite side. I was obviously getting a few more shots off and more crosses into the box and it paid off.
"Playing on the right gives me carte blanche to kind of go inside and link off the strikers but on the left, you can just get the ball in the box and get a few more shots.
"The goal was pleasing, but it's not about me, it's about the team.
"I think there's a lot more to come from me and it's only down to me. I'll need to keep working hard on the training ground. That’s where you’ll get your just rewards.”
While United were a class apart at Albion, the performance was buttressed by ferocious workrate across the park.
Sizzling
But while the leaders have plenty of reason to feel pleased with themselves at the minute, Snodgrass insists they need to continue to display the same hard-working standards to turn a sizzling seasonal start into a silverware-winning one.
On a benchmark display on the south coast Snodgrass – who hit a double against tonight’s opponents Leyton Orient in the 2-2 draw at the Matchroom Stadium in the spring – said: “Performances like that are going to take you a long way when it comes to the end of the season and we’ll hopefully look back at this.
“Teams come and are asking questions of us but we’re answering them right now – the defence, midfield, strikeforce – everything.
“It was a hard place to go with Brighton coming off a good result against Southampton and having a new manager as well. It would have been a banana-skin for anybody.
“But we went about our business and really battled. We’re top of the league and if we want to stay there, we need to keep putting in performances like that. Simple.
“Our performance was up there with the best. Tranmere at home was a really good performance and Bristol Rovers was first class, but at Brighton, we did the nitty-gritty as well as the good stuff with the finishing and what not.
“Anyone can turn it on in front of 20,000 plus. But when you are down at places like Brighton and the fans are on your back and the weather conditions aren’t good, you’ve not got to let it faze you and we didn’t.
“If we are going to be challenging for the title, everyone needs to keep working hard as a group.
“We need to do it on a consistent basis and not drop our standards for different games.
“Results went well, but we’ll just worry about ourselves and we’ve got a tough game against Leyton Orient and need to regroup, mentally and physically, for what lies ahead.
“It’s only November and we need to kick on from here again.”
Snodgrass may have been a shoe-in so far this season and one of the first names on boss Simon Grayson’s teamsheet, but the grounded Scot isn’t resting on his laurels. He’s mindful of the depth of resources at Grayson’s disposal – especially in midfield – and the need to stay on top of his game.
He added: “We’ve got a good squad, with the likes of Max Gradel and big Tres (Kandol), who has also done well in games.
“When you are called upon, you need to be ready because the team are playing at such a high standard. If you’re not at the same heights, who knows, you’re maybe out of the team.
“Or, if you do well, you can stay in, like Neil Kilkenny has done.
“You know what you get with Neil. He’s a class player, it’s just a wee bit unfortunate for him as we’ve been doing really well. But he’s bided his time, come in and worked really hard.
“He doesn’t usually shoot that much, but a few goals for him could help him along the way to stay in the team.”
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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