Leeds United: Sky's the limit for these boys says Monk

Monk’s Whites travel to fourth-placed Norwich City today sat ninth in the table and just one point off sixth.

A tally of 19 points from a possible last 27 has propelled Leeds from the division’s bottom half to the fringes of the top six – and Monk says that the present United squad are only just scratching the surface in terms of their development.

Leeds, who are third in the division’s form table on the last ten matches played, are now sizing up to a stern set of fixtures with United set to take on four of the Championship’s top five in their next six games, plus a home clash with much-fancied Aston Villa.

But Monk is approaching only his 17th game in charge of Leeds this weekend and says that however United fare over this next period that for his young group there is unquestionably so much more to come.

Asked where he viewed his side’s development on a scale of one to 10, Monk insisted: “One, it depends what development you are trying to get to but it’s very difficult to put a measure on it because we have a young group with a lot of potential.

“But who knows what their potential is. They can be anything but they have to keep working in the way that they are working.

“They are improving all of the time, they are learning all of the time from all of the games and that’s good to see – that’s the most important bit as a group – taking that into the next game and trying to improve on it and they have been doing that very well.

“What’s important now is that in these really difficult fixtures that we have coming up we show that we can come through that and learn and improve from there.”

Asked if he was happy with United’s league position after 15 games, Monk admitted: “I can’t complain.

“You always want more and I think we could have done better in terms of looking at the whole season so far.

“But I also realise as well that it’s difficult always with a new manager, a new group, a whole new way of training, new methods.

“It takes time and I always knew that.

I said at very start, even when we were suffering in a difficult period that we’ll come through this period better and stronger and we’ll be able to go on and improve.

“The important thing is that we realise as well that there’s even more improvement to be done.

“We’re not resting on any laurels, we’re ready to work, the players know what’s needed of them and we are ready for this next period which is going to be one of the most difficult periods in our season.

“We need to come through it strong and see where we lie in that situation – not because of where it leaves us in the league or anything like that but in terms of our development as a group.

“That’s what I’m interested in these next six or seven games.”