Leeds United man's reception on return, language problem and attacker's promise in off-camera Palace moments

Leeds United go into the extended international break having failed to break down Crystal Palace but ultimately still unbeaten after Sunday’s goalless draw against the Eagles at Elland Road. Here’s the YEP’s take including some off camera moments at LS11.

Good day

James Trafford

Nobody really stood out from a Leeds United point of view, except perhaps for the classy Tarik Muharemovic in defence but ultimately the goalless draw meant a third clean sheet of the season already for James Trafford, two in the league and one in the Carabao Cup. It wasn’t the sort of game where Trafford was required to pull off countless smart stops but the record signing made one very good save to keep out Yeremy Pino’s free-kick which was definitely going in and it proved key in getting Leeds a point.

Bad day

Brenden Aaronson and Dan James

Farke looked to Aaronson and James as his first two attacking changes in the 67th minute as Jayden Bogle and Ao Tanaka were withdrawn but both endured a very frustrating time of things, neither able to offer much as Leeds looked for a breakthrough. Lukas Nmecha fared a bit better as he replaced Noah Okafor with 14 minutes left but it was actually deadline day signing Jean Matteo-Bahoya who caused the most excitement when finally getting on in the 90th minute. Bahoya was on for barely two minutes but even in that time showed promise with some decent skill and pace and surely he must now jump up the pecking order after the international break.

Off camera moments

Ao Tanaka warming up with United’s three centre-backs instead of taking in shooting practice, pinging balls to Nico Elvedi, Tarik Muharemovic and James Justin in an early indication that he would be playing as a very deep midfielder. Tanaka is an interesting watch in the warm-up, the midfielder also having an individual routine of kicking the ball high up in the air and then looking both ways before controlling it and repeating.

Several stars in attendance including former darts world champion Luke Humphries, comedian John Richardson and actor Matthew Lewis who plays Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter series. Former Whites midfielder David Prutton was another in the house and stopped for a quick chat as he looked forward to watching his former side.

Ilia Gruev getting a very nice reception as he returned to the matchday squad for the first time since suffering his meniscus knee injury. Gruev took the place of the injured Harry Wilson on the bench and received a big applause and chants of his name as he warmed up in the first half. Quite what the future holds for Gruev remains to be seen - the Bulgarian’s current deal runs out next summer - but he’s undoubtedly a decent bloke and very popular player.

Palace’s French boss Pierre Sage struggling a bit with the language at his post-match presser as he tried to use a well known English phrase in one of his answers but one which nobody had heard of. But at least he tried and Sage had some very nice words to say about Leeds and the atmosphere at Elland Road. The Frenchman won a few friends there.