'So much better' - Leeds United training camp diary as youngster earns praise and 'locals' get lost

“Everything is so much better when we go together and we trust that we're going together," Jesse Marsch said to his players towards the end of their first session at Oliva Nova.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Leeds United's head coach liked the mentality on display as the Whites entered the next phase of their preparations for the Premier League restart. He felt everyone was at it as they threw themselves toward one-another in training, no quarters asked or given.

They'll have to be at it, of course, when the season kicks off again and they roll out the welcome mat at Elland Road for Manchester City. It matters little of course that it's Pep Guardiola's light blue machine rolling up for the first game back, because Leeds would have to be at it no matter the identity of the opposition. That's the reality of the Premier League, as Marsch has talked about on numerous occasions. The league is difficult, every game is difficult and you have to be at it.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

So while the first taste of this week's training camp in the province of Valencia was a short, sharp 45-minutes or so out on the pitch, ahead of an afternoon gym session, the intensity will quickly pick up. Monday's plan sounds hectic, which likely means it will be horrendous. Suffer now, to suffer less later, as the thinking goes. But even in Sunday's mid-morning drills and practice games, Marsch and his staff had the ringer out and put the players through it.

SIGHT TO BEHOLD: Leeds United youngster Darko Gyabi, right, driving forward from left back in training. Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images.SIGHT TO BEHOLD: Leeds United youngster Darko Gyabi, right, driving forward from left back in training. Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images.
SIGHT TO BEHOLD: Leeds United youngster Darko Gyabi, right, driving forward from left back in training. Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images.

What often stands out, when you watch elite athletes at work, is how easy they make it all look. What stood out at Oliva Nova's sports centre was how difficult Marsch's players were making it for their direct opposition. Marsch had them swarming the ball, often rendering it impossible to get passes off or escape the pressure.

Playing under such intense and close attention from a marker, or more likely a gaggle of markers, requires razor-sharp decision making and execution and more than once the youngsters in the team were singled out for praise by their elders.

Cody Drameh jumped out of position to intercept a pass and put his team on the front foot, albeit before being fouled by a two-man opposition response that included a grinning Crysencio Summerville. 'Great decision,' came the shout from Drameh's nearest centre-back, Robin Koch.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Rasmus Kristensen, like Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson, will return to training on December 12 and so Drameh is one of two right-backs involved in the camp, Luke Ayling being the more senior. At left-back, however, Marsch is having to be just a little more creative. Junior Firpo will rejoin the group later this week but isn't here yet, due to a knock he sustained a few days ago.

So in training, with Pascal Struijk taking up a centre-back role instead of the left flank position he has made his own in the Premier League, Marsch had Leo Hjelde, Darko Gyabi and even Sonny Perkins filling in. Neither Gyabi nor Perkins will ever see gametime in the role, unless something of a cataclysmic nature goes wrong for Leeds, but good players make football look fun almost regardless of position and Gyabi driving forward with the ball down the left or through the middle remains a sight to behold.

Marsch switched players in and out of teams, on and off the pitch, keeping things fresh and asking his staff to monitor the workload and condition of the youngsters as the session went on. Playing with such intensity brings a natural risk of contact and there was plenty of it, keeping head of medicine and performance Rob Price on his toes. But while he checked in on Liam Cooper and a couple of others after sturdy challenges or collisions, everyone who started the session finished it.

Both Stuart Dallas and Luis Sinisterra are here, but they're doing their own rehabilitation work as they make their way back from their respective long-term injuries. Marsch gathered his troops for a debrief at the end and as most trooped off, Sam Greenwood, Jack Harrison and Adam Forshaw remained out on the pitch doing extras with Mark Jackson, free-kicks raining in on Dani van den Heuvel in goal. Marsch himself called Summerville in for a chat to go over specific details and then spent some time with the free-kick takers.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The head coach and his players spent Saturday evening watching their colleagues Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson in action against Holland, Marsch ending the evening a lot more disappointed than Pascal Struijk and van den Heuvel.

Tonight they'll likely gather again to watch England face Senegal for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals - Marsch is keen on doing things together - and then, with an earlier start to training planned for tomorrow, an early night might be advisable.

Spotted

Several senior players, including Spaniards, getting themselves a little lost on the 1km walk from the hotel to the training ground and adding an extra kilometre to their journey. A helpful taxi driver pointed them in the right direction, as one remarked as to the benefits of Spanish speakers.

Adam Forshaw - the experience - appearing to lose out in a challenge with Sam Greenwood - the youth - and falling to the turf, only to win the second half of the tackle from the ground. Experience won this round.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Grins. On the face of Mateusz Klich as he waved Stuart Dallas off on a run. On the faces of a handful of not-to-be-named youngsters as they lingered longingly by the sweet section in the local grocery shop. On the face of Dallas as he interrupted a journalist's piece-to-camera and questioned the need for such a heavy local Leeds media presence in Spain, that presence being just two journalists.