There’s No Pressure on Leeds U23s (Until the First Team Lose 5-1)

The logic of Marcelo Bielsa keeping his most promising academy players in house at Thorp Arch rather than loaning them out to the Football League is sound. Train them and play them in the Bielsa way so when an opportunity arises, they’re in tune with the senior squad and ready to go. There is another benefit, as Leeds United’s Under-23s found out in their 3-1 win over Crystal Palace on Monday night. Where else are they going to get the authentic Leeds United experience of pressure and expectation better than Leeds United?

With the nonsense at Old Trafford validating plenty of fans’ fears that not enough has been done to improve the first team, expectant eyes were on the U23s, where money has been spent this summer. Angus Kinnear explained the recruitment policy on The Square Ball podcast this month, insisting that the focus on the U23s will benefit the first team in 2021/22. Add a small army of members newly equipped with an LUTV subscription, pissed off at the weekend’s result and wanting their money’s worth from an overpriced membership, plus a noisy away backing at Selhurst Park, and this first taste of top tier U23s football felt like it had a lot more riding on it than the usual development kickabout. Break a leg, lads.

Leeds lived up to their billing with a reassuring win over a side they traded victories with last season, when both won promotion. Palace’s Daniel Boateng literally lent a helping hand, covering his face to block a shot on the line, conceding a penalty and getting sent off in one instinctive reaction. Joe Gelhardt showed off his star power even while sympathetically missing with a hop, skip and scuff a la Jorginho. Crucially, Boateng’s exit stopped Palace pressing high up the pitch where they had been forcing United’s defenders to keep playing their way into trouble.

The score was already 1-1 by the time Boateng was sent off, Crysencio Summerville dribbling his way further into Bielsa’s imagination, adding a sudden jolt of dynamism to Jack Jenkins’ crossfield pass, bursting past Palace’s defence and confidently finishing. His half-time substitution suggests his point was proven, so he could be kept fresh for another place on the first-team bench at the weekend.

If Bielsa really wants the U23s to be a test of his youngsters’ mettle, perhaps Kristoffer Klaesson should have been subjected to a chorus of ‘Leeds are falling apart again’ when he came for a set-piece and missed the ball, allowing Palace to equalise with a simple header. Klaesson had a tough start coping with his end of Palace’s press but came out in credit, saving David Omilabu’s penalty in the second half.

Leeds were ascendent by then, thanks to Liam McCarron finishing at the back post from Cody Drameh’s pass, after a textbook full-back to full-back Bielsaball move. Two new signings worked together to complete the scoring, Amari Miller crossing for Sean McGurk, Summerville’s replacement, as Leeds went winger to winger for 3-1.

Players and management can be excused for breathing a sigh of relief at full-time. If the first team is going to be consolidating in the Premier League this season then progress in the U23s can keep things positive.

Kinnear says new signings for the U23s are joining a two-year process. The first year is to get accustomed to Bielsa’s methods, the second for breaking into the first team. The players Kinnear is tipping to step up this season showed the benefit of their extra year of preparation. Linking up with Summerville, Drameh was moving with athletic grace past defenders all night, while Geldhart was playing for lost time after a pre-season injury. He would probably have been better off slowing down and being patient rather than always trying to score, but a Liam Cooper diet has given him a physique ready for the first team. The new signings all made positive impressions, Lewis Bate playing in an unfamiliar no.10 role with the waspish style of former team-mate Mason Mount, even sometimes mimicking Mount’s ability for making you forget he’s on the pitch. At the other end of the age range, Adam Forshaw got another sixty minutes of faith back into his body, quietly authoritative in possession and wise to stay away from scuffles when tempers flared.

Now the U23s pass the baton back to the senior squad ahead of Everton at the weekend, when a win will settle the whole club down and take heat away from upcoming Premier League fixtures, without help from the boys in PL2. Break a leg, lads. ◉