Leeds United goalscorer outlines tactical key in Augsburg rout with 'go walkies' joke

Leeds United’s solid central base allowed James Justin to go ‘walkies’ for his well-worked goal against Augsburg on Saturday.

The stand-in left wing-back scored the third of four brilliant goals without reply as Leeds rounded off their pre-season preparations in perfect fashion. A slick finish made it 3-0 following efforts from Anton Stach and Tarik Muharemovic, with substitute Lukas Nmecha adding a fourth late on.

Justin, on the left in place of Gabriel Gudmundsson, bounced passes off Ethan Ampadu and Dominic Calvert-Lewin before a great touch took him through on goal. And the versatile full-back was happy with the positional freedom allowed to him ahead of such a sturdy defensive base.

“I think I found myself a bit high up the pitch. I was just trying to get rid of it!” he joked to LUTV. “Everyone kept on passing it back to me so I ended up in the box, luckily. Then I saw the keeper and then thought I would slide in!

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“Having bodies in the centre with the centre-backs, as well as Ethan and Anton, gives you that security. So, you can kind of go walkies and find yourselves in different positions and try to take the game as it comes, to be honest. As I said, having that base gives you a license.”

Justin’s goal wrapped up a brilliant first-half performance at Elland Road, with Stach scoring after 50 seconds and Muharemovic producing a brilliant bicycle kick. Farke’s side remained in control throughout a quieter second-half before Ao Tanaka slipped Nmecha in for a dinked finish.

Victory made it four from six in pre-season for Leeds, who look fit and ready for Saturday’s Premier League opening-weekend trip to Nottingham Forest. And Justin hopes his side can return from the City Ground with a quickfire three points on the board.

“It was a good final test for us, obviously,” he added. “A good performance here in front of the fans. There are a few things that we could be better with but positive going into the season.

“Hopefully we can continue that into the season but at the other end, keeping a clean sheet is also a nice one. We can’t wait to get going, obviously. A tough away match to begin with but we are looking forward to it and hopefully we can get three points.”