Kyle Newbould: I watched Leeds United's 4-0 win vs FC Augsburg - here are my 3 key conclusions
Key takeaways from Leeds United’s 4-0 pre-season win over FC Augsburg at Elland Road.
Leeds United enjoyed a perfect end to their pre-season campaign with a 4-0 win at home to FC Augsburg on Saturday. Goals from Anton Stach, Tarik Muharemovic, James Justin and Lukas Nmecha capped off a commanding performance in front of almost 22,000 at Elland Road.
The Whites enjoyed a perfect start to their final summer friendly, Stach opening the scoring with a deflected finish inside 50 seconds. By half-time the home side had tripled their lead, with Muharemovic producing a wonderful bicycle kick before Justin rounded off a brilliant team move.
A quieter second-half played out but there was still time for substitute Nmecha to latch onto Ao Tanaka’s inch-perfect pass and dink a lovely finish over Augsburg goalkeeper Finn Dahmen. Below are some of the YEP’s key takeaways from the day.
Nottingham Forest hint
Up until Saturday, Leeds’ pre-season line-ups felt very mix-and-match but with this the final game before Nottingham Forest, a return to something more recognisable felt right. Farke duly named close to his strongest possible team and the XI many expect to see at the City Ground in a week’s time.
James Trafford was behind a trio of Joe Rodon, Jaka Bijol and Muharemovic for the first time. Ethan Ampadu partnered Stach in midfield and Harry Wilson joined Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Brenden Aaronson in a front three. There is debate at left-wing, but likely first-choice Noah Okafor is only a week or so into his own pre-season.
Farke admitted after Manchester United on Wednesday it’s unlikely Okafor will be fit to start at Forest next weekend, and of the chasing pack Aaronson has enjoyed the most impressive pre-season. Barring any injuries, you’d expect the XI from Saturday is the same XI that walks out in Nottingham.
Inswinging corners galore
With Stach and Wilson on the pitch together for much of Saturday’s win, Leeds enjoyed the luxury of two outstanding set-piece takers with opposing preferences. It meant the likes of Bijol, Rodon and Muharemovic were able to attack inswinging corners at every opportunity and while no goals came, there were a few good chances.
According to Opta, Leeds had a near 50-50 split at corners last season, with 52 per cent being inswingers and 48 per cent outswingers. That was by far the closest ratio, with no other team in the Premier League hitting more than 31 per cent of their corners as outswingers.
There is a reason teams prefer inswinging corners, they bring far more danger as the ball can be whipped in closer to goal for oncoming runners. For large parts last season Leeds simply didn’t have the left-footed resources to swing corners in from the right but Wilson’s arrival gives them that luxury.
Farke Formation switch
With Leeds three goals up and looking comfortable in the second-half, Farke took his chance to make some changes - and not only to the personnel. A quartet of substitutions saw Bijol among those removed and with no centre-back coming on, the Whites switched to a back-four.
Aaronson moved into the No.10 role with Daniel James and Okafor either side of Nmecha upfront and later on, the American was replaced by Joel Piroe with Leeds in a 4-2-3-1 for the final 22 minutes. While Augsburg offered little in terms of a challenge to the switch, Farke’s side looked equally comfortable.
Farke looks set to stick with the 3-4-2-1 formation that brought huge success but it cannot be forgotten that mid-game tweaks to a back four - against Liverpool, Brentford and Sunderland in December for example - gave Leeds a platform for comeback points. That unpredictability was a major part of last season and must be utilised again.