Here are your Leeds United evening headlines for Thursday, October 22.
Koch on learning about Leeds
Summer signing Robin Koch has admitted he watched the Amazon documentary “Take Us Home: Leeds United” to gain an appreciation for the club before he joined from Freiburg.
“I got a lot of information from watching the Amazon series and in Germany, of course, you know Leeds United, it’s a big club and a traditional club with supporters around the world,” Koch told the club's official club website.
The central defender also revealed the Leeds' players have spoken to him about the raucous atmosphere created inside Elland Road, something he hopes to experience soon.
“The players have told me it’s a crazy atmosphere in the stadium,” Koch added. “It’s bad luck for me that I haven’t played in front of them, but hopefully I will get the chance to soon.
“When I arrived in Leeds I signed my contract and walked through the city and it was crazy how many people already knew me without playing one game.
“The fans are so passionate, it’s really nice and hopefully I can see them in the stadium was soon as possible.”
Bielsa hints at Rodrigo’s long-term role
Despite arriving from Valencia as a centre forward, so far this season, club-record signing Rodrigo has primarily been utilised in an attacking midfield role.
And Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa has hinted that this is set to continue throughout the campaign.
When asked about the depth of his squad, Bielsa replied: “The squad is not small because we have two players per position. There are not big differences between the two players who occupy each position.”
He then named several examples, including Rodrigo being used as an attacking midfielder and Patrick Bamford as a centre forward.
“Just to make a reference, for example, we have Bamford and Tyler Roberts up front, Rodrigo and Pablo (Hernandez) in attacking midfield."
New Premier League rule to impact Leeds
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is set to grant the Premier League permission to trial concussion substitutions from January 2021, with a view to making the rule a permanent inclusion from the start of the 2021/22 campaign.
A final decision will be made at IFAB’s annual meeting in December, but at present, teams must use one of their three allocated substitutions to withdraw a player suffering from a concussion.
The new law would provide teams, including Leeds, additional changes if a player has a potential concussion.
A statement from the IFAB read: “The members recommended further consultation, working with the FIFA medical subdivision and other stakeholders, to facilitate trials to start from January 2021 for any competition that is interested in taking part.
“The Concussion Expert Group [CEG] again emphasised the protection of players is the main goal and that a clear and uniform approach is needed, which can operate effectively at all levels of the game.
“Therefore, the group agreed that applying an ‘if in doubt, take them out’ philosophy would be the best solution to safeguard the health of players.”
