Here are your Leeds United morning headlines on Friday, April 8.
Marsch explains Summerville conversation
Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch has outlined the conversation he had with Crysencio Summerville before he scored a hat-trick in the Under 23s' 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Monday. The Dutchman has been pushing for more first-team minutes this season but has struggled given the form of Raphinha, while Jack Harrison and Daniel James have been preferred out wide.
However, the 20-year-old has been impressive for the club's U23s side and netted a treble as the Whites moved up to 10th in Premier League 2 Division 1. Stuart McKinstry scored the other goal as Leeds secured their fourth successive home win.
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There has been some speculation about whether Summerville will now get more game time with the senior side as the Whites make the trip to Watford this weekend. When quizzed about Summerville and his performance for the U23s side, Marsch said: "I thought he played fantastic. I think he has grown here more and more. I have talked to him about his behaviour and mentality, professional behaviour off the pitch, what he needs to be like when he shows up here and what the work week needs to be like.
"Then how to learn the tactics and behaviours, and for me, he has grown a lot in the past month. I think this performance is a representation of his professional behaviour, of his work ethic, his mentality to try to learn and adapt.
"Even when I see we're going to five substitutions in the future, I think of players like him, Joffy, Sam Greenwood, Charlie Cresswell that deserve more chances to play because of the quality they have, the work ethic they put in during week.
"It is a shame for me now that I can only use three substitutes to impact the game, I would love to have available now. But Cry is doing a great job of showing he is learning more, that he is more prepared and we can count on him more and more."
Kinnear on Academy hopes
Leeds United Chief Executive Officer Angus Kinnear has claimed that the Whites' academy can be a 'pipeline of world class potential for many years to come'. Leeds have invested heavily on their training ground over the past few seasons and the Whites' youth team have since improved.
The club's Under 23s side recorded an impressive 4-0 win over Crystal Palace on Monday night, with Crysencio Summerville scoring a hat-trick and Stuart McKinstry netting the other. It was an impressive performance from the Whites, who moved up to 10th place in Premier League 2 Division 1 in the meantime.
For the first time in many years, Leeds are currently competing against the best academies on a weekly basis, with Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea all in the same division this season. This was after the Whites won promotion to the top-tier last term, strolling to the league title.
A number of talented youngsters have also progressed through into the first-team, with Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood and Charlie Cresswell amongst those to feature for the Whites this campaign. Summerville, Lewis Bate and Leo Hjelde have also been given senior minutes following Leeds' injury crisis.
They have also played an important role in their campaign, with Leeds having to field a bench full of youth team players at times. Kinnear was speaking about the academy in Leeds' latest accounts from August 2020 up to June 2021.
Kinnear said: "Following promotion to the Premier League and Marcelo Bielsa committed to his third season in charge, Leeds United invested heavily in the summer transfer window bringing Spanish internationals Rodrigo Moreno and Diego Llorente to Elland Road, as well as Brazilian Raphinha and Robin Koch who has represented Germany. In total, 10 players made appearances at full international level and 17 players from the Academy were called up to represent their national teams at various age groups illustrating both how the first-team squad has evolved to be compromised of truly world-class talent whilst the academy promises a pipeline of world class potential for many years to come."
Beren Cross' predicted Watford line-up
Changes on the injury list look few and far between for Leeds United while Joe Gelhardt’s ongoing inability to train for a full week means Jesse Marsch has a select few dilemmas. Junior Firpo, Patrick Bamford, Tyler Roberts and Jamie Shackleton remain unavailable, while Leo Hjelde and Gelhardt seem to be in the reckoning for the squad, but perhaps not the starting line-up.
Marsch has previously admitted Gelhardt would have started for him by now had it not been for a litany of small problems coming between the striker and a full week’s training. On Thursday, the head coach said, again, Gelhardt had not been able to train fully after a dead leg in the Premier League 2 match on Monday night.
It seems distinctly unlikely Gelhardt will start at Vicarage Road. The big debate rests on Kalvin Phillips and how the England international is integrated into the starting line-up, if at all.
There was no sense of doubt in Marsch’s answers when he spoke about Phillips and the impression he made from the bench on Saturday. We know how quickly Phillips has historically hit the ground the running upon returning from injury, so he should be ready for 90 minutes at Watford if needed.
However, Marsch will want to ensure he shows loyalty to his players and he will have seen little wrong in the way Mateusz Klich or Adam Forshaw have played for him up to now. Given how they have played and how cautious Marsch has wanted to be with his injury returners, there is a case to suggest Phillips may well be held back on Saturday.
On the other hand, there is a 16-day break after the Watford match and Marsch may feel the need to get a start under Phillips’s belt sooner, rather than waiting to begin that process deep into the back end of April. Klich’s been substituted by Marsch in each of his starts under the American so far, though the withdrawal at Molineux was enforced.
Predicted line-up: Meslier; Ayling, Llorente, Cooper, Dallas; Phillips, Forshaw; Raphinha, Rodrigo, Harrison; James.
