Wednesday afternoon saw Daniel Farke pretty pleased with his Leeds United side as they looked back to their best and free of the pressure of pushing for Premier League promotion.
Goals from Ilia Gruev, Joel Piroe and a Mateo Joseph brace saw Leeds cruise to a 4-1 win over Hannover. A second-tier German side but one that should be pushing, like Leeds, for promotion to the top league.
The likes of Brenden Aaronson, Mateo Joseph, Joel Piroe and Ethan Ampadu all caught the eye as Leeds made it two wins from two by a three-goal margin in pre-season, after a 3-0 win over Harrogate Town.
Farke may have dropped a few hints with his starting line-up in Germany, as he picked what looked like his best starting XI perhaps aside from Crysencio Summerville, Max Wober and maybe Mateo Joseph.
What Sam Byram was shouting at Wilfried Gnonto in first half
Another was new signing Jayden Bogle who is likely to start over Sam Byram when he gets up to speed with what Farke is asking of him on the right side of this Leeds defence, back three or a back four.
Byram started and looked typically assured with and without the ball and The Yorkshire Evening Post said in fact, he was coaching Gnonto throughout the game when the Italian winger was needed defensively.
“Sam Byram’s in-game coaching of Willy Gnonto for defensive situations, telling the winger to go short because he had the long ball,” the Evening Post reported, in their ‘off-camera’ coverage of the match.
What German media said about Hannover’s defeat to Leeds
While it was a convincing win for the man from Yorkshire, it was a sobering moment for Stefan Leitl and his Hannover side as they try to build a team ready to fight for promotion to Germany’s top division.
Leitl himself said after the match that Leeds are a “top class” team with 15 “outstanding” players. Perhaps an attempt at trying to highlight the difference between Leeds and Hannover in terms of quality.
An attempt to appease what is likely to be concerned Hannover supporters. German media reported that Hannover had been “humiliated” and it was “really scary” to see the German side lose so easily to Leeds.
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