Match Preview: Leeds United Vs. Derby County
Friday, 6th Aug 2010 20:50 by Mick McDermott

The return of the football season - and the return of an old enemy. Leeds are back!

Leeds United vs. Derby County

Elland Rd, Leeds

The nPower Championship

7th August 2010 - 5:30pm

Leeds v Derby – Historical:

P 50 W 7 D 11 L 32 F 40 A 88

Last game at Elland Rd.:

Sat 09 Dec 2006: Leeds Utd. 0 - 1 Derby County (Barnes)

Form (Pre-season):

Leeds 11/24 P 6 W 4 D 0 L 2 F 14 A 6

Derby 7/24 P 7 W 4 D 2 L 1 F 15 A 11

The Rams:

Pre-season is over and it's not gone too badly for Nigel Clough's men. There are several new faces, in John Brayford & James Bailey, Gareth Roberts, David Martin & Tomasz Cywka, but no major outlay. We were linked with Billy Sharp and Gary Hooper among others but would not pay over the manager’s assessment of their value for them.

There are a few concerns over injuries especially at centre-half where Shaun Barker has missed the pre-season and Addison is likely to be out all season; but a fit Dean Leacock and Russell Anderson should be strong in the centre.

Stephen Pearson and Steve Davies are ruled out by knee injuries.

In pre-season the Rams have been playing a 4-2-3-1 formation and this will probably be how they start against Leeds. Some have expressed concern over how exposed it leaves us on the flanks when the full-backs break forward but it has seen us score goals. Whether it can work with Derby's players in a competitive game remains to be seen.

The worry will of course be that the team sit too deeply and resort to lumping it to Hulse a la last season.

Nigel Clough is on record as saying the balance in the team is better than last year; however, speaking in the BBC preview he said;

"We will learn a bit more about the players on Saturday when some of the younger ones go to Elland Road in front of nearly a full house.

It will be a test of character, that's for sure. We hope we have got more of the right type of characters now but we won't really know until we get into the season."

Probable Team:

Bywater

Brayford Leacock Andersen Roberts

Bailey Savage

Cwyka Green Commons

Hulse

Subs – Deeney, Moxey, Buxton, Pringle, Martin, Varney, Porter

Current Squad:

1 KEEPER Stephen Bywater

2 DEFENDER John Brayford

3 DEFENDER Gareth Roberts

4 MIDFIELD Paul Green

5 DEFENDER Shaun Barker (Vice-Captain) INJURED

6 DEFENDER Dean Leacock

7 STRIKER Steve Davies INJURED

8 MIDFIELD Robbie Savage (Captain)

9 STRIKER Rob Hulse

10 MIDFIELD Kris Commons

11 MIDFIELD Stephen Pearson INJURED

12 STRIKER Chris Porter

13 KEEPER Saul Deeney

14 DEFENDER Russell Anderson

15 MIDFIELD David Martin

16 MIDFIELD James Bailey

17 DEFENDER Jake Buxton

18 MIDFIELD Ben Pringle

19 STRIKER Tomasz Cywka

20 DEFENDER Miles Addison INJURED

21 DEFENDER Dean Moxey

22 STRIKER Luke Varney

23 DEFENDER Mark O'Brien

31 KEEPER Ross Atkins

32 KEEPER James Severn

33 MIDFIELD Arnaud Mendy

35 MIDFIELD Jeff Hendrick

36 DEFENDER Kallum Keane

37 MIDFIELD Ryan Connolly

38 DEFENDER Mitchell Hanson

39 MIDFIELD Medi Abalimba

-- MIDFIELD Conor Doyle

Leeds United:

There seems to be an expectation among leads fans that the worst is behind them now. Some think that the Championship will be a breeze, and that they will be back in the Premier League and competing in Europe again in no time. Leeds Manager Simon Grayson is keen to play down the expectations, but does acknowledge those expectations:

"We are playing with less pressure in some respects having had that expectancy of promotion in League One, but believe me the pressure is still there to push on to the next level. We are all setting our sights on the Premier League."

Grayson has added Alex Bruce & Neill Collins, Kasper Schmeichel, Billy Paynter, Federico Bessone & Lloyd Sam, plus former Ram Paul Connolly, as well as the promising Arsenal loanee Sanchez Watt. All of that transfer activity is tempered by the loss of 31-goal Jermaine Beckford to Everton.

Robert Snodgrass, Patrick Kisnorbo and Billy Paynter are also sidelined by injury, while Max Gradel and Davide Somma are suspended.

Current Squad:

1 KEEPER Kasper Schmeichel

2 DEFENDER Paul Connolly

3 DEFENDER Patrick Kisnorbo INJURED

4 DEFENDER Alex Bruce

5 DEFENDER Neill Collins

6 DEFENDER Richard Naylor (Captain)

7 MIDFIELD Max Gradel SUSPENDED

8 MIDFIELD Neil Kilkenny

9 STRIKER Billy Paynter INJURED

10 STRIKER Luciano Becchio

11 MIDFIELD Lloyd Sam

12 KEEPER Shane Higgs

13 STRIKER Mike Grella

14 MIDFIELD Jonny Howson (Vice-Captain)

16 MIDFIELD Bradley Johnson

19 DEFENDER Ben Parker

20 DEFENDER Jason Crowe

21 DEFENDER Fede Bessone

22 MIDFIELD Andy Hughes

23 MIDFIELD Robert Snodgrass INJURED

24 DEFENDER Dubomír Michalík

26 DEFENDER Leigh Bromby

27 STRIKER Davide Somma SUSPENDED

28 MIDFIELD Andy Robinson

32 DEFENDER Aidan White

34 DEFENDER Alan Sheehan

37 DEFENDER Will Hatfield

— MIDFIELD Sanchez Watt (on loan from Arsenal)

What the bookies think:

The Bookies think that Leeds are a better outright promotion prospect than the Rams. William Hill are offering 16/1 on Leeds and 40/1 on the Rams.

For Saturday’s game the bookies are going with the home win at 19/20 while the draw is at 11/5 and a Rams win at 23/10.

8/1 covers the Rams winning 1-0 or Leeds 2-1. Luciano Becchio is favourite to score at 4/1 while as usual Rob Hulse is the Rams favourite to score at 7/1. Kris Commons will get you 8/1 for first goal or 11/4 anytime and I’m tempted to have a flutter on that.

Information for travelling fans:

Driving

It’s relatively straightforward to get to Elland Rd; Take the M1 North until the Junction with the M621. You will see the ground on your left. Take the next exit and turn left onto the Ring road (A6110) Elland Rd is the next left.

Parking

There are large car parks on Elland Rd itself and getting in and out is fairly easy if you arrive in plenty of time.

Drinking

Avoid the Peacock at the back of the away end as this is home fans only. Despite the reputation of Leeds I’ve found it fairly friendly as long as you behave. Footballgroundguide.com recommends the Drysalter pub which is ten minutes from the ground. Instead of turning down Elland Rd, carry on on the dual Carriageway and it’s on the left.

One word of warning, the stewards at Leeds tend to be a bit overzealous and it’s fairly easy to get yourself ejected.

Mick's prediction:

A good pre-season doesn’t mean a good season and vice versa. We’ve not bought big in the summer and it’s worried me that in our efforts to be self-sustaining, we may have left ourselves short on the quality needed to play in this league.

I’ve been surprised before however so I’m hopeful that the pre-season has helped Nigel to bond the team and instil some confidence.

Until a few years ago Leeds was one of those places we just didn’t seem to win at. Maybe all those cheat comments by Cloughie made the Elland Rd spirits angry. We won the other year however and we saw that Leeds went down so maybe the spirits are satisfied?

I’m going with a 0-0 bore draw.

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