Garry Monk didn’t have the greatest start to his Leeds United career; 4 losses and a draw in his first 6 games with Leeds firmly at the bottom of the table. There seemed to be a lack of consistency to Monk’s formation and tactics, the team just weren’t clicking. There was speculation about his job not being safe too, many were tempted to place a BigFreeBet on him being one of the Championships first managerial casualties of the season.
His relationship with the local media wasn’t going well either, after the defeat to Huddersfield Radio Leeds presenter Adam Pope questioned Monk on both the lack of a visible identity within the team and formation and on his relationship with Cellino. Monks responses were heated to say the least…
His attitude in the Radio Leeds interview didn’t go down well with some of the supporters but at least it shows he cares. It’s better than the same old excuses rolled out by the likes of Warnock, Hockaday and Evans. Likewise his recent touchline ban for ‘using abusive language’ towards the referee during the Bristol City game shows there is a passion there.It’s none of your business. It’s not really. I’m not going to give someone’s opinion, you’ll have to ask the man yourself. I think this interview is done.
Now, given time we are seeing Monks philosophy starting to develop on the pitch, the performances and results are starting to come. Since that clash with Adam Pope we’ve seen 4 league victories in 5 games. Even the defeat to Bristol City was a good performance which saw fans coming away feeling positive despite the loss.
The summer signings are starting to show their worth with the central defence of Bartley and Jansson looking like the most secure partnership we have had in a long time. Hadi Sacko has shown moments of brilliance and a desire to take people on, even if his final decision making hasn’t been the best every time, and the experience of Hernández has added quality and goals to the team.
The systems seems to be suiting existing players too with Kalvin Phillips growing in stature and confidence with every game. The much maligned Chris Wood is playing well, 5 goals scored already this season puts him joint 4th in the Championship top scorers table. Recent performances have given everyone round the club a lot of positivity, it's genuinely enjoyable to watch Leeds United not and results are starting to go the right way. With a young, modern manager in charge who seems to have got on top of things it's a great time to support Leeds United.
