Rocco's Round-Up (15/3/24 to 21/3/24)
Friday, 15th March 2024
It was a nice controlled presser by Fantastic Mr. Farke today, who continues to keep a lid on the bubbling excitement caused by our record breaking run. Elsewhere in presser land, Gareth Southgate name-dropped The Great Archie Gray as a potential call-up to the England senior squad. If you're good enough you're old enough.
Saturday, 16th March 2024
FA Cup quarter-final weekend meant Ipswich were our only rival to play this weekend, and boy did they enjoy it with a six-goal smashing of woeful Sheffield Wednesday. The Tractor Boys are the Championship’s top scorers, on a run of seven wins in eight, with a points haul that would already have been enough to secure automatic promotion in many seasons passed, yet remain only fourth favourites for promotion.
Sunday, 17th March 2024
Daniel Farke's team did what they do best today - they got the job done, securing a two-goal victory that took them to the summit of the Championship. There seems to be no stopping the juggernaut of Leeds United, and no scoring past the defensive partnership of Ampadu and Rodon, who have now played over 1,200 minutes without conceding a league goal from open play. This outstanding feat is made all the more remarkable considering they have a teenage midfielder and Junior Firpo either side of them, who must each share the plaudits, along with the recruitment team's impeccable efforts over the summer and, last but not least, Farke's managerial expertise.
Monday, 18th March 2024
Bad news today with Georgi Rutter heading for a hernia op, and the 10-day prognosis doesn’t really offer much consolation considering the cropped Pascal Struijk received the same estimate in October and may not play again this season.
Tuesday, 19th March 2024
Ilia Iliev Gruev has been chatting about life at Leeds after coming second in the Bulgarian player of the year awards. He spoke of his patience during the first half of the season, which was helped by Farke’s insistence that his chance would come, and with Firpo, Bamford and Gnonto in the same boat, we can safely say that the cake-muncher is a man management specialist. Heil Farke!
Wednesday, 20th March 2024
The EFL announced the Championship play-off dates today, and I immediately rushed out to buy a new telly to watch them on. Unfortunately there was no Leeds. LOL! The EFL also confirmed a new time for our title winning party against Southampton, which will now kick-off at 12:30pm on Saturday 4th May (I’ll refrain from making a Star Wars joke, one dad-joke is plenty).
Thursday, 21st March 2024
Hot on the heels of Everton and Nottingham Forest's points deductions for breaking Premier League spending rules, Leicester have now been charged with the same offence. All three clubs that finished above Leeds last season have now been done for cheating, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Jesse Marsch’s PR team will be frothing at the mouth, desperate to get their man on another lame podcast to present this new evidence alongside their imaginary metrics. Elsewhere, three Leeds dragons started for Wales against Glenn Kamara’s Finland, with Dan James coming off the bench to score the most Dan James goal ever to cap a great 4-1 win. It was a wonderful finish that all but finished Finland’s hopes of qualifying for the Euros. Fin.
