Monk Pleased with Shels Test

On Wednesday evening in Tolka Park, Garry Monk took charge in his first game as the Leeds United boss as his side ran out 2-1 winners against a strong Shelbourne performance.

After a two week training camp where the Championship side have been training in the FAI Headquarters, Abbotstown, this was Monk’s first opportunity to see his side up against different opposition. 

The former Swansea man was “pleased with certain elements of the game” from his side but admitted “of course it’s not the complete performance but I'm not focused on results at this stage of pre-season, it’s more certain elements we've been working on physically, tactically and offensively and we saw elements of it today and that's very pleasing but we've got a lot more work to do.”

Leeds have a relatively small squad at the moment and they came into this game with a few injuries, including the defensive pair of Liam Cooper and Gaetano Berardi. Because of this, Toumani Diagouraga and Luke Murphy were both utilised at centre-half in the match, away from their usual central midfield position. 

When asked about this Monk said, “We had to manoeuvre it to make sure we had those positions covered, so it was just because of the injuries to the two lads."

Adding to this, in recent times the Yorkshire side have been linked with a few different defenders, so when asked if recruiting another centre-half is a priority Monk stated, “I’m constantly talking to the club and there is a lot of areas we’re trying to strengthen but I'm very pleased with the squad.” Further he mentioned, “The club are working very hard behind to scenes to try and bring players in that are only going to help us."

As well as the senior squad that travelled on Leeds pre-season training camp, Monk brought five players from the U21 side to Ireland also. Included in this five is Irish born and former St. Kevins schoolboy player Eoghan Stokes. As most Leeds fans will be hoping Stokes can develop into a first team player so will a lot of Irish fans, as the young forward has represented the FAI at underage level.

When asked about how the U21 players were doing in the camp and in particular Stokes, Monk went on to say, “I think he was one of a number of them that have all contributed and are trying to push to get a taste of that first team environment."

Monk further spoke about assessing the squad when they get back across the water and wether they'll be in and around the first team are not, he said, “I always keep that pathway open because I like to use young players, I like to try develop them and if they're good enough you put them on the pitch."

Talking about the opposition, the Leeds head coach was pleased with the sort of game Shelbourne gave his side, Monk said, “I taught they did exceptionally well. I thought they were a very good team, had good energy and tried to play a proper game and I think that’s what our players needed."

There was a crowd of over 3,000 in Tolka Park that were there to see Monk’s first game in charge and he said, “It’s amazing. Myself, the players and the club really appreciate that type of support."

Leeds will finish off their pre-season camp in Ireland on Saturday at 3pm as Shamrock Rovers host the Yorkshire side in Tallaght Stadium. There will be a familiar face in Tallaght as the current Hoops captain Stephen McPhail spent 8 years at Leeds during the start of his career.