Leeds United 1-1 Borussia Monchengladbach: Match Report And Twitter Reaction
Leeds United were held to a 1-1 draw against German club Borrusia Monchengladbach in their fifth pre-season friendly on Thursday.
Two of Christiansen’s new signings started the game, with Felix Wiedwald in goal and Ezgjan Alioski on the left flank. Luke Ayling and Gaetano Berardi occupied the full-back positions with Pontus Jansson and Liam Cooper in the heart of the defence. Eunan O’Kane got a start in the middle of the park, alongside Kalvin Phillips, while Kemar Roofe and Pablo Hernandez partnered Alioski behind Chris Wood.
It was Leeds who started things off brightly and took the lead as early as the 2nd minute, through Ayling, following some neat interplay between himself and Roofe down the right-hand side. Phillips then hit the bar with a brilliant free-kick on the half-hour mark, and the Whites ended the half with the advantage intact.
The manager made two changes at half-time, with new signings Matthew Pennington and Vurnon Anita coming on in the place of Jansson and Berardi. Within three minutes of the restart, the Germans were back on level terms through Patrick Hermann’s curling free-kick. Hernandez was denied by Gladbach stopper Moritz Nicholas in the 55th minute, with Roofe hitting the underside of the bar from the follow-up and Wood was then denied by Moritz again on the third attempt.
Christiansen rung in the changes on the hour mark with as many as six substitutions for Leeds as Stuart Dallas, Ronaldo Vieira, Hadi Sacko, Liam Bridcutt and new signings Caleb Ekuban and Samu Saiz coming on. Two more changes followed fifteen minutes later, with youngsters Conor Shaughnessy and Madger Gomes taking the field. Anita and Sacko had chances in the final stages of the game, while Fabian Johnson came close for Gladbach, as the game ended in a stalemate.
It was a strong performance from the Whites, arguably their best one in the pre-season. But failure to take their chances meant they walked away with just a draw. However, there were a lot of positives for Christiansen to draw upon and here is how the Leeds supporters reacted on Twitter, following the game.
The best we've seen of Leeds in pre-season, certainly for 45 minutes and until the flurry of substitutions kicked in. #lufc
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) July 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/cadillacjukebox/status/888037112964055042
Good work out all players getting game time plenty chances made looking promising MOT.
— R.Cartwright 🤍💛💙 (@rogercart57) July 20, 2017
I like Wiedwald, very comfortable with his feet and allows for a different style of play. We look good going forward particularly.
— leedsyorks68 (@leedsyorks68) July 20, 2017
Good result that against a top German team MOT⚽👍
— Colin Doyle (@cdoyle197166) July 20, 2017
We're going to win the fucking treble, Phil
— Eden (@edenjharris) July 20, 2017
There was plenty of praise for new signing Ezgjan Alioski – some even went on to compare him to Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez!
https://twitter.com/Brendencolgan1/status/888031763100045312
https://twitter.com/harrisonmatty1/status/888031844335321089
https://twitter.com/harrisonmatty1/status/888031723056922624