Manchester United 0-0 Leeds United: A new formation, a new-look attack, goodbye Bamford?

New York Times

4 days ago

Leeds United got their 2025 pre-season programme underway with a 0-0 draw against Manchester United in Stockholm on Saturday. There were debuts for the five new arrivals Leeds have drafted in this summer, while Patrick Bamford's absence arguably commanded the biggest headline of the day.
Quality in both boxes was lacking from the two attacks, but this was always about the Leeds players banking minutes in their first outing of the summer. The majority of the squad Farke took to Sweden was given 45 minutes apiece, with a few minor exceptions.
The team travels to Germany next for a week-long training camp, where two further friendlies will be played behind closed doors…
Rumours of Bamford's omission began to circulate on Friday night. Saturday's teamsheet confirmed the club's No 9 of the last seven years had been left at home.
After 205 appearances, 60 goals, two Championship titles and one England cap, Farke is ready to draw a line under Bamford's time as a Leeds player. The centre-forward has only started 40 of the club's 171 league games since August 2021 and did not start at all in the Championship last term.
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With the arrival of Lukas Nmecha, who has actually played fewer minutes than Bamford over the past four seasons, the continued pursuit of Rodrigo Muniz, Joel Piroe's golden boot and the rise of Harry Gray, the writing was arguably on the wall for Bamford.
In his absence, Nmecha and Piroe got the nod on Saturday. The former's biggest battle this season is likely to be with his body, but if he can stay fit, he offers another physical outlet for the team.
The Germany international dropped deep to link up play at Strawberry Arena and showed strength when he took the ball down with his chest, defenders at his back. He missed one or two passes in behind for an on-running Wilfried Gnonto, but that will come with more minutes alongside each other.
Piroe did, by stark contrast, see and execute those passes. No conclusions can be drawn from this one game about what the coming season holds, but as the Dutchman dropped in, he showed poise, flair and vision in threading passes into space for Daniel James and Largie Ramazani.
The through-balls were not perfect, but there was promise in what Piroe was trying to do.
Mateo Joseph was the other striker conspicuous by his absence from the matchday squad. Farke was far less definitive with his comments on the Spaniard's future. He seemed to suggest it was Joseph's decision to sit the game out because he did not feel ready after a slightly delayed return to training after Spain under-21 duty.
If Leeds do land Muniz, as they hope to, that leaves him, Piroe, Nmecha and Joseph competing for one berth, with Gray hoping to pick up cameos. That's a crowded striker department and the interest in Joseph from Spain has never gone away.
As a low-cost arrival, Joseph would generate meaningful profit and sustainability (PSR) headroom if he fetched an eight-figure fee too. However, Leeds insisted he was not for sale when they rejected a loan (with purchase option) offer from Real Betis this week.
While Jayden Bogle seemed to pick up where he left off last season, this was a first sight of Gabriel Gudmundsson as United's left-back following his transfer from Lille. As early as the fourth minute, Bogle was getting bums off seats.
The right-back darted into an ocean of space on the opponents' left flank and carried the ball into the penalty box. He put in a dangerous cross, but it did not result in anything too troubling for the Manchester outfit.
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Piroe's aforementioned creativity combined with Bogle to create one of United's best chances in the second half. The forward took a lovely touch around pressure and then slid Bogle in down the right channel after a smart run in behind.
Evidently, Bogle will need to do a lot more defending next season than last, but this was a refreshing reminder of the damage he can wreak when he raids forward. Gudmundsson's highlight reels suggested he was an aggressive and progressive ball carrier, but we got to see it in Leeds colours on Saturday.
The Sweden international lost the ball once or twice, but impressed with his front-foot defending. He was happy to get forward too, underlapping and even joining Piroe in the penalty box on a couple of occasions.
The sheer number of midfielders Leeds have been linked with this summer had always suggested Farke may be pivoting to a three-man central unit. Captain Ethan Ampadu, Ao Tanaka and Ilia Gruev came into the summer with hopes of starting regularly next term, but Sean Longstaff has arrived on a package worth up to £15million ($20.1m) and Anton Stach will sign for a fee in excess of £17.3million ($23.2m).
In a 4-2-3-1 system, that's three quality players missing out every week. Here, Farke experimented with a 4-3-3, though he tried a back-three in last summer's opener at Harrogate Town and we barely saw it again after that, so don't read too much into it.
Ampadu played at the base of the three as the anchor in front of the defence, while Gruev and Tanaka alternated between No 8 and No 10 roles on either side of him. Their main task was to contest the middle of the field, but show a willingness to break into the final third when the front three had possession.
Tanaka showed some especially neat synergy with Gnonto as the first-half's right winger. Gruev was keen to join in with attacks, while Ampadu got his hands dirty with Bruno Fernandes in the engine room.
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Longstaff showed some classy touches and patience on the ball, but, again, it's hard to take too much from 45 minutes in a friendly after barely 48 hours with his new team-mates.
While Bamford was unequivocally excommunicated on Saturday, the door was left ajar for the man who hadn't played in United colours for more than two years. Not only was Jack Harrison in Sweden, but he was starting on the left flank.
A shirt number of 38 for a winger who previously wore 22 and 11 at the club does not scream 'first choice starter on August 16'. If Harrison was definitely going to figure in Farke's plans next season, he surely would have been given a far more considered shirt like those worn by Longstaff (eight), Gudmundsson (three) or Jaka Bijol (15).
And yet, his presence in Sweden shows Farke has not consigned him to the same cast-off list as Bamford, Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood et al. Harrison's got another three years on his contract, his wages are significant and his attacking output with Everton did not turn heads.
Wherever he ends up at the end of the transfer window, Harrison has at least, as of mid-July, been given an olive branch he may not have expected when he returned for pre-season. All he can do is train to the best of his ability and carry out everything Farke asks for.
For now, the manager is citing the examples of Junior Firpo and Brenden Aaronson as out-of-favour Leeds players who have won the crowd back. Whatever your stance on that pair's respective arcs, Farke's describing them that way and mapping out how it's possible for Harrison to reintegrate.
Harrison did not catch the eye during his 45 minutes in the Swedish capital. We await the coming friendlies to see how the narrative around him develops.
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