Leeds United host Cardiff City in Championship opener

A look ahead to the opening weekend.

Transcript

00:00 So Lee, just look ahead to the first game of the season, obviously Cardiff at home,

00:05 a massive, massive chance to start in the right sort of frame of mind in this new sort

00:10 of Leeds set-up. They've got to get it right and they've really sort of got to hit the

00:13 ground running. As we've mentioned, the competitiveness in the Championship next season is going to

00:17 be absolutely huge. So that sort of good start is really key.

00:22 It's absolutely key, yeah. And you've got to be honest, you don't take any game lightly

00:25 in the Championship at all and Leeds United know all too well about that, how long it

00:29 took them to get out of the division initially and also when they eventually went up it wasn't

00:32 easy if the game was hard because everybody sees them as a scout. But on paper it looks

00:37 like they've got a good start to the season. I mean, as I say, you don't belittle Cardiff

00:41 whatsoever and there's a big danger here to look at it and think, 'Leeds v Cardiff at

00:45 Ellen Road, Cardiff finished 21st last season, basically it should be an absolute banker

00:50 bet and stuff.' And a lot of people will think that and the bookies do too. I mean,

00:53 Leeds are about 2-5, which is pretty heavy odds on really for a first game of the season.

00:59 But I mean, saying that, I mean, they've made some decent signings this summer, obviously

01:02 Aaron Ramsey coming in, Karl and Grant, people like that. And they'll go there almost, I

01:07 suppose, not as a free hit, but they'll go there knowing that everybody will expect Leeds

01:11 to roll them over and stuff and they've got to be very, very wary of that. So by no means

01:15 it's a gimme, but you're totally right, they've got to start the season well. Daniel Farker,

01:19 when he came in, it was quite interesting, he said that, I think at the start of the

01:22 season, I think he said it'll be bumpy or there'll be bumps in the road or something

01:26 along those lines. And I think that's right because, you know, obviously the relegated

01:29 side have got to bounce back from relegation. There's still that hangover-ish kind of thing,

01:33 I suppose, still on the club in terms of players going out on loan. And ultimately, there'll

01:36 be more business this summer, both ins and outs. So I think that's right to expect that.

01:40 But also what you'd say is they have got the fixtures there to make a good start, even

01:43 for allowing for that. If you picked out a fixture to start with, you know, no disrespect,

01:47 but you'd want to be at home and you'd want to be playing a team that finished in the

01:50 lower reaches last season. It's a good start that it looks like. It shows we're in the

01:53 cup midweek, Birmingham away after that. Again, you know, I think they'll be better this season,

01:58 Birmingham. But it does look like, on paper, a good start to the season for Leeds. But

02:02 you're totally right. That's on paper. They've got to go and make the most of it. They've

02:05 got to get out there on Sunday, straight away, you know, high tempo, make a fast start, get

02:09 the crowd pumping. There will be anyway and stuff and get an early goal or something.

02:13 And, you know, let's just hope this is a bit like, you remember the Stoke City game at

02:16 home under Marcelo Bielsa when it was the start of a glorious new era. Let's hope it's

02:19 the same as that. I'm not saying it's going to be like Leeds under Bielsa or under Daniel

02:22 Farke. I mean, that would be a big stretch to say that. But hopefully it will be, you

02:26 know, might get reasonably close to it if everything clicks. It's a good start to the

02:29 season on paper. Now they've got to put it into place.