Leeds United open their Championship season on Sunday when they host Stoke City at Elland Road. The game will be a great indicator of how Leeds will look and play under Marcelo Bielsa, however, the Argentine has been hinting that Pontus Jansson will not be starting in the club’s opener.
Bielsa indicating that Pontus Jansson won't start on Sunday. "He had three weeks of vacation, he came back six days ago and I have to take this into account." #lufc
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) August 3, 2018
It’s a tough start to the season for a lot of top clubs seeing as a lot of the World Cups stars have been enjoying their extended holidays after representing their nations in the tournament. For Leeds, this shouldn’t have been too much of a problem but, unfortunately, Pontus Jansson’s involvement with Sweden means that he probably won’t be available for the game as he’s only recently returned to training with the club.
Instead, the fans will have to see a makeshift backline turn out against Stoke and with the former Premier League being one of the favourites for promotion under Gary Rowett, The Potters will be licking their lips at the prospect of facing a weakened Leeds side as they aim to get off to a flyer. If Bielsa and co can get the three points off of Stoke it will be a huge statement and will have the Whites believing that they can go on and gain promotion, but they’d be more confident if they had Jansson fit to play.
You can read the fans’ thoughts on Jansson and the Stoke game here:
Centre backs of Cooper, Phillips, Berra coming up. We’re only playing Stoke though
— Josh Hobbs (@JoshAHobbs) 3 August 2018
All he did all summer was square up to the German bench!
— rhodesy (@rhodesy68) August 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/vegansmithsfan/status/1025331615923400706
The CB situation has had me fuming for the 3 or more seasons…..we get a World renowned Coach and it's still not sorted!! O'Connor should of never been allowed to leave. He is one of our best Centre Defenders!!
— Aaron Taylor (@AzzaLufc) August 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/danny_robinson2/status/1025336986788347904
https://twitter.com/AWwhite1/status/1025333313299460096
Good job we’ve recruited well at CB over the summer…
— Cockney White (@cockney_white) 3 August 2018
https://twitter.com/stevemaher34/status/1025332501320032257
The fans will be excited for the Stoke game but if Jansson is out then there’ll be some added nerves ahead of what is already a tough opening fixture.
