Stoke City boss Alex Neil is under no illusions about the quality of Leeds United’s frontline with Joel Piroe, Georginio Rutter, Daniel James and Crysencio Summerville in impressive Championship form.
One word kept on coming up again and again during Neil’s pre-match press conference. And that word was ‘tough’.
A ‘tough’ game, against ‘tough’ opposition. The Stoke City boss knows that his side could be in for a, you guessed it, ‘tough’ night; Daniel Farke’s in-form Leeds United side arriving in the Potteries on the back of four wins out of five and following Saturday’s rousing, Crysencio Summerville-inspired comeback victory over Norwich City.
Leeds United face Stoke City in Championship
“It’s going to be a really tough when you take on any of the teams who have come down from the Premier League,” Neil tells the Stoke Sentinel. “They’ve retained some Premier League players.
“And they’ve got obviously the financial clout which comes with having been in the top-flight to strengthen the squad as they see fit, to try to win the Championship or certainly get out of the Championship.
“They’re always hard to compete with that first year. When they come down that’s arguably when they should always be the strongest in this division. I think now they’re starting to have a little bit of rhythm.”
In Piroe, Summerville, James and Rutter – four forwards who set Leeds back around £60 million combined – Farke is capable of deploying a frontline most Championship managers can only dream of.
Summerville scored two gorgeous goals as Leeds came from 2-0 down at Carrow Road, Rutter finally looks like the player who blossomed in the Bundesliga, James is a major threat with his pace and, in Piroe, Farke also has arguably the best finisher in the division.
‘We know the threat’
“Leeds have probably had a little bit more churn than other teams. But Daniel Farke knows the division really well, and I think his team at the moment is arguably, from what I’ve seen, as strong as his teams that we saw at Norwich,” Neil adds.
“They’ve got good balance and they’ve got two good forwards. They bought Joel Piroe for more than £10 million and I think the other lad – Rutter – for something like £28 million. They are going to give you quality.
“They’ve got Dan James on one wing who’s really quick and you’ve got Summerville, who scored a couple the other day. We know we know the threat that they’re going to pose.”
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