Garry Monk explains why he was so thrilled with Leeds players after Brentford win

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The Whites boss has given his assessment of the season so far, and explains why he was so pleased at his players’ reaction after beating Brentford.

Leeds United manager Garry Monk has told the Yorkshire Evening Post that his side are “ahead of schedule” in his first season at the club.

Monk took over from Steve Evans at the start of the summer and immediately began a summer of reform and revolution both on and off the pitch at Elland Road.

The season did not start well – Leeds won just one of their first six under Monk – but the Whites will head into Christmas in fifth position, well placed to qualify for the play-offs.

That position is a result of a hugely impressive run of form which has seen them win 11 and lose just four of their last 16 Championship games.

Though he is not one to publicly admit as such, Monk must surely be delighted with the progress his side has made in such a short space of time, and he did admit that the club are currently “ahead of schedule”.

Monk told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “I think we are ahead of schedule. You are trying to cram everything in in a short space but I would say this young group has had to deal with a lot in a short space and they are fighting through it.

“You will get ups and downs but I guess we probably are ahead of schedule but I guess you would rather that than not be. We are in a good way and we want to get better and that’s good as well.”

Monk as also thrilled with what he saw from his players after Saturday’s late 1-0 win over Brentford. He revealed his players were not happy with their overall performance in the game.

The boss added: “The group want to get better and they are not happy with winning that game (against Brentford on Saturday) in terms of wanting to get a better performance out of themselves. You could hear it in the changing room afterwards so that’s a good sign and all of those things are good signs – it’s the standards that we set and they are the ones that have to adhere to it but they are also the ones that have to set it.

“It’s good to hear them feeling like that and talking like that although three points and a clean sheet is obviously very satisfying as well. There’s a lot of improvements to go and we’re going to keep working as hard as we can on all them.”