{"id":327393,"date":"2025-08-08T08:21:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T08:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/327393\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T08:21:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T08:21:16","slug":"daniel-farke-axes-pascal-struijk-in-three-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/327393\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Farke axes Pascal Struijk in three changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Leeds-Farke-Struijk-1140x641.jpg\" class=\"attachment-single-feature size-single-feature wp-post-image\" alt=\"Leeds United defender Pascal Struijk and Daniel Farke\" layout=\"fill\"  style=\"object-position: 50% 50%\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" \/><\/p>\n<p>(Credit: Imago)<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_8959.jpg\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" alt=\"Pranav Shahaney\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>   <\/p>\n<p> Fri 8 August 2025 8:10, UK <\/p>\n<p><strong>Leeds United take on AC Milan at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday afternoon to end their pre-season campaign.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/news\/daniel-farke-concerned-for-leeds-player-after-1-1-draw-v-villarreal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Daniel Farke has tried to integrate his new signings over the past few weeks<\/a> and will hope for a positive showing against a formidable Italian side.<\/p>\n<p>The Whites will have a nine-day break after this game before they take on Everton on 18 August at Elland Road.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Jaka-Bijol-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Jaka Bijol in action for Leeds United\" class=\"wp-image-204022\" \/>Bijol joined from Udinese this summer (Credit: Imago)<strong>Farke to make three changes against AC Milan<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/matchday\/piroe-motm-3-10-horrendous-leeds-united-player-ratings-v-villarreal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Leeds held Villarreal to a 1-1 draw in the last game<\/a>, with Joel Piroe scoring the only goal for them.<\/p>\n<p>He came off the bench for that one and has done enough to justify a start in this one.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/matchday\/piroe-motm-3-10-horrendous-leeds-united-player-ratings-v-villarreal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lukas Nmecha led the line in that contest<\/a>, but he\u2019s just as capable of playing on the left wing, so he\u2019s likely to move there, with Brenden Aaronson dropping to the bench.<\/p>\n<p>Anton Stach played more of a number 10 role against Villarreal, but it won\u2019t come as any surprise if Farke asks him to stay deep and form a midfield three.<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td>Leeds in pre-season (2024\/25)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Leeds 0-0 Manchester United<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Verl 1-4 Leeds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Paderborn 2-3 Leeds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Leeds 1-1 Villarreal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Leeds v AC Milan \u2013 TBP 9 August<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>Pascal Struijk, who was signed under Marcelo Bielsa, started against the La Liga side, but this could be a game where Jaka Bijol gets the nod as he\u2019s likely to be the preferred centre-back partner for Joe Rodon when the season begins.<\/p>\n<p>The third change will be in goal with Illan Meslier coming in for Karl Darlow.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"600\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/lineup-10.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-204016\" \/>Leeds United predicted XI v AC Milan<strong>Leeds United need a spirited performance against AC Milan<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/motleedsnews.com\/club\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Leeds United<\/a> face a formidable challenge against AC Milan in their pre-season friendly, necessitating a spirited performance to build momentum for the Premier League. <\/p>\n<p>Farke will rely on midfield trio Stach, Ampadu and Longstaff to dominate possession and disrupt Milan\u2019s rhythm, leveraging Stach\u2019s physicality, Ampadu\u2019s tenacity and Longstaff\u2019s experience. <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the centre-back pairing of Bijol and Rodon must be resolute to counter Milan\u2019s attacking threats. <\/p>\n<p>A strong showing from this defensive duo will provide stability, allowing Leeds to test their mettle against elite opposition and fine-tune their tactical cohesion.<\/p>\n<p>Sign up for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VaFloxY1SWsv0yud4k0u\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MOT Leeds News WhatsApp channel<\/a> and turn on notifications to have all the latest, breaking Leeds United news sent straight to your phone.<\/p>\n<p>Related Posts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credit: Imago) Fri 8 August 2025 8:10, UK Leeds United take on AC Milan at the Aviva Stadium&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[12410,748,1385,393,4884,12413,1860,1991,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-327393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-brenden-aaronson","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-daniel-farke","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-joel-piroe","14":"tag-leeds","15":"tag-pascal-struijk","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114992178169900363","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}