TheLFCFan- cheers mate, we're just getting started though. Watch this space...
I think it’s fair to say that our season went just as planned. In the summer, the board asked me to win promotion, nothing more, nothing less.
Most of the transfer business had already been done before, with the likes of Eddie Nketiah, Ben White, Helder Costa and Illan Meslier already here when I arrived. Jack Harrison had also seen his loan extended, whilst Jack Clarke had signed for Spurs for £8m, before being loaned straight back as part of the deal. Going the other way, Pontus Jansson had been sold to Brentford whilst we sent Kermar Roofe packing to Anderlecht, both mistakes in my opinion. In the other notable sale of the window, Bailey Peacock-Farrell had left for Burnley.
I brought in a couple of new additions as the squad needed depth at the back. Nicholas Opoku was signed from Udinese to provide cover at centre-back whilst Mehdi Zeffane had been brought in on a free transfer by Victor Orta, after his contract at Stade Rennais expired. He provided over in the right-back, giving Berardi freedom the cover anywhere across the back line when necessary.
The season started poorly and in my mind, if things didn’t pick up after the first international break, I probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer in the job. We were sat in 18th on five points, having won just one of our opening six matches. The players were put to their paces over the break and made to realise that this start was a long way off good enough.
They pulled their fingers out though, embarking on an incredible thirteen-game unbeaten streak (winning ten of those) and rocketing up the league table. It was our best run of the season in which we beat the likes of QPR 4-0 and Blackburn 5-1. Mateusz Klich had a huge hand in this run, scoring ten goals in the thirteen games.
We hit and inconsistent patch in December and even suffered back-to-back defeats against Fulham and Preston, in a month which saw us surrender 2nd spot- which we’d worked so hard to achieve- and end the month in 3rd.
We hit another good patch in January, winning all four league games and taking back 2nd spot, working up a cushion over 3rd. We struggled in a match-packed February, playing eight games in all competitions inside 29 days. Losing against Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Middlesbrough were our low points of the season but we kept hold of 2nd spot.
We took advantage of staying in 2nd to kick on in March, even if it wasn’t all there from a performance perspective. After the Middlesbrough game, we went the rest of the season unbeaten, Nearly matching our previous run of thirteen, this time we went eleven unbeaten, winning seven in that time.
The run of form propelled us away from the chasing pack and we even managed to secure automatic promotion with two games to spare. A 1-0 win against Barnsley was enough to finish the job off, leaving us nine points clear with two games to go. By the end of the season, that gap stretched to ten points. For the final two games of the season, we became embroiled in a title race which, looking back, we’d have won if we’d beaten Derby. Ultimately we missed out, level on points, but with Huddersfield on 36 goal difference and us on 35.
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He’s not been mentioned at all in player of the month, but player of the season has to go to Barry Douglas. From left back, he finished the season on eight assists and two goals in 29 appearances, having a big hand in a lot of our goals and proving particularly dangerous with set pieces. Douglas also contributed to eighteen clean sheets, a stat for any defender to be justly proud of. He was one of the highest rated players in the league, finishing with an average rating of 7.41.
Honourable mentions also go to Patrick Bamford, our top scorer on nineteen goals; Jack Harrison, who broke into the team when Hernandez left and was crucial in the second half of the season, contributing fifteen goals and six assists in 45 appearances; and our second top scorer, Mateusz Klich, who finished on sixteen goals and two assists in 43 appearances. Mateusz Klich was also named as Fans’ Player of the Year Award, with the supporters recognising his contribution to our drastic turnaround in form between September and November.
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For me, Young Player of the Season has to go to Leif Davis. The 20-year-old has given absolutely everything that’s been asked of him when deputising for Douglas at left-back, even contributing five assists himself in his 27 appearances this season. He’s kept an average rating of 7.0 and been key to a lot of the good wide play that’s happened on the left-hand side this season. For a position that’s so regularly debated amongst Leeds fans as an area we need some proper quality, we were finally given it this season. The performances of Davis and Douglas are largely what kept Gjanni Alioski out of the first team and made it an easier decision to make when Wuhan offered us £8.5m.
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Mehdi Zeffane takes this award comfortably. He arrived with no transfer fee and mostly unspectacular wages but when needed to step in for Luke Ayling, he’s done a first class job. He’s even scored a couple of absolute pingers himself, against Mansfield in the cup and Hull in the league. His work rate up and down the right-hand side has been utterly phenomenal, being first to respond when the opposition come at us and playing a key role in getting us forward, top transition work all season.
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It was Manchester City who lifted the Premier League for the third year in a row. It was a close-run thing up until midway through April. Their cross-city rivals Manchester United fell away, losing four of their last eight matches, including the Manchester derby at Old Trafford. In a season which had rarely seen the gap stretch to more than two point, City eventually stormed towards the title, finishing eleven points clear of 2nd placed Chelsea.
There were no major slip-ups from the ‘Big Six’ as all of them secured a top six finish. Liverpool did fall away from the title race, finishing 6th in the league, nine points clear of rivals Everton, who finished 7th. Arsenal were the other team to finish outside the top 4, finishing 5th.
At the other end of the table, just one of the new boys went straight back down, with Aston Villa making an immediate return the Championship by finishing at the foot of the table with a meagre three wins all season. Crystal Palace and Newcastle United will join them in the second tier next season. It was a season to remember for Norwich however, consolidating their first season back in the Premier League and then some, eventually finishing 9th.
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The title race has already been discussed in great detail so I won’t bother you with that. It was a season of underachievement for many teams that had previously been considered as contenders from promotion. West Brom, Bristol City and Fulham all contrived to finish in the bottom half in 14th, 17th and 19th respectively, whilst Cardiff suffered a second consecutive relegation, with Tony Pulis unable to revive the club’s fortunes.
We didn’t get the Lancashire derby that it looked like we might get in the playoffs for most the season, between Blackburn and Preston, but we did get a derby. It was played at Wembley between Brentford and QPR in a West London derby, coincidentally played at a West London stadium too. It was Brentford that took all the spoils in the final, with Ollie Watkins and Bryan Mbeumbo’s quick double seeing them through in a 2-1 win over their rivals.
Joining Cardiff City in the drop to League One were Millwall- who valiantly held Huddersfield to a 0-0 draw on the last day in a result that might have seen us snatch the title- and Charlton, who we relegated with a 2-0 win.
In the Champions League, it was Liverpool who became the first English club since Nottingham Forest to claim back-to-back trophies, seeing off PSG 3-0 in the final at Ataturk, where they had beaten AC Milan in that famous final fifteen years prior. Mo Salah stole the show for the Reds, bagging a hat-trick on the night.
In the Europa League, Arsenal avenged last year’s final by beating Chelsea 1-0 at the Energa stadium in Gdansk, with Everton scoring the winning goal midway through the second half. It was made even sweeter for them by the fact that it was their North London rivals Tottenham, who finished 4th which meant that Arsenal would take their place in the Champions League.
Liverpool made it a cup double by beating Manchester City in the final at Wembley. Goals from Andrew Robertson and Leroy Sane took the game to extra time at 1-1, with Sadio Mane scoring the winner midway through the second fifteen minutes.
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SEASON REVIEW 2019/20
SUMMARY
I think it’s fair to say that our season went just as planned. In the summer, the board asked me to win promotion, nothing more, nothing less.
Most of the transfer business had already been done before, with the likes of Eddie Nketiah, Ben White, Helder Costa and Illan Meslier already here when I arrived. Jack Harrison had also seen his loan extended, whilst Jack Clarke had signed for Spurs for £8m, before being loaned straight back as part of the deal. Going the other way, Pontus Jansson had been sold to Brentford whilst we sent Kermar Roofe packing to Anderlecht, both mistakes in my opinion. In the other notable sale of the window, Bailey Peacock-Farrell had left for Burnley.
I brought in a couple of new additions as the squad needed depth at the back. Nicholas Opoku was signed from Udinese to provide cover at centre-back whilst Mehdi Zeffane had been brought in on a free transfer by Victor Orta, after his contract at Stade Rennais expired. He provided over in the right-back, giving Berardi freedom the cover anywhere across the back line when necessary.
The season started poorly and in my mind, if things didn’t pick up after the first international break, I probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer in the job. We were sat in 18th on five points, having won just one of our opening six matches. The players were put to their paces over the break and made to realise that this start was a long way off good enough.
They pulled their fingers out though, embarking on an incredible thirteen-game unbeaten streak (winning ten of those) and rocketing up the league table. It was our best run of the season in which we beat the likes of QPR 4-0 and Blackburn 5-1. Mateusz Klich had a huge hand in this run, scoring ten goals in the thirteen games.
We hit and inconsistent patch in December and even suffered back-to-back defeats against Fulham and Preston, in a month which saw us surrender 2nd spot- which we’d worked so hard to achieve- and end the month in 3rd.
We hit another good patch in January, winning all four league games and taking back 2nd spot, working up a cushion over 3rd. We struggled in a match-packed February, playing eight games in all competitions inside 29 days. Losing against Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Middlesbrough were our low points of the season but we kept hold of 2nd spot.
We took advantage of staying in 2nd to kick on in March, even if it wasn’t all there from a performance perspective. After the Middlesbrough game, we went the rest of the season unbeaten, Nearly matching our previous run of thirteen, this time we went eleven unbeaten, winning seven in that time.
The run of form propelled us away from the chasing pack and we even managed to secure automatic promotion with two games to spare. A 1-0 win against Barnsley was enough to finish the job off, leaving us nine points clear with two games to go. By the end of the season, that gap stretched to ten points. For the final two games of the season, we became embroiled in a title race which, looking back, we’d have won if we’d beaten Derby. Ultimately we missed out, level on points, but with Huddersfield on 36 goal difference and us on 35.
PLAYER OF THE SEASON
He’s not been mentioned at all in player of the month, but player of the season has to go to Barry Douglas. From left back, he finished the season on eight assists and two goals in 29 appearances, having a big hand in a lot of our goals and proving particularly dangerous with set pieces. Douglas also contributed to eighteen clean sheets, a stat for any defender to be justly proud of. He was one of the highest rated players in the league, finishing with an average rating of 7.41.
Honourable mentions also go to Patrick Bamford, our top scorer on nineteen goals; Jack Harrison, who broke into the team when Hernandez left and was crucial in the second half of the season, contributing fifteen goals and six assists in 45 appearances; and our second top scorer, Mateusz Klich, who finished on sixteen goals and two assists in 43 appearances. Mateusz Klich was also named as Fans’ Player of the Year Award, with the supporters recognising his contribution to our drastic turnaround in form between September and November.
YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON
For me, Young Player of the Season has to go to Leif Davis. The 20-year-old has given absolutely everything that’s been asked of him when deputising for Douglas at left-back, even contributing five assists himself in his 27 appearances this season. He’s kept an average rating of 7.0 and been key to a lot of the good wide play that’s happened on the left-hand side this season. For a position that’s so regularly debated amongst Leeds fans as an area we need some proper quality, we were finally given it this season. The performances of Davis and Douglas are largely what kept Gjanni Alioski out of the first team and made it an easier decision to make when Wuhan offered us £8.5m.
SIGNING OF THE SEASON
Mehdi Zeffane takes this award comfortably. He arrived with no transfer fee and mostly unspectacular wages but when needed to step in for Luke Ayling, he’s done a first class job. He’s even scored a couple of absolute pingers himself, against Mansfield in the cup and Hull in the league. His work rate up and down the right-hand side has been utterly phenomenal, being first to respond when the opposition come at us and playing a key role in getting us forward, top transition work all season.
It was Manchester City who lifted the Premier League for the third year in a row. It was a close-run thing up until midway through April. Their cross-city rivals Manchester United fell away, losing four of their last eight matches, including the Manchester derby at Old Trafford. In a season which had rarely seen the gap stretch to more than two point, City eventually stormed towards the title, finishing eleven points clear of 2nd placed Chelsea.
There were no major slip-ups from the ‘Big Six’ as all of them secured a top six finish. Liverpool did fall away from the title race, finishing 6th in the league, nine points clear of rivals Everton, who finished 7th. Arsenal were the other team to finish outside the top 4, finishing 5th.
At the other end of the table, just one of the new boys went straight back down, with Aston Villa making an immediate return the Championship by finishing at the foot of the table with a meagre three wins all season. Crystal Palace and Newcastle United will join them in the second tier next season. It was a season to remember for Norwich however, consolidating their first season back in the Premier League and then some, eventually finishing 9th.
The title race has already been discussed in great detail so I won’t bother you with that. It was a season of underachievement for many teams that had previously been considered as contenders from promotion. West Brom, Bristol City and Fulham all contrived to finish in the bottom half in 14th, 17th and 19th respectively, whilst Cardiff suffered a second consecutive relegation, with Tony Pulis unable to revive the club’s fortunes.
We didn’t get the Lancashire derby that it looked like we might get in the playoffs for most the season, between Blackburn and Preston, but we did get a derby. It was played at Wembley between Brentford and QPR in a West London derby, coincidentally played at a West London stadium too. It was Brentford that took all the spoils in the final, with Ollie Watkins and Bryan Mbeumbo’s quick double seeing them through in a 2-1 win over their rivals.
Joining Cardiff City in the drop to League One were Millwall- who valiantly held Huddersfield to a 0-0 draw on the last day in a result that might have seen us snatch the title- and Charlton, who we relegated with a 2-0 win.
In the Champions League, it was Liverpool who became the first English club since Nottingham Forest to claim back-to-back trophies, seeing off PSG 3-0 in the final at Ataturk, where they had beaten AC Milan in that famous final fifteen years prior. Mo Salah stole the show for the Reds, bagging a hat-trick on the night.
In the Europa League, Arsenal avenged last year’s final by beating Chelsea 1-0 at the Energa stadium in Gdansk, with Everton scoring the winning goal midway through the second half. It was made even sweeter for them by the fact that it was their North London rivals Tottenham, who finished 4th which meant that Arsenal would take their place in the Champions League.
Liverpool made it a cup double by beating Manchester City in the final at Wembley. Goals from Andrew Robertson and Leroy Sane took the game to extra time at 1-1, with Sadio Mane scoring the winner midway through the second fifteen minutes.
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0-0 
Sunderland
1-1 
0-0 
3-2 
SD Huesca
2-0 
Leeds United
AFC Bournemouth
2-1 
Everton
