Leeds United: Heartbreak for Dan James and Wales
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00:00 Lee, once again we are back talking about Leeds United.
00:04 It's been a little while, the international break.
00:06 I think you either love it or you hate it,
00:09 but I think for a lot of us who love club football,
00:11 you probably hate it more than you love it.
00:13 But here we are, we're back.
00:15 But we're actually going to start by talking about some Leeds players
00:18 on international duty, because it seems most right to,
00:20 given they've been away.
00:22 A lot of Leeds players, of course, who play for Wales,
00:24 and, well, it was heartbreak for them in their qualifying match,
00:28 their play-off final against Poland.
00:32 Obviously, Wales did not qualify for the European Championships.
00:36 They missed out via a penalty shoot-out in Cardiff,
00:39 with Dan James in particular, who we've talked about recently
00:42 on these shows, missing or having his penalty saved,
00:46 the crucial penalty.
00:48 So a lot of heartbreak for them.
00:51 Of course, you've also got Ethan Ampazou, Joe Rhoad on Connor Roberts,
00:54 all of Leeds United.
00:56 I suppose the only question is, does it knock their confidence a bit,
00:59 especially Dan James, having that penalty missed?
01:02 Can they go straight back into a promotion chase for Leeds United
01:06 without having too much of their confidence knocked?
01:09 It's funny you're saying about international break there.
01:11 I got away myself, but I was looking at the start of this thing,
01:14 and the way it looked, it looked like I'd been on the moon or something,
01:17 the colour of the skin, the way the wall was behind.
01:19 But, yeah, straight back to it this weekend,
01:22 obviously with two big games.
01:24 But, as you say, the internationals in between.
01:26 And, yeah, heartbreak for Wales, like you say.
01:29 And I really just hope it doesn't knock Dan James' confidence in particular,
01:32 because he's had a fantastic season.
01:35 Twelve goals and seven assists, and more than that, really,
01:38 that doesn't even tell the full tale.
01:40 Obviously, there's his work rate.
01:41 He can be very, very good defensively as well.
01:43 And just a fantastic asset.
01:45 He's having a great season and all this, obviously,
01:47 when he's not even necessarily a first-choice winger as such,
01:49 because you've got the conundrum, obviously, with Crisensio Somerville,
01:53 Nonto bursting back on the stage, and Dan James,
01:55 and obviously not forgetting Jadon Anthony as well.
01:58 I felt really sorry for him in that penalty shootout.
02:00 I was watching at home, and I almost had a bit of a sinking feeling
02:03 when he picked up the ball.
02:04 I think a lot of people have said that he looked a bit nervous,
02:06 I think, as you would do, given the high stakes, you know,
02:09 and ultimately saw his penalty saved.
02:11 But I liked his reaction, really.
02:13 It was quite sort of stoic, the way he sort of, like, you know,
02:15 just took it on the chin.
02:16 Obviously, everybody was consoling him and whatnot.
02:18 And, I don't know, it's hard to tell from looking at, you know,
02:21 someone's emotions straight after a game like that.
02:23 But, to me, it looked like he was, as I say,
02:25 almost like taking it on the chin, as almost, so to say,
02:27 these things happen.
02:28 And he strikes me as quite a resilient character.
02:30 Obviously, we saw what happened with, you know,
02:31 the sort of move from Swansea when that initially collapsed.
02:33 He's had ups and downs in his career already at a young age.
02:36 And I fully expect him to bounce back.
02:38 And, obviously, it's not just Dan James.
02:40 Obviously, he's the one in the spotlight, because of, obviously,
02:42 the save penalty.
02:43 And we've seen that happen with many players over the years, obviously.
02:46 It's happened to the best of them.
02:47 But, as you say, four Leeds players in there, basically.
02:49 And it was a bit of a night to forget, obviously, for Wales,
02:52 but also for Leeds, because, obviously,
02:54 Connor Roberts went off injured as well towards the end.
02:56 You know, he's obviously still new to the club in terms of his loan move.
02:59 But Daniel Farke didn't quite exactly rule him out of the first
03:03 of the weekend's games, but said, you know,
03:05 if you're going off like that with what looked like a muscle injury,
03:07 it doesn't look good.
03:08 And then, obviously, the other two as well, Ampadu and Rodon,
03:11 you know, they've gone all the way to extra time and to penalties.
03:14 So, you know, it's a long, demanding night.
03:16 So, yeah, I mean, it's a massive shame.
03:18 Obviously, there'll be no Euros for them this summer.
03:20 It would have been great from a Leeds perspective.
03:22 Obviously, you would have had four players there.
03:24 I mean, obviously, two of them are on loan, but you're still sort of
03:26 like classing them as Leeds players, hopefully help the team to promotion
03:29 as we're sort of crossing our fingers for.
03:32 And, yeah, and now the task now is to bounce back.
03:35 And Daniel Farke said in his press conference, you know,
03:38 ahead of the Watford game, that basically the idea is to try
03:41 and use that as almost like motivation and fuel for the fire now,
03:44 you know, sort of thing.
03:45 Like, you've had a disappointment like that.
03:47 You know, rather than that sort of like completely end your season
03:50 and then sort of like go out on a whimper, kind of like, you know,
03:52 use that as sort of motivation to think, you know,
03:54 we want something to celebrate this season.
03:56 And yes, it would have been great for them to have the Euros
03:58 to look forward to.
03:59 But I'll tell you what, if they help Leeds United to promotion
04:01 to the Premier League, there's no doubt they'll be, you know,
04:03 celebrating that enormously.
04:04 And that would be a fantastic season for them.
04:06 Yes, they would have liked the Euros as well.
04:08 But, you know, ultimately penalties are penalties.
04:10 These things happen.
04:11 And I fully expect them all to bounce back.
04:13 All four of them look like very resilient characters, really.
04:16 And Dan James, especially.
04:17 I mean, that will hurt, obviously.
04:19 Of course it will.
04:20 But I expect him to bounce back.
04:22 And it wouldn't surprise me at all if he bounced back with a bang
04:24 straight away this weekend, really, in one of the two games.