Manor Solomon returns to Leeds United training this week off the back of a win and loss in their opening World Cup qualifiers, losing last night against Erling Haaland’s Norway.
Daniel Farke’s main hope from the international break is going to be that those returning to Thorp Arch in the coming hours have remained unscathed and are fit for Saturday.
A boost in individual performances after struggles in March would be ideal too, with Manor Solomon one of those away on duty with Israel.
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Israel 2-4 Norway: Solomon admits physical struggle v towering Norway side
(Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images)
After beating Estonia in their opening World Cup qualifier, Solomon’s Israel hosted Norway at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Hungary with the Leeds loanee captaining the side, and thought they could have been coming away with an unbeaten start to qualifying when Mohammad Abu Fani cancelled out David Møller Wolfe’s opener in the 55th minute, but Israel were only level for four minutes.
Two Norwegian goals in the space of six minutes set them on the way to victory before Erling Haaland got in on the act for 1-4 in the 83rd minute – Israel found a consolation goal in the 93rd minute through reported Leeds target Dor Turgeman.
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Crosses into the box proved to be Israel’s undoing for Norway goals two and three, and Solomon believes the height disparity between the sides made a real difference, as he spoke post-match:
“They have a very clear physical superiority over us,” Solomon told Sport5.
“Today was the first time I took a player on the corner, and it’s funny because it shows how much bigger they are than us physically.
“As my friends said, we will have to learn from this and improve from this game. It’s unusual for us to have so many small players, and it’s unusual for them to have about six players over 1.90 meters. There are a lot of tall players on my team.”
Physicality is a match-winning quality and Leeds need more of it too
It’s fair that Solomon points this out, as he’d be the last person you’d want marking players from a defensive set piece, and sums up what he was talking about.
For Leeds, he doesn’t have much defensive responsibility, and it’s not hard to see why – because he’s not in the team for that role, his quality comes on the ball in working out of tight spaces out wide.
This is a worthwhile reminder though of how important physicality is in winning matches, having a side full of robust athletes is so often a match-winning characteristic.