Stan Collymore: Three key elements to Garry Monk success at Leeds
By Will Butcher
Stan Collymore believes Garry Monk’s three-step philosophy has orchestrated Leeds’ wonderful Championship form this season.
The 37-year-old manager has seen his side propelled from the lower reaches of the Championship to a lofty fourth in the table, with a Premier League return a real possibility.
In his Daily Mirror column, Collymore claimed that three elements of Monk’s Yorkshire giants have proved pivotal in Leeds’ rise to the play-offs.
“He’s applied the simple basics of Championship football,” Collymore said. “Clean sheets, hard work and a bloke up front in Chris Wood who knows where the net is.
“That’s the “philosophy” you need, if you want to make it to the Premier League. Leeds United is just awakening from a slumber – giving us all a glimpse once more of the force it could be in English football.”
Leeds have been in fantastic form in recent matches, wining seven of their last nine outings with the most recent coming against Collymore’s former side Nottingham Forest.
Leeds secured a comfortable 2-0 victory at Elland Road, with Wood scoring his 20th goal of the season and Souleymane Doukara blasting a volley into the roof of the net.
Currently fourth, Leeds are on level points with third-placed Reading and sit seven points behind the automatic promotion places.
Monk’s side next face National League outfit Sutton United in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Sunday, before travelling to Blackburn on Wednesday night as they look to close the gap.
In other Leeds news, Robbie Fowler has identified the man he has been blown away with this season at Elland Road.
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