Leeds United defender Robin Koch has revealed his excitement at the prospect of playing in front of fans at Elland Road this season.
Koch joined Marcelo Bielsa’s side in an £11.7m deal from German side SC Freiburg last summer ahead of their first season in the Premier League in 16 years.
He established himself as a regular in the side across the campaign, with only injuries keeping him out of the starting eleven.
While that was a personal success for him in a campaign that saw Leeds do very well, there was one thing missing throughout, the club’s passionate fanbase.
The Coronavirus situation and the subsequent lockdowns means Koch, like every player who arrived in England last summer, has only experienced fans in stadiums on a handful of occasions and even then, it was at reduced capacity.
That won’t be the case this year, and Koch, for one, is excited to experience football as it should be.
“The anticipation is huge,” he told Kicker.
“It’s been a lockdown ever since I came here. I haven’t experienced more than a few test matches in front of a few spectators with Leeds.
“So I’m all the more excited to see what the atmosphere will be like.”
While last season proved to be a very successful one for Leeds, who managed a ninth-placed finish, it is this year that will be the telling one.
It’s well established at this point that the second season is often the toughest for promoted sides who manage to stay up in their first year.
That proved to be the case last season for the likes of Sheffield United, who finished bottom after finishing ninth and impressing in the 19/20 campaign.
That is something Leeds will be acutely aware of, and Koch says their aim is small progression rather than giant leaps, starting with their opening day meeting with Manchester United, which he’s not sure is either an advantage or disadvantage.
“We’ll see. In any case, I can’t wait for it to start,” he added.
“We played a good first season in the Premier League, finishing ninth as a promoted team. You often hear that the second year is more difficult.
“But we have set ourselves the goal as a team to build on last season and ideally collect a few more points.”
