Match Day Thread Leeds Utd v Preston Match thread / Breakfast debate

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Leeds Utd v Preston North End

Saturday 8th April [email protected]

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Preston are the visitors on Saturday afternoon as Leeds aim to avoid a hattrick of defeats.

Preston proved they are one of the divisions in form teams as they blew away Bristol City midweek 5-0.

You'll recall Leeds destroyed Preston at Deepdale on Boxing day 4-1 and had Beckford sent off. Our scorers that day were Roofe, Sacko, Doukara and Hernandez.

Is this a must win game or would you settle for a draw?



Have other teams worked out how we play, and are combatting it?



Do we need a plan B, perhaps a different formation altogether?



Who would you drop from our 2-0 loss on Tuesday?

 

Morning Elland and all. Not sure who to drop as Phil Hay gave every outfield player 5 out of 10 for Tuesdays display. Problem seems to be, whatever midfielders we would bring in are just the very same standard. Im wondering about Pedroza. Seems to get lots of game time but not bringing a lot to the party yet. As others have said, the January signings have not improved us yet

 

What we need is a scapegoat!!!

We can't use Tom Lees and it would be unfair to use Cooper as he didn't actually play. I say we pick on Barrow!!!

 

Morning Elland. Morning all. 2 defeats on the bounce is not good. Something has to change & this is one we have to win. I'd start with Doukara somewhere & tell him to get up & support Wood. Not sure we even created anything much on Tuesday. So we must support Wood.

 

Morning all... I would go back to what was working early on in the season.

Back 5 picks itself as does Wood. I would pop O'Kane back in the middle and for me it's time to drop Hernandez.

It pains me to say it as on paper it doesn't look the best midfield but O'Kane, Bridcutt, Dallas, Roofe, Sacko.

Pedrazza, Hernandez, Doukara on the bench. Some of Doukaras better performances have come from off the bench, Pedrazza best was also as substitute.

Again it doesn't look the best midfield but the balance worked earlier in the season.

It's a MUST win for me, Newcastle away next, we could be out of the playoff places in two games or 9 days time...

Preston are coming like a steam train, just one defeat in last 10 games.

 

This season we have used just 25 players.

Along with Huddersfield, this is the joint lowest number of players used in the division

 

Morning Boggers, amazed at lack of support Wood gets...

 

Morning ristac, Dallas is a difficult one. I reckon when he plays our win ratio is a lot higher but if you watch him, he does not look good.

 

I agree but for some reason earlier in the season we worked better as a team.

*Edit* I just randomly picked out two games where we scored three or more goals, away to Preston and away to Birmingham, interestingly in both games Dallas and Doukara both started.

 

Well spotted Ristac. Dallas does a lot of defensive stuff, & Doukara just bullies opposition defences. Combine these, & it leaves Wood to finish things off and Hernandez to provide the flair

 

Morning fellow sufferers ... fcuk me, all of a sudden it seems we have no luck, oh well ... Preston is a must win game, always has been as it's a home fixture and at this stage of the season we have to be taking 3 points at home ... this will be Preston's Cup Final (aren't all our home games just that anyway), and they are playing without pressure because they're not expected to reach the top six ... Preston must win this one as well to keep having fun chasing, so we have a real chance of picking them off as I can see them leaving spaces open just as Derby did

Hernandez is good at home, but seems to struggle away, so I'd start him and let him roam ... our wide men are all suffering from the same thing, not enough quality balls to run into space with, and when they do get the ball its usually under pressure ... the team needs to move forward as a unit, and at least one of our holding mids needs to get up in support to allow Hernandez and the wide boys (I feel a band coming on) to get beyond Wood

pace can only hurt you if it has space to run into, forcing you to turn and dragging your centre backs out wide ... we have missed so many opportunities this season, specially on the counter, to get our sprinters flying to the byline because our mids are too deep and their out ball is sideways to a full back or 30 yards through the middle into Wood or Hernandez who are invariably under pressure from at least two opponents

Monk has made us very hard to beat, particularly at home, and the team has that mindset of "stop everything, nick a couple" ingrained into their psyche now ... next step is to get them to take a few more risks, and get at defences more ... Saturday is going to be one of those games where sitting back is not going to cut it ... Preston, unlike Reading, are very direct, they get the ball forward quickly and sling it into the box from every angle

we drilled them at their place because they were wide open to the counter and our defence was superb, and we can repeat that result ... the only thing stopping us thumping Preston again will be nerves, and the pressure of realising that they are playing for the whole bag of marbles now

anything less than three points on Saturday will be a disaster, specially on the back of two poor away defeats ... you can almost feel the muscles tightening, the hearts pounding, the tension rising in the dressing room

this is it now, Leeds United's entire season of hard work and improvement comes down to these Super Six fixtures ... we can't give the chasing teams any hope or belief by slipping up and dropping points, a win is absolutely critical to knock them back and build our confidence ... form matters going into the playoffs


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Good plan but Savethehuman tried that using Pontus and he is now locked up with 60 and all the others that had differing opinions. Best to stay firmly on the old wooden fence Matt

 

Agree that we've got to take a few more risks. One that we never take is to keep one or two players on the half way line when we're defending corners. If we had a sprinter on each wing, the opposition would have to double-mark them, meaning they could only get 5 in the box for the corner. Presently, we have everyone back, so the opposition usually pack 7 or 8 in & around the box. We just invite trouble doing this & lose any breakaway opportunities. Can anyone remember the last time we scored from a breakaway after a corner? Me neither. We usually lump the ball out of the box & it comes flying back in again. I'll never understand this tactic.

 

Its called parking the bus m8ty and if you park it for to long eventually the wheels go missing

 

Why can't we use Tom Lees, take me through it?

 

Listen to an expert

 

Wonder if their wheels are coming off then mate.

 

I was perplexed by the changes after losing at Reading, other than Cooper obviously and maybe Taylor as he fcked up for the goal

I actually thought the team played quite well against another good side and it could have gone either way. As his record this season has shown, GM is not an idiot, I can only assume he feels some players are getting jaded, as I don't believe the replacements are better man for man. Did read somewhere we've used fewer players than any other team in this league this season.

I'd have thought for Preston we should be back to the same team, except for Cooper replaced by Pontus and Ayling taking one of the fullback slots, probably Taylor losing out unless GM thinks that was a one off aberration.

 

Especially in Bermondsey

 

Saturday is a must win game for me, and to do that we're going to have to play very very well.