The Breakfast Debate / Fulham v Leeds Utd

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Fulham v Leeds Utd
Tuesday 7th March [email protected]
Streaming links to follow
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Good Morning Everyone,

Three points safely in the bag from our Friday night adventure at St Andrews, bring on Fulham!!!

The Cottager's sit in 7th place in the Championship, and are the only realistic challengers (for teams that currently sit outside the top 6) for a play off place.

They are on 56 points with a game in hand.

Then come the Wendies on 61 points (they thrashed Norwich 5-1 at the weekend)

Then Reading who edged past Wolves on 63 points

Then ourselves on 64

And the dog botherer's in 3rd place on 65.




The Cottagers have accumulated four wins from their last five games, drawing one in the process, and are scoring goals for fun. They have scored 10 more goals in the league than Leeds (59).

Only Norwich 60 and Newcastle (69) have scored more goals.

The Cottagers have though conceded 5 more goals than Leeds (40) and apposed to Leeds (35).




Leeds may benefit from having played on Friday night!

Will the extra 24 hours rest give Leeds the edge?




Should we use Charlie Taylor, if he is fit?


What about a start for Pedroza after scoring on Friday night?


An out of form O'Kane came off after 30 minutes in favour of Kalvin Phillips. Which one would you start with?


Hernandez’s pass set up Pedraza’s goal but that aside the Spaniard had a poor game. Who would start with Roofe?

 

Morning Elland an all. All pressure games now and all about results till May. I wouldn't introduce Taylor and indeed I'm sure Monk is monitoring his attitude. Every player is giving 100%. Will Taylor, knowing he's leaving for no mans land in the summer to join his buddies Cook and Bryan. I doubt it and certainly wouldn't expect too many hefty fifty fifty challenges from him. Thankfully we've enough quality and I don't care what he does

 

Morning all.. I would start with a Pedrazza but he has to play on the left meaning Dallas keeps his place right side or we bring back Sacko, I can't see Monk starting with both Barrow and Pedrazza.

I haven't been impressed with Hernandez for a while but, if we get corners he needs to be taking them so I would keep him unless the game takes the same shape as it did against Birmingham then I would do an earlier change.

No to Taylor for this game but... in the back of my mind, I would be thinking of switching Berardi to the right, Ayling in the middle and trying to save Pontus from another booking.

When it is time to bring Taylor back, make it a televised game or tell him a scout from Liverpool is in tonight, I'm sure he'll try then.

 

Morning Eire, that saw a stat that only 13 players (mostly goal keepers) had played every league game this season.

Ayling and Green were both on that list!

Bartley only missed one game.

It did very much seem that Cook, Byram, Mowatt and Taylor were very much the cliche...

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Morning ristac, Lee Sobot (YEP) was indicating that if Pedroza plays, it would probably be in place of Dallas.

 

I don't think he will start with Alfie he will bring him on as our secret weapon the brief time I have seen him he always looks capable of scoring.

 

Morning wcd, he certainly has an eye for goal...

 

Chris Wood is now odds-on favourite to be the Championship's top goalscorer. 8-11.

Dwight Gayle is 5-4.

Murray and Abraham are 33-1.

 

Fulham might have won again yesterday but #lufc are still 1-6 to finish in top six. Fulham 4-5. Reading 2-5. Owls 2-7. Huddersfield 1-33.

 

If we do make the playoffs, and that's a big if, it's really Reading we seem to be chasing. Their next four games are very difficult and if results go our way (particularly if we can beat you tomorrow), then we can make some inroads.

 

Morning Surlyc, you seem to score goals for fun. I'm a little surprised you're not higher up the table...

 

We are a very smooth attacking unit, with plenty of pace and guile. We play attractive attacking and fairly expansive football and can take a side apart if they try to play that style against us (e.g. 5-0 wins over both Reading & Huddersfield).

Our issue, however, is that we can be caught on the counter attack and our central defenders can be caught out with direct central attacking. We have a bad habit of letting teams back into the game through momentary lapses after dominating the possession (we are used to 65%+ possession) and players like Chris Wood could do well if they stay alert.

As for why we're not higher, it took us a while to find our feet this season. We were woeful last season even with the goals of McCormack (or McContract, if you rather) and we've overhauled how we play. We're much better for the overhaul though, even if we miss out on the playoffs due to that poor start, and I think we can both take a little perverse pleasure in the fact Leeds & Fulham are near the top whilst McCormack has already been dumped by mid-table Villa!

 

If you make the playoff final m8ty and your fans are looking for cheap hotels in the Wembley area forget booking.com just come back here you could get a real bargain

 

I suspect Fulham fans wont need holels if they get there?
What did kim do with that trophy I wonder?

 

Leeds line up for the trip to Craven Cottage

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have they built a wall around Fulham then ?

 

No. They built a statue but its in a museum in Manchster now.
Fairly sure that unlike the dumb **** wallies they can find their way from Fulham and Hammersmith to Wembley on the tube quick enough not to need a hotel.

 

Dont think many wallies live in Hammersmith or Fulham

 

As Surlyc has said we are playing good and attractive football. Other than the odd mistake in concentration at the back, we can also suffer from the rough stuff some teams adopt, Cairney takes the brunt of this.
We have yourselves, followed by Newcastle and Blackburn in the next 8 days. To keep on track we need to win at home (Leeds, Blackburn) and at least get a draw at Newcastle. The way we are playing, we have hope of achieving this. Can't see us catching you in the league, bur Sheffield W and Reading for sure.
It should be a good game tomorrow, my fear is Chris Woods, he always seems to do well against us.
Speak again before our next contest with you in the Wembley game!

 

This Fulham game is a real concern, they will be flying in the first fifteen minutes ... our wayward passing has been causing us a lot of unnecessary problems ... against Huddersfield we missed a great opportunity to beat them and their high pressing game, because we didn't exploit the acres of space they left down the wings thanks to passes going everywhere but to our wide men ... if we get the ball to our wide men against Fulham we will beat them, if not it will be a long night because we will keep inviting pressure

our defence has been immense this season, and Fulham will have to be playing at the top of their abilities to get through ... if it is still at 0-0 by 60 minutes, I can see Leeds winning it as Fulham get frustrated and start forcing the game ... I would be tempted to start Pedraza and Sacko and just go for it, whacking everything down the flanks for them to chase and force Fulham to play from deep, keeping their full backs in their half ... pace in this league is a huge advantage, and if we can get our wingers running deep, it will make it harder for Fulham to build attacks down our flanks and getting crosses in ... Berardi really struggled with the Brum win back running at him, thanks to Duke coasting far too often

going to be a real test for both teams, and if Leeds can avoid a loss then the playoffs are all but guaranteed ... another nail biter!!!