As soon as I saw the lineup, I questioned what we would gain from playing 4-4-2, players not used to each others play and players who haven't played that formation for quite some time. In defence of Thomas those players should still be good enough to have won comfortably. Lasogga once on the verge of an International call up, Klitch and Cibicki both Internationals and you don't need to tell your players "don't spit at the opposition". CBJ feigning injury and not looking interested was the catalyst for everything poor, the amount of crosses coming in from the left even when Berardi moved out there was quite alarming. The Keeper either kicked the ball to an opponent on the half way line or straight to their keeper, nothing was good about today. Poor tactics from Thomas and an even poorer display from those with a chance to show why they deserve to wear the shirt. To think we could have sent Sacko packing before the season started but despite playing just as poor last season some bright spark decided to offer him a contract. Those questioning Thomas EVERY week about team selection and why Klitch, CBJ, Sacko, Lasogga and Cibicki are not getting a look in, there is your answer. Orta isn't very good at picking players, we got lucky with Saiz and Alioski but the rest....
Did I miss something with Saiz? Player claims he was spat on & provides 'evidence' on his shirt. Ref believes every word & will not even speak to Saiz about it to see if it was true. Red card then issued. So it's their player's word against Saiz. The 'evidence' could have come from anywhere. There are no witnesses. Player could have spat on his own shirt, or indeed Saiz may have spat & wind carried it onto their player's shirt. Or perhaps one of several other scenarios. Would love to hear the ref's interpretation of what happened, & what evidence there was, of any. If his explanation is in any way unsatisfactory, Leeds should appeal this. On the face of it, it's a load of old tosh unless PROVEN otherwise. Typical ref's approach to Leeds players - guilty until proven innocent (by which time it's too late). Someone mentioned a 3 game ban for Saiz. I think it's at least double that for spitting. Even if he's guilty, I'm still blazin' mad at the ref for not even speaking to Saiz.
Might have been, I wondered too "What if" Saiz spat and wasn't aware that the player was running past him, would love to see a replay of the incident
And that's my whole point. If there was footage, they'd have shown it. They never miss a chance with things like that. So it's safe to assume there's nowt but a player's word for it, and some spittle of unknown origin. Guess that's enough for the anti-Leeds sentiment. It's absolutely shocking if he's decided this without evidence IMO. Didn't even speak to Saiz.
Let's just hope that was what happened. Saiz seemed very animated about being sent off, I'm sure the ref would've mentioned the reason, hopefully.
A Newport player went through the back of Klitch in the first few minutes of the game, that was a booking all day long but overlooked
His team mates looked very annoyed at him, they weren’t defending him much which is my concern against it all.
We are the same as last season,but we didn't strengthen last season and paid the price,lets hope the owner doesn't go down that path again.
Incidents of racism will almost certainly result in a ban longer than three games while a red card for spitting triggers an automatic six-match ban.
