First time starting a thread in ages so be gentle. Given myself a little over 24 hours to think it over and calm down before I put my thoughts out there. So the negatives outweighed the positives but I'm slightly heartened by the fact there were positives. We were crap in the 1st half- a negative. Why do we seem to be so bad out the traps or have to be a goal down to start trying? Last three games despite the results have been like this. Defending- a negative. Ok it looked better as the game went on but what the hell were they doing for the first goal? Should never have been able to put the ball in and the ineffectuall header by o Kane actually made me throw my remote at the wall. No organisation for a lot of the game. De bock, jury is still out but im not sure on him. Defence - a positive. Pennington , Pontus ands most impressively Dallas. Looked good as the game went on. Dallas's tackle in the area was world class. Would love to see him played slightly further forward in a 352 formation. Alioski, Roofe and O kane- negatives. Not good enough. Alioski is a headless chicken. Draws our own players out of position to cover him and just puts us in trouble. Roofe should only be played up top. He cannot play wide. Him or PML start, not both. O Kane I have liked in the past but yesterday was atrocious. Will be no where near the side when others are available I think. PML, Pablo and Caleb- positives. Look so much better with Pablo in the game. So intelligent and raises the whole team. Caleb looked good when he came on and I'm desperate to see what a fit run could do for him and the team. PML is starting to show his quality. Despite a lot of fans turning on him he is starting to show what he can do. I have never believed him to be a hold man. You have to play the ball to him and if he has a sight on goal he can score. What a shot he has on him. Discipline - big old negative. I asked the question after Roofe was booked were the morons trying to get sent off? All the bookings were avoidable. All were silly decisions by the players. Is it that they are not good enough? The manager can talk about discipline all he wants but if the players are not good enough and too stupid to realise what they are doing he has no chance. Overall I was bitterly disappointed by the result. Think we deserved something. Silly penalty to give away - for those who don't think it was imagine how you would be screaming if it was reversed. We should have had a penalty for handball but it wasn't meant to be. We need our better players back quick. We are a different entity with them.
Evening pal - good to see you post. Leeds need an influential Captain - and the Captain needs to be one of our better players. Can't see how Cooper got voted Captain? Not even by the Manager - it was the players choice. I just don't see Cooper as either first team material or having the influence over his foes. I'd have to say the player I see as having the passion to be Captain would be Jansson, but does he have the discipline? Was great to see Ekuban back. Hope he starts scoring. I am impressed how Lasogga put himself about on Saturday. De Bock had a bad game. Dallas was his usual ok - but how he was awarded a new 3 year contract is shocking. Felix did alright. Looks a bit more assured between the sticks. I'm not a fan of Roofe. 1M - he'll be off in the Summer. Alioski - I'm losing patience with him. O'Kane - has more bad days then good.
H in your book we have Felix, Pontus, Dallas, Pennington, Lassoga, Ekuban & Pablo. You are not sure on LDB and never mentioned Forshaw but add those 2 to you plusses. You have 9 but what was missing and let us down badly was O’Kane and Phillips our 2 DMs. We cannot play if our midfield is being overrun and defenders exposed. So overall I agree with your thoughts. Not so long ago we had Viera, Klich, O’Kane, Phillips, Anita as DMs plus Tommy threw Nessy in too who wasnt cut out for it anyway. We still have Anita who cant be worse than those 2 yesterday plus a fully firing Viera is a dream, but whats happened to him. PH needs to drop the 2 from yesterday unless they grasp what PH wants them to do.
I like Cooper myself. Think we should get better in in the summer but definitely keep him as a squad player. Ayling or ForShaw for captain for me.
Ell agree with most of that too especially on Cooper an dthe captaincy. Looking at Forshaw as skip for me. When your DMs continually play garbage we have no chance of winning. Too many chances for Phillips and O’Kane so need benching. Use Anita and Viera along with Forshaw as 3 DMs cannot be any worse than the crap seen of late. Ekuban really does look th epart but lets remember what has he done so far really except be out for mnths injured and no league goals
I'll be honest doc I was going to write more about the things you mention but my laptop is on the blink and I wrote that on my phone and lost patience. Hoped these would all come up in comments. Yesterday was the first time I joined the Phillips is not good enough brigade. He was not good enough yesterday. Needless fouls were his site contribution to the game far as I could tell. I'm not giving up on him but yesterday was not good. ForShaw was a massive plus you are correct, much like last week. Get him playing alongside and helping Viera.
With the penalty, a ridiculous decision by O'Kane to go flying in instead of just trying to cut the cross out. I know we have debated refs but they definitely seem quicker to penalise and book our players. There was no hope the ref would even consider the handball against their defender. I know the touch was minimal but he loved his arm towards the ball so it should have been given.
Felix look like his boots have been nailed to goal line, doesn't even know when to come for the ball much less command the box, puts additional pressure on Pontus and Pennington to win every header.
Agree with most of that hemase although I thought Phillips and Forshaw were on par, both did okay, neither was terrible, neither outstanding but for some reason Phillips gets a hard time from a few. Alioski was not suited to the role he was asked to play, we either need to change formation to one that will suit him or change the player in that position. Sadly for Alioski if we change it will probably be 4-4-2 and either formation will mean there are now players ahead of him. Dallas when Berardi returns, Hernandez and Saiz are ahead in the queue and Roberts or Ekuban if we go 4-4-2 which I can see us doing when more are available. I didn’t like Saturday’s formation but I think it was needs must. Forshaw and Saiz would probably be the central pairing in a 4-4-2 Dallas and Alioski/Cibicki/Sacko/Hernandez the other wide player? I know who I wouldn’t pick but there are a lot of places suddenly up for grabs.
As far as I'm aware, Cooper was not only the managers choice, but also the players choice, it would seem the players have confidence in him. Ekuban is a wait see player at moment. Lasogga did ok in the game, but cos he lacks pace, the ball needs to be put on his boot or very close to him, that's one of his drawbacks. I don't think De Bock had a bad game, but it was slightly less impressive than his two previous games. We have to remember he had Pablo in front of him. To play behind, or in front of Pablo requires that player to be very close to Pablo's way of thinking, Pablo thinks quickly, he tends to pass before the player has even thought about it. Dallas is turning out to be a bit of a Madeley, I'd like to see Dallas as a DM behind Pablo, this will also allow for Dallas to do the overlaps, and he was one of our better crossers of the ball, it'll also allow Pablo to drop back a bit after the overlap waiting for the pass, then Pablo can put it across the box or drive into the penalty area. Felix seems to have improved his catching of the ball, but, like LoL says, he tends to stay on his line too much for crosses; he needs to learn to come out, jump, and meet the cross in the air, even punching the ball away can disrupt an opposing attack. Personally, I don't think Roofe should be in starting line up, he's very lazy, rarely commits and overall seems to be looking for excuses not to stay on lately. Alioski is a big talking point amongst many, but then again, like Saiz, Pablo and Jannson, big expectations are put on these players, any one of'em plays below par and some fans jump all over them. Many have said Alioski misses Saiz, and it's vise versa on many occasions. They both seem to be in sync with each other as far as passes and running into space is concerned, and Pablo, Saiz and Alioski are going to be got at cos opposing teams see them as a big danger, and they are. When you put the likes of Phillips behind or alongside Alioski, then we have problems cos Phillips doesn't seem to be in sync with anyone, imo he shouldn't be in team, along with slow coach O'Kane. Forshaw is a good player for us, but he also needs other good DM's around him, or he is hindered and gets a lot more pressure put on him. We started slow in game, but picked it up in second half, is this a force of habit instilled by TC, if so, Heckythump needs to drill it out of them.
I struggled the other day to decide my best formation. I Think I know it now. 352. Cooper, pontus, Pennington De bock dallas Forshaw Viera Phillips saiz or pablo PML
Don’t apologise, if you know your best team and formation that puts you well ahead of a number of past Leeds managers Your team would be robust defensively but my view is it would lack creativity, and Sais would struggle to create on his own. So more of PML isolated and risk giving initiative to opponents. I think everyone struggles to work out the best approach. Funnily enough I don’t think TC was far off. That sort of suggests it’s (some of) the players that are the problem. We seem to have defensive holding MF who aren’t that clever at splitting defences going forward, or attacking MF who seem a bit powderpuff when not in possession. All we need is a Bremner type who can do both ........ that’s all....... not much to ask
Wouldn’t mind seeing that team with a couple of changes, Berardi for Cooper, Saiz between Phillips and Forshaw with licence to roam and Roberts or Ekuban in a proper two up front. Bench would then have a proper defender in Cooper, Vieira pushing the other two and Hernandez as cover for Saiz. Alioski also on the bench who I might try as an out and out striker, get the ball to feet and shoot. He would also benefit from having Saiz playing behind him.
You’re playing a left back at right back? If going two up front then Roberts surely must come in alongside PML somehow.
The same Roberts that couldn't even get on Walsall's bench for the whole of December despite them being 17th in League 1? He has scored 9 goals in 45 League 1 apperances and has never played in the Championship!
