Good 3pts today, but a little apprehensive over next Sunday’s match at Aston Villa, we need to threaten teams more, today was not convincing but came away with 3pts. Will Bamford start? Should Clarke start and terrorise the defence, maybe not, Bielsa does not seem to do disruptive changes, but I think he will have to mix it sometime soon, this is the best position we have been in for many a year, the support expects and if the team fails there shall be bitter disappointment throughout, let’s hope we can revert back to performances like Derby and Norwich and pull away and have some points cushion for any sticky patch we may come across.
Just a reminder that his job is Director of Football and as such he makes plans for the short, medium and long term. Yet it seemed every man and his dog wanted him out last season for apparent abject failure as we failed to mount a promotion challenge. The sane reasonable and balanced amongst us declared that actually he'd only had 2 transfer windows and was severely hampered by Monk's decision to walk at a critical time of pre season planning. We as fans can now see the fruits of his labours as we sit not only top of the Championship but also the U23 League. He also had the opportunity to jump ship in the summer but chose to stay and fight for his reputation. From personal experience I can tell you he received dogs abuse at every home match last season when it became apparent that on the pitch at least things were not going to plan. It's noted that you now state that assisting in bringing Bielsa trumps everything (if promoted), but for the record did you, or would you have, advocated replacing Orta in the summer ? Most on here seemed to prefer reverting back to the traditional manager type of appointment such as a McCarthy type and nothing wrong with that per se as we don't know how that would have panned out...who knows maybe we're under achieving under Bielsa and Orta.
Well we made hard work out of that game against a very poor side who looked like a relegation outfit on today's showing. After a bright opening ten minutes we created nothing in the first-half apart from a Hernandez header that Alnwick tipped over the bar. The turning points came when Jack Clarke came on for the inept Baker with Pablo moving into the middle of the park in the 46th minute plus the introduction of Bamford 15 minutes later coming on for Roofe who was very poor today. Hernandez's sublime pass to our £7 million signing who instantly slotted his shot away with a smart finish sending the Leeds faithful in a joyous rapture. Pablo has now scored 7 goals & provided 7 assists to his name this season. Apart from Klich's lovely low curling shot heading into the corner of the net only for Alnwick to make another fine save there wasn't much to shout about from our attacking moves. Positives Three points. We won even though we were poor. We're top of the league. First time we've won five consecutive games since 2009. Bamford's goal. Hernandez's sublime pass + what he gives to our team Pontus a rock at the back yet again. Jack Clarke trickery gave us something different in the 2nd half. Negatives No celebrations from Pontus at the end as he hobbled off at the final whistle, really hope he is ok. Pablo also hobbling late on, we desperately need to keep Hernandez & Jansson fit We waste the first 45 minutes of games far too often. Far too many stray passes/errors although the conditions were horrendous We struggle to kill the opposition off. Roofe's poorest game of the season Baker still doesn't look good enough. What was that Alioski back-heel & the feigning of injury all about? Atmosphere was lukewarm to say the least. Ratings 6 Peacock-Farrell 7 Shackleton 9 Jansson MOTM 6 Phillips 6 Douglas 7 Forshaw 8 Hernandez 3 Baker 6 Klich 4 Alioski 4 Roofe Subs 7 Clarke 8 Bamford n/a Halme
To throw this away would be criminal,even if we just loan 2-3 good prem players on £50,000 a week not much of a gamble.Saiz money will cover it at season,end.
I don't agree,we have players coming back from injury, Don't need loanees or players not fit enough for bielsa's style. If we were to sign I would only want pure class,no can do a job types. Maybe a keeper.
To play instead of or replace whom though chesh ? Goalkeeper...ok as back up needed. Full backs...no thanks as we have Ayling, Beradi, and Pearce to come back, Shackleton doing fine. Centre half...maybe but what about Halme and then there is Cooper, Beradi and Ayling to partner Pontus. Defensive midfield...Phillips and Forshaw have it covered. Attacking midfield...yes as Siaz has left, Klich not perfect and Baker off the pace, only Pablo is different class. Wide players...Jack Clarke is the real deal but Allioski /Harrison could possibly be upgraded but would have to be significantly better. Forwards...we only play with one so hard to see us improving on Roofe and Bamford. Just don't see where we need anybody other than to replace Siaz/Baker and even then you could argue that Izzy Brown is set for that roll. Stick with what we've got and pray that we hold out and have better luck with injuries in the second half of the season.
My blog and photos are available to view on http://www.followmeandleedsunited.c...e-macron-stadium-university-of-bolton-stadium Bolton v Leeds United on 15th December 2018 at the Macron Stadium / University of Bolton Stadium After telling someone on Thursday that I don’t expect anyone to leave us in the January transfer window and also I wasn’t going to count my chickens just yet as to where Leeds will finish at the end of the season, I came home to hear the news that Saiz was on his way. Things had been mooted a while ago that he wasn’t happy but I was very disappointed to hear this. Later Moscow White on Twitter put more insight into the decision and it looks like the club has been very supportive of them. It turns out his wife is due to give birth having already lost the twin of this due baby. Having had problems with the birth of their first daughter including a cancer scare for mum around the same time, I can totally understand that being here instead of near their family in Spain, would make them want to return to be near them. As Saiz has a loan with a view to buy, who knows how this will pan out in the future. As someone who lost a baby tragically at 17 days old and having subsequent pregnancies, I can say that the fear of something going wrong never leaves you. Even now, the sheer panic that a child isn’t just going to be ill but will die envelops me. Good luck to them all. As we headed to Bolton who were at the bottom of the league and once again having money problems with their players and staff being unpaid (not sure if that’s been sorted as yet), for the life of me I couldn’t understand why they hadn’t given us more tickets? We’d sold out in minutes once again and last time they had been in trouble they gave us at least 7,000 tickets. Surely selling us more tickets could have immediately helped with their cash flow? Obviously not! I went to Elland Road early as the weather forecast of snow and freezing rain, although not due till at least 10am in Halifax, meant I wanted to get there in time for the coach. Getting home after would sort itself out. I decided to look for a specific Bremner stone in the Lucas Radebe area. As I saw quite a few names I recognised I took some photos then found my freezing fingers nearly dropped off! We stopped off in Bury before the game and had a decent time there today. With the White Rose branch in too, I’d like to say a big thank you to Gary Noble for buying my latest book Back to Reality, Leeds United 2017-18. As always I am grateful for the support. After hearing one of the barmaids saying she’d been in Valencia to see that red team over the Pennines, it reminded me of a tweet I’d seen this week. Outside the ground in Valencia had been painted – Scum free zone, a Leeds badge and a painted Hernandez portrait. On the day of the game, the red fans had complained so someone painted over the scum free zone but left the rest. It was quite bizarre really. As we got to the ground the weather had deteriorated as the rain came down. I had taken my flag with me today and put it up at the top of the stairwell but as a part of it came down, I retied it. After taking photos I headed to my seat for the start of the game. The Team: Peacock-Farrell, Phillips, Jansson, Hernandez (Captain), Shackleton, Roofe, Klich, Forshaw, Baker, Douglas and Alioski. Subs: Clarke for Baker (46), Bamford for Roofe (61) and Halme for Hernandez (90). Leeds won the game 1-0 with Bamford scoring five minutes after coming on. Attendance was 17,484 with 4,550 Leeds fans. Looking at the spaces on the Bolton terraces I find that attendance hard to believe to be honest. As the game kicked off, Leeds immediately went on the attack and their goalie prevented Leeds taking an early lead by tipping Hernandez’s effort over the bar. We won plenty of corners in the opening part of the game and had plenty of the ball. The ref kept the flow of the game going by playing on and not blowing his whistle for every challenge which was good. We had quite a few misplaced passes but did look the better of the teams. Even though we had the majority of the game, with the rare attacks that Bolton had, I was always wary that they would get a goal against the run of play. Shackleton was playing well which was good to see. When I looked at my watch 36 minutes had already passed before the game petered out in the last minutes of the half as things quietened on the terraces. With the terrible conditions of driving rain on the pitch, it wasn’t a surprise really. I went downstairs and as I was making my way back across the stand all of a sudden I smelt Sulphur as we were nearly gassed out by a yellow flare or whatever they want to call it. It was awful as I struggled to breathe as I was full of cold. I’m sorry but I won’t ever agree that it is right to let these things off in the middle of a crowd! There is no thought for any other fan caught up in it and should be knocked on the head although I doubt it will be. With Clarke brought on in place of Baker at the start of the second half I was looking forward to a turn around. The atmosphere on the terraces picked up as Leeds went on the attack. It was good to see Clarke with some great footwork beating their players to put them under pressure. When Bamford was brought on as sub, I said that I hadn’t been sure if he’d play with the atrocious conditions but Bielsa will know what he’d doing. Within five minutes the ball was in the back of the net in front of us as Clarke had been involved first, the ball came across to Hernandez who did a nutmeg on their player and a first time strike from Bamford was put into the net. I thought it was nice seeing Bamford race over to the bench and celebrate with I thought the trainers who’d helped him get over his recent injury. Towards the end of the game Bolton got into it more as they went in search of an equaliser. As their player went down in the penalty area my heart was in my mouth but the ref said play on. I didn’t realise they’d had one kicked off the line by Douglas as I’d gone to retrieve my flag before the end of the game. I’d tied it that many times to stop it falling down that it took me ages to untie it, although thanks to the lads who helped me on that score. In the last few minutes we seemed to be staying back and letting Bolton attack us which I didn’t like. It ended with Halme coming on to help us defend and keep the lead. Another three points and five out of five wins saw us go top of the league as Norwich were kicking off at 5.30 pm. They ended up drawing by scoring another late goal giving them a point which meant we stayed top. The journey back to Leeds saw really bad conditions on the roads so I was glad I wasn’t driving at that point. We still had issues driving back home with plenty of water standing including ice in Halifax, but at least got home safe and sound. Next Sunday is our last game before Christmas at Aston Villa. Just keep doing what we are doing and grinding out wins and see if we can end the year on a high. See you then, LUFC – Marching on Together!
Sorry can't seem to delete the goal but seeing as it was a good one, three times isn't too many lol!!
We desperately need a creative player,to replace Saiz,we've been winning 1-0 against the bottom teams,and if Hernandez gets injured,we have no one.Keeper we need a good option,Bailey has done ok last few games,but we need cover incase he has another bad run.And we need another CH,lose Jansson and we will plumet,Harrison and Baker arn't good enough,so you could also say there's 2 more squad players we need.
Goalkeeper-cover needed Defensive cover needed-if Jansson prone to injuries and hobbled off Yesterday gets injured now we have big problems,Halme done well,but he's no Jansson. Replacment for Saiz-Too much put on Hernandez without a Saiz option,and if he gets injured ? I know we have Brown,but Bielsa doesn't think he's upto being better than Baker ATM so can't put all our eggs in a basket that may never be good enough. Will have a better idea next week,I hope I'm wrong but think we are going to be shown that the fingers we've stuck in the dam cracks,aren't going to hold for the whole season.Villa will be a massive test.
Correct,we've looked slightly better than bottom half teams,apart from Sheffield,last few weeks,got results,but looked nothing like auto promotion standard.Do we wait till feb and say we've fooked the season up again,let's wait 10-15 more years for another chance like this.Or do we do what all the others will do,and try and strengthen the squad.Not many if any teams gone up without improving their teams in Jan. We've ground out a few results recently,don't think we will grind out another 24,just think we need a bit of quality back up.
We desperatly need a centre back.. Keeper and a touch of class to createbecause baker harrison etc are not good enough. Without pablo and the injuries we are sunk. Bamford looked full of running and did something different in his choice of positioning. To not replace Saiz alone would be a waste of a player. Brown may not be the answer and klich does not provide enough.
Klich not playing anywhere near the standard he was 2 months ago either,may need a rest,having to play a clueless Baker shows me we need more cover.
Agreed and good morning from brum. Bloody xmas its killing me another twelve hour plus day. A better side would have scored from some of the dreafull passes we did luckily bolton are poor.
The sane, reasonable and balanced among us? On here?!? I get the short medium long term stuff, hence why I took a wait and see perspective over the u23 influx. DOF/orta appointment was the reason monk didn’t stay, but because Orta was responsible for signings he didn’t have to wait for them to appoint a new coach to line his ducks up. Both Saiz and klich we’re on Leeds radar 12 months earlier... so we have his much vaunted little black book to thank for alioski, cibicki, ekuban, lassogga and later de bock, ideguchi etc Plus his influence on the appointment of two coaches... expenditure on lengthy contracts and u23s. You can make the Rome wasn’t built in a day argument and that’s true, but if you dispassionately look at his direct contribution... the u23s that have broken into the team so far have been uk based. He may well have set up an excellent structure behind the scenes... the academy and 23s set up looks to working, couldn’t say how much is down to him. He had a rep as a bit of a control freak and was behind the hirings of two inexperienced coaches where the feeling was, he could manipulate them without them insisting on influence in transfers. By this last summer he looked like a busted flush on all fronts. But he recommends bielsa and helps get him, knowing bielsa would want control of everything. So it’s a total change of tack from Orta and something he deserves great credit for. In the summer if radz had said Orta has gone, we’re going back to having a manager... here’s Sam allardyce. The sane, reasonable and balanced would have been ecstatic. History is littered with pivotal moments, that turn things on their head and bielsa is that for Leeds... and it’s helped the insane, unreasonable and unbalanced re-write orta’s Cv.
