Good Morning. It's Friday 23rd August, and here are the Leeds Utd headlines Hernandez witch hunt 'Woeful', 'shocking' and 'looking his age now' were only a couple of comments made on social media by Leeds fans about Pablo Hernandez's performance on Wednesday night against Brentford. It would be true to say the 34 yo had a poor game midweek, but to be torn to bits like this on social media surely is incomprehensible? Should Bielsa be using our talisman more sparingly? Can Hernandez still play two games in a week? Would anyone like to see his contract extended for another season? please log in to view this image Leeds partnership with 'Wish' Leeds have become the first football team to form a partnership with leading e-commerce 'Wish'. Following the successful sponsorship of the LA Lakers, the San Francisco company were looking to add another recognisable company to their brands, and Leeds fit that bill. The company's branding will have a heavy presence at Elland Road this term. According to Phil Hay, a six figure sum has been agreed between the two companies to sponsor Bielsa's blue bucket!!! Paul Bell, Executive Director at Leeds United, said: “The sponsorship market is more competitive than ever before and we are delighted that Wish have chosen Leeds United as their first club association within football." Sam Jones, Managing Director of Wish, added: "We believe aligning to iconic sport teams is a great way to build brand equity. This is a deliberate component of our global marketing strategy – we want to reach consumers during their favourite moments of a regular week, in this case, watching Leeds United. “Since sponsoring the LA Lakers jersey in the US, we have looked at dozens of football clubs in Europe and Leeds United appealed to us for so many reasons. Leeds is the third biggest and fastest growing city in the UK. please log in to view this image Leeds defence tighter than Fort Knox Over the course of the four Championship games so far, Leeds opposition have managed a combined total of six completed passes into Leeds United's box from open play. please log in to view this image (Black are successful opposition passes, yellow are unsuccessful opposition passes.) please log in to view this image
Morning Ell and all, social media is a pox on society and is full of nobody trolls who now have access to spew their vile thoughts and opinions. Football clubs would be best to ban all players from any form of ****sagram, shatchat and faceache. It just isn't worth getting involved in the ****e that appears from the moronic element that dwells in this murky environment. ****ing trolls, I hate the bastards. Have a nice day though.
Got a bit sidetracked there. What I was going to say is everyone has a right to an opinion but hernandez is a great player and at 34yrs old he is not going to be able to keep up the high standards he has set in every game. In my opinion this is where Bielsa should be managing his game time to keep him at his best especially as we have a decent squad these days. Twats who just slate players for the sake of hearing their own voices are prize ****ers. I myself have commented on Bamford but not attacked him personally. He was brought in to score goals but hasn't quite delivered but hoping this season he will. Just started watching the amazon documentary. Makes you proud to be a Leeds fan.
Good Morning to Matt and co from a chilly Bardsey Went to get my results after the recent biopsis I have had 2 weeks ago and the consultant said they were very pleased to tell me I did not have cancer! It was like yelling a condemned man he had been reprieved naturally Moe and I had a few to many last night! Had a super meal with WJ and Margaret at the Wild swan at Minskip I would go again Perhaps resting Hernandez for mid week games is the answer I suggested this a week or so ago
Pablo will need resting for probably 50% of games so might as well start now. As for social media, we are not short of our fair share of scumbag "supporters" that like to try and get their opinions across in text English at best. Not many only their own, pass much remarks on what they have to say and I definitely doubt Pablo does. Great news Mike . Next up for me is the fourth part of the documentary. Ive been trying to build up courage for that one since Monday. Its like one of those new dramas that start with a brilliant episode but gets steadily worse with every subsequent one
Has there been a better signing than Hernandez in the last 10-15 years? Genuine question. Maybe Wood? McCormack? Pontus? Can't think of many more. Hernandez is getting on a bit but he was never the quickest. If he loses a yard then he still has that intelligence that puts him above anyone else in the Championship. I can forgive him a few bad games. The big thing with Hernandez is that opposition teams can mark him out of the game but it usually means doubling up on him. That tactic works and nullifies his impact on the game. In the past, that meant Leeds ran out of ideas. If they double up on him now, it frees up other creative players. That's where Harrison, Costa, Bamford, Eddie, Clarke, Klich, Forshaw, Alioski, Douglas, Dallas need to crank their game up and use that extra space created by just having Hernandez on the pitch. That would force them to change tactic and try and put two on someone else this freeing Hernandez up and giving him more space to work in. It's all about other players forcing the opponents to change. In the past, if Pablo played poorly then Leeds did. Hopefully this year, if they nullify Pablo someone else comes to the party. If that happens then don't you worry about Pablo, his quality will shine through. He's still our best player by a country mile.
Great news,must be such a relief for yourself & family Been a bloody good month so far, long may it continue
In what way are people judging Pablo having a bad game? All I can see on here is association with his age. Why? I watched him live at the game. He ran all over the place & did most of the things I like him to do. Not great defending, but then he never has been. Didn't score or have an assist. But you can't have that every week, can you? So why do I think he had a poor game? Well, for me, it had nothing at all to do with his age - he just had an off day where his passing went awry. Sure, Brentford, being the good team that they are in closing down, had an influence on this. But even so, he still had an off day for me, 'cos even unchallenged, loads of his passes were too short, too long, or went straight to the opposition. I don't accept that age is a major factor for that. Pablo is just Pablo & will have off days sometimes. But you can't predict when he'll have a stinker, and when he does, as often as not, he's totally magic the next game. And yet a week older.
Admittedly I only saw 10 minutes of highlights but it included him scuffing the ball completely and other mishaps that created the impression for me that he was fatigued.
IT happened all through, Jonny, & if I'm honest, a lot of the times he wasn't under any noticeable pressure.
We rely on honesty here, so... If it happened throughout, what other explanation could there be other than fatigue?
I think the point is, when you are older it impacts on recovery, and over a season you get to the point where you are maybe never fully fresh. So what might be sporadic bad games from playing every 3 days early in the season become the norm by the end of it. Everyone has bad days, but his seem to be particularly bad - i didn’t watch him early in his career to know if he always had a stinker in him but he’s certainly always had them for Leeds. My presumption would be that it’s age related and his passes go astray because he’s leggy. Wouldn’t stop him running around as such, just impacts his touch. Pablos pass stats aren’t always great when he plays well, because he’s the one trying the killer pass. I suspect this probably exaggerates the effect when he's off form. No Leeds fan should have anything other than huge respect and appreciation for Pablo - he’s been a hell of a servant for the club - but it doesn’t mean you can’t say he has a stinker when he has a stinker. I don’t lay the blame at him, he’s always trying... if there is a blame... and I don’t know that there is, as I haven’t ascertained a pattern... it’s with the coaching team for not managing his freshness better and resting him appropriately.
Do you really think he would be that fatigued in the first 5 minutes? Really? Lots of players play badly from time to time, even young ones. Age is something that is often pounced upon, but not necessarily reasonable. If I told you that in the same match, KP was quite culpable when it came to giving the ball away, would you say it was fatigue with him? Well he was, & I guess you wouldn't. I am absolutely positive that if Bielsa suspected Pablo of suffering from fatigue, then he would have dropped him. Remember, he watches him in training every day.
