Good Morning. It's Monday 2nd September, and here are the Leeds Utd headlines Swansea Sucker Punch Leeds slipped to third in the table, after suffering an injury time sucker punch. A crowd of 34,935 fell deadly silent as Wayne Routledge bundled the ball over the line, a shot that a non league striker would have been embarrassed to score. To their credit, the Swans defended really well. They were able to get back in numbers and thwart, with a bit of help from lady luck wave after wave of Leeds pressure. The biggest, and most disappointing stat has to be that Leeds had 21 shots on target. 14 of those shots were from inside the Swansea penalty area, yet we only managed to find the target three times! How is that possible? Leeds have the lowest conversion of attempts v on target, and it is well documented. Does Bielsa need to change his formation? Surely, playing the same XI week after week gives the opposition a big advantage? Can Leeds just rely on Nketiah coming on in the last 20 minutes and change games? He missed a couple of half chances on Saturday but he can't be blamed for that. Nketiah needs to be playing 70 or 80 minutes a week to stay match sharp. Giving the lad 15 minutes here, or 20 minutes there does not enable the lad to get up to speed with the game. Is Bielsa too stubborn to change his style of play, or make wholesale changes to starting line ups? Intensity concerns We have already heard from Ex Leeds star Michael Bridges last week over the Leeds players concern (including Cooper, the Captain) about burnout after Christmas. Should Bielsa be concerned that Leeds players are worried? Every game that Leeds have played well, their intensity has been high. They have rushed and bullied their opponents without giving them time to breathe. How long can they keep this up? What happens when they huff and puff but fatigue comes an issue, which with the amount of pressing we have seen so far this season, will surely be a factor? Agree? please log in to view this image Post Match Reaction Leeds head coach Marcelo Bielsa: "The individual performance of the players was positive. "Our players played a little under the level that they have. We had the ball constantly. We defended well. "We created enough chances to deserve two or three goals. The chances that the opponent team had was in relation to the corners, and more from the second balls after the corners. "We had a high possession of the ball. We attacked with calm. This is the analysis of the game." Swansea City head coach Steve Cooper: "It's the perfect result, with a clean sheet away from home. We had to work hard for it. "I liked us defensively. Anyone that comes here knows they are going to have moments where they are going to have to defend properly and we did that. "Any game away from home in this league is a test but it's all about what we do. There are some areas we would definitely like to improve on but there are some areas that went well. "I said before the game that these are games that we've got to be excited about. You can't come here and fear, you can't come here and hide. You've got to come and enjoy it and we did that." Clarke - Witch hunt or justified? Carlos Corbaran's U23's drew a blank against the Robins at Elland Road yesterday, much as their senior side did 24 hours previously. Jack Clarke did little to endear himself to the Leeds faithful with a lacklustre and slightly disinterested performance. The 18yo left was eventually substituted and left the pitch without even acknowledging his colleagues or the Leeds faithful. Que the social media bully boys! Thoughts? please log in to view this image
Morning all We only want players who want to play for Leeds. If Clarke or anyone else is not interested get rid of them.
Morning, The fact that Leeds had 14 shots from inside the area shows that the formation is working perfectly, so absolutely no need to change it. The problem is quite clearly the conversion rate. We need to to be more clinical, simple as that. How we can achieve that is for the coaches to work out, and if they do, we'll be promoted. All other aspects of the system are in full working order. In fact it appears the defence has improved since last season.
Good Morning to Matt and co from a cool dull Bardsey Well even Man U having spent millions on players have still to find their striking boots with only Dan James showing them how easy it is 'I bet he his now worth at least £60m having taken the [PL by storm What a buy for them what a loss for us but it shows we have some very good scouts about if only! Now for some good news after 6 games we are 2 points better of off than last season so lets hope we can keep this up After 4 games the PL top 2 has already been decided But at least the blades are making a fist of it Wilder says they are not day trippers and after drawing at Chelsea I believe him My views on Clarke is that for his own good we should send him back
Although I agree in principle with Forza I think we see resemblance of last season so we brought in more fire power and creativity. Now time to use it and start Costa and Eddy even if Eddy and Bamford play? Hate battering teams and getting beaten and then the opposition manager gobbing off that he knows the formula for beating us. Today we could see Bouy, Anita, Nessy vanish...
Firstly we played well on Saturday, so absolutely no need to panic. First half was the best we've played this season and though I was initially impressed tactically with Swansea it quickly became clear they were toothless up front and therefore were there for the taking. Time and time again we penetrated their defence but seemed one dimensional once in good positions and repeatedly cut the ball back to the edge of the box only to fail to score. The game seemed perfect for someone like Nketiah to come on and have a ball slid across for him same as Brentford. Personally I thought we made an error bringing Bamford off for Eddie as the 2 strikers would have split the defensive line with one coming short but it's obviously much easier with hindsight. Final 15 mins and Swansea finally showed a tiny glimpse of intent and for the first time in the match the possibility of them nicking it was apparent. It was highly unlikely to come from open play but by having some possession higher up the field they finally grabbed the points with the scrappiest of goals. Fair play to them, they had hung on for dear life and sometimes in football that proves to be enough. It reminded me of our performance at Sheff Utd last season when we gleefully accepted the 3 points after being second best. We're a better side than last season and I fully expect it to be a successful one. We'll be right up there challenging for promotion and perhaps now might be the time to consider/remind ourselves how far we've come both as a team and a club in the last 12 months or so.
"14 of those shots were from inside the Swansea penalty area, yet we only managed to find the target three times! How is that possible?" I think the Yanks proposal many years ago suggesting the widening of the goal would help us...
Deflected shots of defenders counts as off target and they were throwing themselves on the line. Clarke did it for me when he left and said he was always eventually going to join a big club (or words to that effect) Afternoon all...
W We got three of the players in that i wanted. A striker with pace and a quick winger. Bpf was sold for a good price and he cant make the bench. The reserve goalie is deffo an upgrade. So yes i agree with your assessment and you have the bonus of attending games to judge us.
There is one glaring deficiency in the team/squad and I think we all know where it is... Well, I do anyway.
Found this lying on the floor. Not mine. Wonder who it might belong to on here? Answers on a postcard ... please log in to view this image
I agree. If we are having the same problem as last season, i.e. converting chances created with the same forward we had as last season then to me the answer is to give Eddie his chance. I know Bielsa is loyal and probably doesn't want to affect Bamford's confidence but he needs too many chances to score. From what I've seen, Costa is absolute quality. We're committed to paying 15 million for him so how the hell do you leave a 15 million pound player on the bench in the Championship?
Evening everyone Clark, maybe we should send him packing and be happy we got the money and leav it with that And for the team I would have Costa in for Forshaw and move Pablo in central. We need players that can score goals and create goals, Forshaw can’t do any of those things
On current form there's no way Bielsa will drop Forshaw. Hernandez has been distinctly off the boil lately.
