???? Here’s what I said “ I get you’ve wanted us to play Eddie and Bamford, maybe it will work in the future, but today the chances only really came after Bamford was subbed.” How is that making out they’ve had their chance! I’m fine with bielsa trying them together. As a team we didn’t really hit our stride the whole game, whether we had 1 striker or 2 strikers on the pitch. I’m not pinning it on Bamford and Eddie And they had 24 minutes together today not 10
Do you want absolute ratings or relative ratings? Would messi always get a 10 no matter how he plays? I’m judging them against the standards they set. There probably isn’t a charlton player that would make our squad (Johnny Williams maybe... Kyle Taylor perhaps but he was crocked). Their league position is flattering. They beat Brentford 1-0.. and according to their fans Brentford battered them more than we did today. We dominated possession today without creating many clear chances. So by our standards we weren’t great - hence the lower marks. Hey the scores are there to be shot at - But i was disappointed with us today. Had we played like that during the colin or heck era, the scores would probably be higher.
Thank you, so our expectations are now higher, we were still the better team today then. I agree it’s goals and points that we need and I hope as much as anyone that Bielsa sorts it out
I’m not a gloom merchant fella. Love the way we play under bielsa. We dominated most of the game today - just despite the stats you didn’t get the sense a goal was really coming - it was only really like the Alamo in injury time!
Honestly wasn’t having a dig at you mate, myself included I’ve noticed we’ve raised our own bar of expectation.
Ok, so watching on LUTV it was practically impossible to see any movement off the ball. It makes it really difficult to assess individual performances other than when they are in possession of the ball. First half I thought we were good and almost very very good, we started brightly and without creating clear cut chances totally dominated possession and the game. However from their first corner (they did have one more in the 2nd half) Charlton took an undeserved lead. Firstly, the goal was another free header from six yards out directly from a corner, secondly it was a massive error in judgement from Kiko. There is no escaping the fact he should have held the ball, punching from his goal line at chest height was never going to clear the ball sufficiently. It was perhaps unfortunate to ricochet back into his goal but it was a goalkeeping error and it cost us big time. Second half and after 2 changes and also a change in system we lost control of the match. Possession was harder for us keep but the plus side was we looked more potent in their penalty area with 2 strikers making runs. It seemed to be the conundrum that Bielsa had discussed, could we get enough quality chances to the 2 up top with less possession and hence the other team working us harder. This was exemplified by Charlton having couple of dangerous free kicks from the edge of our box but we survived when it looked like we might suffer again from another set piece. It seemed though we should have forced an equalizer in the last 10 mins or so, the fact we didn't I would suggest was more down to our own desperation and lack of composure than any quality last ditch defending or goalkeeping. So again we have dominated a match but failed to get the 3 points. We've restricted the opposition to one chance, 2 corners and a couple of half dangerous free kicks. Personally apart from Kiko I thought everyone did ok but no one stood out, we needed someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck but we just don't have that player. We're crying out for a leader, a Strachan type who will not only give his all on the pitch but will make sure everyone else does too. Pablo is the closest but unfortunately he picked up his injury at the worst possible time when we were leading against Derby. Now all of a sudden it's 5 point dropped in a week and the inquests are in full cry, the pressure from outside the club will not help...it never does.
It's as if there's a line at 20 yards, and we can imperiously stroll up that far, but as soon as we cross it we lose all composure. Wakey & I were saying today - we'd never be paid thousands weekly for our footballing prowess, but even we could hit a ball at a goal and put it inside the post or under the bar most of the time back in the day. What happened to getting your head over the ball to keep it down, or low shots being harder to stop ffs? Today, we should has caused relentless mayhem in their 6 yard box, but attacks repeatefly fizzled out at 20 yards. We need to be more direct in the box, anyone with a sniff needs to shoot and hit the f*****g target. No, I'm not a bit sore.
Where can we get a De Bruyne, Silva or an Aguero...as that's what we're lacking. Shooting from the edge/outside of the box though was a disgrace...high wide and not so handsome seems to what we're best at, some on here though are calling for us to shoot more often which doesn't seem to be the answer. Tell you what might work...a settled side without any changes, players could actually build up an understanding and therefore be on the same wavelength more often than not.
No need to shoot more often, just hit the 'kin target once in a while. And we don't exactly change it all up weekly. That post has to be a windup young Jammy.
Didn’t take it that way fella - it’s a fair point as to whether you judge a player against a teams expected level, their own expected level or ignore that and it’s just who was best/worst on the day
Sorry Davy, he's not someone I know much about... There's couple of good stories about a Tom Sawyer though if you're one of those avid readers whilst on holiday.
Agree with the leader bit. Not necessarily an up and at ‘Em thing... more a demanding the ball and dictating play. Guess that’s Pablo. Phillips tried to do it from further back but nothing came off for him. There was plenty of movement off the ball, just felt we weren’t able to get the fullback/winger dynamic going where they get a proper overlap today. Too many cut insides not enough by-lines. Think charlton packed the defence to stop that and in fairness were well drilled. Klich put a real shift in and played well I thought.
I don't think Ayling is quite there, Rich. I reported that I spoke to him after his 70 mins or so on the field. I told him he looked a bit stiff (suspecting a hammy strain), when he replied that he was 'absolutely fukkin knackered'. And he was. Now that's just the physical aspect - there's the mental aspect to consider as well, which I'm sure Bielsa is taking into consideration. He'll be back. Was it you who suggested him at RB & Dallas at LB? Whoever it was, I think that might be a winning combination. But not just yet. (Have to re-state that he played at his absolute best in that match. Haven't seen that sort of performance from him for a long, long while.).
Jammy, Jammy, Jammy, Maybe you, Jock and Davy have been watching different games, if in fact Davy was actually agreeing with everything you said, I know Jock would just for sake of agreeing with you. Everyone knows Bielsa is reluctant to change a winning / drawing team, this means the same players are playing together, in same team, week in week out. So where are they not settling? The majority of those players were playing together last season as well. I think they've had enough time to build up an understanding with each other and get on same wavelength more often...............don't you?........obviously not. Changes only happen through injuries at moment, Bielsa didn't change the side that lost to Swansea with the exception of Forshaw who was injured. Right now we seem to be trying to walk ball into net, we've seen the same complaints about walking ball into net every season for last 10 years, and it ain't working that often. Opposing teams are packing their penalty / goal area when we attack, this makes it more and more difficult to walk ball into net. Shooting from around the edge of penalty box, from different angles is another option we should be trying more often, it's usually called mixing it up, or combining. Shooting can provide a goal, a deflection, a save, a save and deflection by keeper, a dropped ball by keeper, a handball, a deflection from their player to our player etc etc, it increases our chances of scoring, providing the shots are aimed below crossbar and between sticks. At moment the majority of our few long shorts are 3 pointers or trying to hit the fans in back row. Our problem is, a couple of cogs are not turning at same speed as the others, Harrison, Bamford, Phillips. Kiko should've caught the ball instead of trying to punch it, but it came back off our player and into net. He's been doing a good job so far, and with a few clean sheets too. One mistake shouldn't crucify him.................if it was the case, Harrison, Bamford and Phillips would've been hung, drawn and quartered by now. Before you go defending Phillips, he had a shocker against Charlton. He sometimes plays slightly above that standard in other matches. Harrison too greedy and can't cross, Bamford just not good enough at this level, which is why he's been loaned out about 8 times in his career since starting at Forest.
You obviously don't watch Leeds very often if you think casilla has only made one mistake. He is woeful, the clean sheets are a result of him not having to do much in those games. Any half decent strike on target usually results in a goal. I'm absolutely convinced we aren't getting promoted with him or alioski in the team.
I am afraid Elland all that means nothing!!! It’s about putting the ball in the net and that is something that we are not very good at.
