Another massive weekend and another big worry. Last weekend we should have had our first win and by half time we should have been way way ahead of Newcastle, and watched the taxi taking Bruce off into retirement. Through a mixture of bad finishing and poor refereeing we saw them score an equaliser and take a point. This weekend we have a much tougher game against a team who will be pushing for Europe, a team who did us twice last year by having big CBs kill us on set pieces. They are a stronger team this season whereas we at the moment seem poorer. Tough ask this one and a point would be decent. Friday night could see Leeds U23s go top of the league by beating Blackburn 4-0. The kids have done fantastic in their first season in the top tier. My only concern would be around team selection due to first team injuries and the game against WHU. Will Bielsa allow the kids who played the other night risk injury and lose them for WHU or will he have enough players back fit.? To date we know we have no Bamford, Llorente or Koch. We may get Harrison back which would then see James on the right flank if Raphinha is still missing. If we have Harrison and Raphinha back we can allow Summerville to play for the 23s. Cresswell will probably start against WHU alongside Cooper so he will deffo miss the 23s game. Will we see Dallas. But cover for Bamford will probably mean Roberts gets yet another chance but we will probably see Gelhardt on the bench which means he will not be available for the 23s Phil Hay said something this morning which made my ears prick up. He said that Man City and Chelsea, to name but 2 clubs are paying their 23s massive wages and in many cases can be paying £20k per week for young kids. This makes the decision of Gelhardt, Miller, Bate, Drameh, Greenwood, Hjelde, McGurk and Summerville to join Leeds all about football and career and nothing to do with cash. Lewis Bate was wanted by Chelsea to extend his contract, but he decided to leave his big wage and come and train under Bielsa. Bate decided that he wouldn't get to play for the first team because Billy Gilmour is ahead of him and so is Connor Gallagher, so he took a pay cut to come to Leeds. The players named above were all wanted by top 4 clubs and indeed top clubs in Europe. Amari Miller is best mates and same age as Jude Bellingham who plays full International dor England and plays his club football in Germany, his club wanted Miller too but he wanted Bielsa…. You have to applaud these kids, they are the cream of talent in England right up there with the best Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea can put out and we saw Liverpool destroyed last week. Man City are only 3 points ahead of our kids at the top of the league, but so far this season we havent been able to field our best U23 team, due to first team commitments Lots of worrying going on with the fanbase and indeed even on this board we have some who are more than worried. So a few questions: How long will you give Junior to settle before hiring a hitman. When will Roberts fans realise they just might be wrong When will real panic set in if we dont win soon
Some players take a season to adjust. Firpo has to adjust to the system and a new league. Ideally he would come in all guns blazing but happy to wait until after Christmas before calling him out fully. I'd say this was Roberts last season if he doesn't improve. Happy to give him the rest of the season to impress. Real panic will set in if we are bottom three on Christmas day. I'd then admit we are in trouble but sitting outside the relegation zone after 5 games despite not playing well as yet is a bit pessimistic. We are still creating chances which is a big positive. I'd be concerned if we were sloppy at the back but creating nothing up top and that's not the case.
Hey Doc, nice post Chelsea are notorious for paying their U23s on average £25k p/w which is ridiculous ... they stack their Academy with talent to prevent rivals from getting these kids ... FIFA were going to look into clubs like Chelski and Citeh stacking their Academies as it is harmful to young talent development, and prevents lower division clubs from getting these kids into their clubs (NOT loans) Firpo was excellent at Fulham ... he bottled up the left side with James, stopping them getting anywhere near the byline ... Firpo's ability going forward also meant their wide man was forced to stay with him, giving him no opportunity to cut inside and run at the defenders ... Firpo's effectiveness shielded Cresswell from marauding wide men running at him, which helped him tremendously to settle and have a decent game without too much pressure ... Firpo is a talent, there's a reason Bielsa wanted him, and he'll only get better as he starts to master Bielsa Ball Roberts has tons of ability, it doesn't help him having such a stop-start role in the team ... I guarantee you that if he gets a run of say five starts he will be mustard, but it's not easy getting in ahead of Bamford or Rodrigo ... he's still only 22, and he has the quality and the power, all he needs is a run of games to build his confidence which will improve his decision-making ... don't write the lad off yet, he works hard and wants to contribute, just needs the opportunity We need 12 wins from 33 games, and there's enough teams out there we can beat, so we'll be fine ... West Ham is another really hard fixture, and a point tomorrow will be good ... just don't lose this game, that's important
I agree with all of this except on Roberts. Roberts has had maybe half a dozen decent games since coming to Leeds, yet has played almost 90 games. He was given a new contract but hasnt had a decent game since he signed. We saw patience run out with Costa and Poveda and is surely running out with Roberts by now. Bielsa has given him the tools to prove himself but is yet to repay him. He should be the happiest player at the club because Bamford is injured and he has a chance to shine. If he is whipped off again this weekend and replaced by Joffy, watch his face. He had a massive sulk against Fulham and you could see he was worried
yes, Roberts was disappointed at being hooked, but I think Bielsa was always going blood Joffy in that game anyway ... Roberts didn't sulk though, look at him at the end of the game, in amongst the lads and smiling ... he remained positive, because he is a team player ... at least he's not hiding
So things moving on pretty quick against Derby. In an earlier post I pointed out that Wycombe are pursuing legal action against the EFL and Derby as they rightly feel they were cheated out of being in this season's Championship. Steve Gibson is also chasing them for not getting promoted because they were pipped by 1 point for the play offs the season before they cheated us by getting to the PO final Steve Gibson has been critical of clubs that have breached financial rules, branding them as "cheats". For a number of years the Boro chairman has been on a mission to get the EFL to enforce their own financial fair play regulations. Derby's controversial 'sale' of Pride Park in 2018 is said to have particularly angered Gibson. Morris sold Pride Park for £81m to a subsidiary he owns, a transaction that enabled the Rams to avoid a loss that would have been a breach of profitability and sustainability rules. Gibson was said to have made a 'robust intervention' at a meeting of Championship clubs in March of 2019. Just a couple of months later, Derby pipped Boro to the final play-off spot in the Championship by a single point, when Tony Pulis's side finished seventh. This week's Telegraph report also details how Derby hijacked Boro's move for striker Martyn Waghorn in 2018, paying double the fee that Boro had agreed and offering £10,000 a week more in wages. Having scrutinised Derby's accounts, Gibson, say the Telegraph, couldn't understand how the Rams were able to spend so lavishly on players. The report says Gibson was again furious last summer when Derby hijacked Boro's bid to sign Brighton defender Matt Clarke. Boro were in Cornwall at the time on their pre-season trip and Clarke was expected to join up with Neil Warnock's side. Steve Gibson has been critical of clubs that have breached financial rules, branding them as "cheats". For a number of years the Boro chairman has been on a mission to get the EFL to enforce their own financial fair play regulations. Derby's controversial 'sale' of Pride Park in 2018 is said to have particularly angered Gibson. Morris sold Pride Park for £81m to a subsidiary he owns, a transaction that enabled the Rams to avoid a loss that would have been a breach of profitability and sustainability rules. Gibson was said to have made a 'robust intervention' at a meeting of Championship clubs in March of 2019. Just a couple of months later, Derby pipped Boro to the final play-off spot in the Championship by a single point, when Tony Pulis's side finished seventh. This week's Telegraph report also details how Derby hijacked Boro's move for striker Martyn Waghorn in 2018, paying double the fee that Boro had agreed and offering £10,000 a week more in wages. Having scrutinised Derby's accounts, Gibson, say the Telegraph, couldn't understand how the Rams were able to spend so lavishly on players. The report says Gibson was again furious last summer when Derby hijacked Boro's bid to sign Brighton defender Matt Clarke. Boro were in Cornwall at the time on their pre-season trip and Clarke was expected to join up with Neil Warnock's side.
One of these days the owner rather than the “Club” will be accountable for miss management etc Until that happens it will be the fans who suffer.
Derby have managed to restrict alot of clubs chances of promotion or avoiding relegation by cheating for years. We've all called them out on here and I am amazed that alot of fans of other clubs are only just waking up to it. It's a joke that they got away with it for so long. I hope they go bust, the owner goes to jail followed by the corrupt ****ers at the EFL who have obviously known about this for a while.
Remember the days they broke the rules before after scoring the lowest number of Premier League points in history, 8. There were 3 directors who stole the parachute payments and 2 went to prison. Derby the most bent club in history still manage to get a seat on the EFL board
On 57 minutes Joffy replace by McKinstry so expecting to see both of these on the bench tomoz alongside Summerville who didnt play tonight and Cresswell will probably start as he didnt play tonight either
The performance numbers are in and loads of errors tonight mainly due to Cresswell not there and some square pegs in round holes. But the top performers on 7/10 were Amari Miller even though sent off and Lewis Bate for his invention. Next on 8/10 Sam Greenwood and MoM yet again with 9/10 Joffy
Crackin' news ..... https://motleedsnews.com/news/leeds...pl-clubs-to-have-had-most-players-vaccinated/
As long as none end up like Jeremy! https://supersport.com/tennis/news/210923_Chardy_suspends_season_after_reaction_to_Covid_jab !!Van-Tam considers this post silly and misleading and encourages everyone to read the Darlow story. AJAW!!
Afternoon Doc, and others. Another fantastic weekend debate. I can't see us getting anything out of the Hammers game, and would give the Kids a run out for first team experience. Will it hurt their confidence? Of course not! The fear of defeat will make them stronger. We must beat Watford and Southampton in our next games. Anything less than six points would be disappointing, anything less than 4, would cause sleepless nights!
Brilliant that Charlie Cresswell gets to start his first Premier League game. This is massive as he is up against some big bullying CBs and a bruiser striker. Only Harrison and Roberts from the first team sat on the bench but Jiffy and Greenwood are there and even young Hjelde
