The only real worry for me today was your lad Sarr up against our new LB who has struggled a bit so far. Luckily Sarr never really got going and our LB played his best game yet. I'd like to finish by trying to find some kind of positive about Watfords performance but I'm struggling. I'll just say good luck for the rest of the season. I reckon 35 points will be safe this season.
Sarr has been marked out of the game a few times tbh which doesn’t help. We have a tough run coming up which is why many were so disappointed about yesterday. It looked too easy and comfortable for you. I agree both teams had bad decisions against them but that seems to be the usual unfortunately.
After our stunning victory against Watford, I can safely say that we will finish in the top six. there's positivity for you.
On yesterday and our first few games you see the problems at the bottom of the table. You have Watford that had made 9 points and Leeds only on 3 points. You applaud Watford for their start without analysing the performance or the opposition. We on this site have had a bad start and a couple of under par performances but against some top teams. Yes we had panic on here, even by me but when you look at the way we performed yesterday there is no way this team goes down. We still have an injury crisis yet I watched yesterday and thought of the speech from Gladiator: “Are you not entertained” even Watford players were blown away with how we play.
Don't be too disheartened by the bold bit. We can do that to teams with the way we play. We've had loads of injuries and missed alot (I mean alot) of easy goalscoring chances this season whilst making individual errors at the back. Our performances have been gradually improving and it was just a matter of time before we just played somebody off the park. Unfortunately you guys suffered yesterday in possibly our best performance over 90 minutes. From our point of view we still missed too many chances but the performance was there. To your credit, you were second best all over the park but nearly came away with a point. You stayed in the game. That's invaluable at this level when every point will count.
to be clear he means good luck for the rest of the season excepting the return match. personally I thought the Watford goal should have stood, first time a big call has gone our way this season. The James incident was one of those where you see them given but could make a case either way - unlike the stonewall one at Newcastle (thought we had 2 clear pens there actually)
Genuine question.. have we missed that many sitters? We’ve spnked a few but largely we’ve messed up good situations with poor final balls this season… and in a fair few games not really created that much either. Agree we’re Definitely on an upward trend in terms of creativity. … Our xg isn’t that much higher than our actual.
I think yesterday was definitely more about wrong choices rather than missing sitters. Dallas 3 or 4 a couple from Klich too, one from Roberts at the end, possibly more. Pass rather than shoot through a wall of bodies.
Our problem has been a massive failure of final ball. We seem to do all the hard yards and then mess up a simple pass to an open player or choose the wrong option. On top of that we have a heavy shot count but a small on target count as yesterday showed. I believe our “chances” count is actually a bit inflated by some not actually being chances. Composure required around the box and picking the right choice. We cannot account for Dallas having the wrong boots on yesterday but we should expect Klich to smash it and not try and finesse a pass into the net. Choices
How much better are we when Llorente plays. I'm amazed he wasn't on the bench, eased in gently because of his injuries though. Shackleton too has started to shine. Give the guy a good run out, and look at the results! Firpo is getting better every game. Dan James was everywhere. The amount of times he nipped in was fantastic. Considering Meslier could have popped off to the shops, and back again without conceding, I'm amazed Gelhardt was not given minutes! Bamford will probably be out for another month, and Rodrigo is not a goalscorer. He said so himself.
Another brilliant day out at the footy yesterday. Incessant rain and sadly no Marcos & Ben to get the beers in every 5 minutes were the only minor problems. On the pitch we were totally dominant and you'll rarely see a more accomplished 1-0 win. So now we know don't we...we know we're a class above most of the teams in the bottom half of the PL but haven't yet progressed enough to challenge the elite. We also know that against weaker opponents we are improving, the signings of Dan James and Firpo made us stronger yesterday and our class showed right throughout the side. Some fans will be disappointed that we're not good enough to finish Top 6 but we need at least another season before that step up might become possible. Personally I can see the squad is improving and the gap to West Ham, Everton etc is getting smaller, we are definitely on the right track but patience is required. Leeds should finish 10th - 14th and we should all be very happy with that.