Good Morning. It's Wednesday 1st December, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Late drama at Elland Road An injury time winner from the penalty spot gave Leeds three valuable points, propelling them to 15th place in the table, in front of a packed out Elland Road. The game itself came to life in the second half, as both sides battled for supremacy. The Elland Road pitch became a battleground, with Bielsa's Leeds showed plenty of Northern grit, turning the game further to their favour as the game went on. A lack of firepower up front was evident as to why both clubs shared thirteen draws between them with fortified defences clearly on top. Even when breached, neither side could take advantage. A case in point was midway through the second half when Christian Benteke missed the target, with an empty goal at his mercy, to the relief of 35, 558 rain soaked fans! Leeds continued to hustle and bully their South London opponents, much to the jubilation of the Leeds faithful, whose voices got louder and louder as the game reached its climax. Their hard work finally paid off deep into injury time when England U21 ace Marc Guéhi handled Raphinha's in swinging corner. After reviewing the monitor Kevin Friend had no option but to point to the spot. Cool calm and collected, Raphinha tucked away his sixth goal of the campaign. please log in to view this image We were the better side tonight - Viera Palace Manager Patrick Viera spoke of his disappointment following the late drama at Elland Road. According to the former French star, the Eagles had the better chances but did not take advantage of them. Raphinha's late strike condemned the Eagles to just their "It happened on the other side a couple of games ago and we have to deal with it, outside of the situation at the end we are a little bit disappointed, we should create a little bit more chances and didn't make the right decisions. "I really believe we were the better team tonight. We don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves, we just have to analyse how we create chances and how we can improve our last pass and work in the final 30 yards. We had the best chances in the final 10/15 minutes and didn't take it, so you leave the door open. "The details make a difference, and the detail today is we didn't score that first goal and got punished. We knew the season would be long and we would have some ups and downs. It is important to stick together and work even harder. We showed some positives." please log in to view this image Special praise for Roberts Marcelo Bielsa reserved special praise for Tyler Roberts during his post match presser last night. The Welsh International enjoyed a rare start for the first XI, and although he still has not netted since Leeds trip to St Mary's last May, the 22yo's all round input and effort was telling. Whilst it's fair to say Roberts has received more than his share of abuse from Leeds fans, his performance last night shows why he is a Bielsa favourite, but as a forward his contribution in front of goal needs to improve drastically if he is going to make it, in the top fight. When asked about his performance last night, Bielsa replied:- "Very important. He did not stop fighting, ever. He kept our team alive and present. I did not imagine he could run as much as he did in 90 minutes". please log in to view this image
Morning all It was a very close contest, if you went by stats alone we were the better team, we didn’t deserve to lose that was for sure. Three more points against Brentford now, get Ayling and Bamford at least 45 minutes each and our fixtures from hell might not be too bad
I understand where Viera is coming from but I just think he has forgotten about Roberts chance first half when Raphinha put it on a plate and he didn't connect. It was a tap in. Then look at the Rodrigo chance when James prodded the ball across to him and he missed his control. Also if Viera was talking about some of the blocks our lads put in near the end then we have to factor in Klichs blocked shot, Roberts blocked shot, Raphas blocked shot. When you really narrow it down there wasn't much in it but they changed their gameplay 2nd half and played on the counter. We had more possession, shots, corners etc but they were very dangerous on the break. It was just a full blooded match that either team could have won in the last 20 minutes. I enjoyed it. The Dallas vs Zaha match up was a pleasure to watch. It never got nasty, just two players going toe to toe. I particularly liked it when Dallas tried to head the ball off Zaha's boot 2nd half.
I really really hope this is the last time we have to go through living hell because we failed to take our chances. This was the 2nd time in a few weeks we have been saved by a late late penalty to grab all 3 points. Yes we have deserved many more points but not taking chances has been an inherent problem. We could see Bamford and Ayling back at the weekend so we could have our house back in order and start to pick up points again. Brentford must be another 3 points and if we have our house back in order maybe we surprise some pundits and pick up the odd draw through the rest of December. Last night James ran his ass off and tackled back. He was a workhorse but still lacks quality final ball. Roberts deserved the praise he got for his running and battling and he unbalanced the Palace defence. We were lucky at times but we were also unlucky too. Just a word about Baren Cross from Leeds Live, bellend. Read his player ratings and decided hes a cnut. Raphinha 5, even though he was MoM. Pointless reading shyt
I thought Forshaw, and especially Dallas were fantastic in the second half. They popped up everywhere. Dallas was probably one of the most underrated players in the top flight last season, and last night, he was back to his best!
In defence of Rodrigo the chance he got came at him fast and he was at top speed. He had to adjust and could only use his right foot. Hes a lefty and if the ball had been in his stride he would have buried it with his left. He had to check himself and only had he wrong foot option left open to him and with his right foot it was the wrong angle
Morning all, Suddenly nice to be away from the bottom three and only four points from 7th. What a difference a win makes. Yes others around us are still to play tonight but their fixtures look fairly favourable. A word on a few players. Phillips and Forshaw are starting to look a formidable duo in the middle there. Forshaw was everywhere last night while Phillips just went about his business with his usual brilliance. I tip my hat to Forshaws fitness levels after two years off. As good as Raphinia was last night for me Dallas was mom for me. The way to nullify palace is to take Zaha out of the game and the Cookstown Cafu certainly did that. Not many players will make Zaha so anonymous in a game this or any season. Klich offered very little again last night and I called the half time change before it happened. Rodrigo made us look more threatening and he could have had a goal. Special mention for Roberts. Worked tirelessly and really helped the shape of the team. Should have scored when Raph whipped the ball across but coupled with the performance the other night hopefully something has clicked inside him.
Morning all. I've been trying not to drink on weekdays but at half time last night I was seriously regretting only having one beer in the fridge. A very tight game, although we edged it on the stats, on the pitch I thought it was very even and could have gone either way. Thankfully it went the right way. By the way, can I change my vote on the Forshaw Contract thread ?
I like Rodrigo but you’d have thought a £27m Spanish international could tap the ball home using his ‘wrong’ foot
I feel sorry for Rodrigo, this was supposed to be his season but he just doesn’t fit in. I accepted the fact we’ve wasted our money on him. He tries, you can see he has something about him but it’s just not breaking through. If we could get even £15m back for him in January we should take it
Watched this yesterday. Great hour. Part 2 to come out next Monday but this hour is mainly his Leeds career.
Raphina had a poor 1st half, almost every pass failed to reach it's target, made up for it in 2nd half though.
Leeds United have condemned a homophobic chant aimed at Crystal Palace midfielder Conor Gallagher when the teams played on Tuesday. The incident took place during the Premier League's Rainbow Laces campaign to support LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Chelsea rent boy, wasn't meant to be homophobic, they were pointing out the fact that Palace are renting(loaning) him from Chelsea. A big misunderstanding that's all.
