Good Morning. It's Thursday 16th December, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Eight absentees for Gunners game Jamie Shackleton and Junior Firpo are set to miss Saturday's clash against Arsenal. Shackleton sustained what looked like an ankle injury, midway through the first half mauling at the Etihad on Tuesday evening whilst Junior Firpo picked up his five yellow card of the season, leading to an automatic one match ban. They join Rodrigo, Patrick Bamford, Liam Cooper, Kalvin Phillips, Robin Koch and Pascal Struijk on the sidelines. In all likelihood, Cody Draheh will be drafted in at right back, with Dallas swapping to left back, and Luke Ayling continuing to partner Llorente in central defence. Thurday is Murder ball day! Let's hope there aren't any more injuries! please log in to view this image Limited funds available in January Phil Hay has disclosed that limited funds will be made available in the January transfer window. According to 'The Athletic' journalist, the decision was made following the injury to Kalvin Phillips, which will see the England ace sidelines until February. Whilst it's difficult not to agree that form has dramatically dropped, an unprecedented amount of injuries has also hampered team selection further. According to Hay:- “The intention is there after the injury to Phillips. But it will depend on budget and available options. You know the drill.” The pressure is certainly beginning to show on the Leeds hierarchy. Radrizzani has taken swipes at fans on twitter whilst Orta had to be restrained from attacking a fan at the end of the Brentford game as the red mist descended. What is the bare minimum Leeds need to invest next month to comfortably stay clear of the drop zone, and how many players do they need? please log in to view this image Players need to take responsibility Hammers icon, now pundit Frank McAvennie has hit out at Leeds players saying their performance against Manchester City midweek was unacceptable, and they need to take a share of the responsibilities. Whilst the former striker was critical of Bielsa for not altering his tactics against Peps men, he submitted that although hampered by injury, Leeds are not the same team as last season. “The problem with Bielsa is he wants everything forward,” “We all loved it last season when they were winning 4-3 and 5-4 but you can’t do that against this Man City team. “They are something else this season. You have to be able to adapt, even if that means putting 10 men behind the ball. “Leeds aren’t the same team this season. Because of injuries they don’t have the squad to do that. “You have to change it up sometimes, otherwise you will be ripped apart. “So Bielsa has had abuse on social media, I saw a bit of that. I get that. But Leeds are great to watch when they are on form. “I don’t get why he has forgotten about defending though, conceding seven is embarrassing. “It’s unacceptable against anybody and the players have to take as much blame as the manager.” please log in to view this image Boo boys turn their attention on Orta A section of disgruntled Leeds fans have turned their attention on Leeds Director of Football Victor Orta. The Leeds boo boys believe the fiery Spaniard is responsible for a host of poor signings which have led to their present predicament, hovering just above the drop zone. Orta joined the Whites in May 2017, and was instrumental in the capture of Marcelo Bielsa. Whilst the likes of Helder Costa, Jean-Kevin Augustin, Junior Firpo, Rodrigo, Robin Koch and Dan James have not lived up their price tag, Raphinha, Meslier and Llorente have more than exceeded expectations. It's true that Orta scouts the talent, but Bielsa has the final decision. Orta will provide Bielsa with three alternatives, and the Argentine selects which one he wants! please log in to view this image
Morning all. Brentford manager Thomas Frank this morning called for all football to be called off for a week due to covid. Not sure exactly why he thinks one week would solve the problem, other than allowing his own team's current absentees to recover of course.
Cody Drameh was introduced against Arsenal away and did a decent job on Martinelli the £70m winger. I have a feeling Cresswell will be picked at CB putting Ayling in at RB to sort Martinelli out and to paint pictures down the right with Rapha as we need to release the Brazilian to do some damage. We have stop Sacko on our left flank so does Dallas go to LB, we also need somehow to stop Thomas Party in the middle
Morning all Firpo is a huge disappointment so far and Shackleton is not PL quality for me so I don’t mind them being out, even if they were both fit to play I’d not pick them myself. Cresswell can’t be any worse than those who failed to defend against City so let’s get some shape back.
I agree. After 2-0 we should have stopped man marking. Problem is our midfield. Forshaw and Phillips work well and I don't believe that the 4-1-4-1 works when you're facing quality opposition and with anyone other than Philips - but teams have worked out how to stifle KP or play around him.
It can't get much worse than Tuesday night, can it? Time to give Cresswell a game Ayling is not a CB and we need him at RB. Hopefully though, Struijk will be fit and he's in. Tbh I wouldn't mind the next 3 games being called off, totally for selfish reasons, we need the troops back
Struijk being fit would solve all the defensive problems at a stroke. Ayling, Llorente, Struijk, Dallas would be a lot of peoples first choice.
I guess the positive is that we’ll see if either Drameh or Cresswell are up to PL football. Think we could do with selling Shackleton as he’s not PL standard and he’s very injury prone.
questions need to be asked why most of our players are getting injuries all the time, what the **** are they made of?
