8 POTENTIAL MISTAKES THAT WERE MADE LAST SUMMER i) Fresh Legs Three years of intense SAS style training may finally have taken its toll on the players! When your style of play relies so heavily on supreme fitness, you need to ensure that the players have had adequate recovery time. You could tell from their first pre-season game at Ewood Park, that the players hadn't recovered properly. ii) Bamford When news broke that Patrick Bamford's season is all but over, due to a pre-existing foot condition he picked up twelve months ago, I couldn't help but think back to last Summer's transfer window and the opportunities we had to strengthen our squad. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It's very easy to point out mistakes after the event, but surely what we're seeing is incompetency! Bamford is our ONLY goal scoring forward, unless you count Gelhardt, who hasn't just been used sparingly, he's played 539 fewer minutes than Phillips!!!! We saw enough of Rodrigo to know that he isn't a natural goalscorer, and as for Roberts........ iii) Midfielders I'm sure we all agree that we started this campaign two midfielders light. Thank goodness Forshaw has come good. Whilst he is no Kalvin Phillips, he provides adequate cover. Imagine what kind of bother we'd have been in, had his injury persisted? iv) Squad The squad was always going to be too small, and Leeds didn't and don't have the strength in depth to be able to rotate. Far too many square pegs in round holes due to lack of quality cover. v) Firpo Had Leeds learnt nothing from the JKA affair? Splashing out 13m on Firpo without surely carrying out due diligence has cost Leeds multiple points this season. Just because the lad played for Barcelona, doesn't automatically make him a great footballer. vi) Contracts Leeds left it too late to offer new terms to Phillips and Raphinha! It should have all been tied up as soon as last season finished - on a massive high!!! vii) Bielsa Did Radrizzani control Bielsa or was it the other way round? The Argentine made some massive calls relating to turning down players, size of squad, same tactics every week and potential over training. Perhaps he was given too much freedom? viii) January Transfer Window We were down to our bare bones in January, and were desperate for new blood, yet nobody arrived. We then lost 7 out of 8 games, conceding 25 times. Had we not got a bit lucky against Norwich, or had a purple patch against Wolves in the second half, relegation could be staring us in the face!
And yet here we are in charge of our own destiny, with only the crappers & new collection of fair-weather Leeds fans thinking that we're going down. Couldn't be sure if it was you or Karen Cairney that wrote this Ell, as it's the self-same crap that's been spouted by the Anti-Leeds brigade all season. You don't go by the name Gobby Abonginawhore too, do you?
We've needed an out and out striker for a few years now, as much good work Bamford does for the team he isn't one.
And the point I was making is that the Leeds Utd hierarchy put ALL their eggs in one basket, knowing that Bamford was carrying a major injury, let alone their inability to bring in midfielders. The club receive at least 100m from the Premier league, plus approximately 35m for gate receipts.
They knew Bamford was carrying a major injury a year ago, but decided to go the entire season with one goal scoring striker.
WJ was wrong to compare you to Karen Carney, Diane Abbott is more accurate. 135m for gate receipts? Average match day tickets must be £180? Was it Diane that told you bielsa spent more than any manager ever in the championship?
When Bielsa was sacked it looked like we were heading in only one direction. For some of those who called for Bielsa's head to continue to drag the club down is in my opinion shameful, especially as the signs of recovery are there for all to see. From my point of view I'm happy to admit to a bit of a wobble when Marcelo went but now I'm sick of this continual bashing of our club. The constant attempts to drive wedges amongst the fanbase with negativity about owners, senior executives and transfer speculation about under contract players needs to cease. This season was always going to be a challenge and providing we stay up it will have been a successful one.
Jammy, how difficult was it to get back in the Prem? We have just found out that the hierarchy knew Bamford was carrying a bad foot injury for a year, but didn't think to bring in even a second goal scoring striker. It's the highest level of incompetency.
Was the medical prognosis that Bamford's foot problem would last a year ? You seem to be implying it was.
I called the club out in January for not strengthening. They gambled with the promise of plenty of activity in the summer if we stayed up. I will sit and wait for the results before I start. At this point the gamble is paying off as we are 7 points clear. Can't really grumble. I'll be pretty angry if it ends up backfiring though.
Yes we know that now. Bamford was not expected to be sidelined for more than a few games but yet you say it's the " highest level of incompetency " that we didn't sign a direct replacement for him last summer. Also Bamford started our first 5 League matches, including against Newcastle on 17th Sept and so the transfer window was well closed by the time his injury prevented him playing. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and wouldn't it have been lovely to have signed a direct replacement for Phillips as well. You do remember we were in the lower leagues for 16 years don't you ?
