After Palace last Monday the general consensus was that "we won't get a point off the next three games". After losing the first one 4-0 everyone is in shock it happened and is planning for life in the Championship.
The result today was no better and no worse than, thinking rationally, we should have anticipated. We're still going to beat the goons, 0-2. I agree though there does seem to be a lot of angst and "the end of the world is nigh" comments, some people seem to like that sort of thing.
I think I'm at odds with a few re. today's performances. Both the lads that sit around me & the HT huddle lads agreed with me that Firpo had his best game for us! He was surprisingly positive, & had a good scoring op too - possibly our best chance. He'll be here next season - no doubt in my mind. Wish I could say the same for Rodrigo. We cheered when he found one of our lads with a pass. Surely can't be true, but I think every other pass went to one of their players, or out of play. He should have easily scored in his first breakaway, but for some fukken reason he ran to the left of goal instead of veering to the right to block the defenders chasing him, and in the process, narrowed his angle so make a scoring shot almost impossible. I didn't expect much from him, and yet I'm horribly disappointed in almost everything he did. I was also disgusted by our ESU & Cheese wedge supporters scrunching up the plastic sheets we found on our seats & throwing them at the pitch - and players too! We'll no doubt get fined for that. It also left the pitch in such a state that the ref stopped the game to get it all cleared. Didn't take long to get back to the same state, especially in the 2nd half when Grealish was on the ESU wing. Even after Raphinha showed his anger by kicking as many as he could off the pitch, and with a look that could kill. Despite the result, I was impressed by Koch, who I've rarely seen play CB. He combined well with Struijk. Sadly, I think we'll be in trouble persisting with Rodrigo. He's too wasteful & unpredictable for our current plight. A CF he most certainly is not.
Agree with Rodrigo. There is a reason most coaches play him out wide. He doesn't seem to make correct decisions or have an understanding of what's around him when he is in central areas. It's almost like 360 degrees is too much for him to comprehend. Stick him on the wing and he can only play infield so limits his options. He just seems to be rushed in the middle. Good midfielders always find space and time (like Pablo did).
A few games back, I had us down as hopefully three points against Palace then none until Brighton. The crucial thing for me is I had Everton down as zero points against Man U, Leicester and Chelsea. Regarding Burnley I’d assumed no points against Wolves and hoped for a dropped 2 against either Southampton or Watford. At this stage I’d hoped for us to have 36 points, 34 minimum but I expected Burnley to be on 30 points and Everton 25
I’ve spent most of rod’s time at Leeds thinking we had a player but not a position for him. There have been signs that under marsch we might have found it - but today was back to the worst of him. I’m with emu on this, he just looks like he wants too much time which is usually a sign he isn’t aware of the danger. Also I was critical of rod and raph a lot last season for overplaying in the wrong areas at the wrong time. Raph is still inconsistent in terms of his creativity but he seems to have largely learnt when and where to try his stuff. Rod just hasn’t. He was a liability today.
Hate to disagree with you regarding Firpo, he is a waste of space. Also better to throw paper than darts.
Didn’t see todays game and haven’t gone through the thread so can anyone summarise? Seem alot saying we playing okay, set up well but let in 2 poor goals. Does that sum it up? Didn’t expect anything but Cooper and Dallas injured (if for the rest of the season) absolutely destroys us as they’re the leaders and heart and soul of the group, they truly “get it”. Koch starting today makes me want to see Koch and Cooper starting CBs next season. Also, how was Firpo?
Cooper was injured in the warm up, Dallas played RB and couldn’t cope, he resorted to poorly timed fouls, the final one saw him stretchered off needing oxygen, possibly a dislocated knee. We didn’t play too badly, we could have maybe scored two goals, poor finishing and lots of poor decisions in the final third let us down although we were never the better team we matched them for several lengthy spells. Two set pieces and poor defending put us 2-0 down, our best players Klich and Koch despite Koch being part to blame in the first goal set piece, Harrison too, he was fairly solid and when Firpo was subbed he covered LB well. A few threats from Raphinha, Firpo was booked early (again), a couple of decent forward moves but absolutely shocking defending, easily our worst player. Meslier should have done better for one of the goals, we deserved nothing but played a bit better than in recent games
Cooper - Had a weird feeling in his knee when he passed the ball, nobody knows what it is, he is going to have a scan. Dallas - Marsch hasn’t got all the facts but after an initial scan he has been told it’s not looking good Jesse questioned about speaking to the ref: I call this human behaviour 101. So I don't know if you guys have those kinds of courses in England, but we have those in the US. If the referee isn't behaving in a way that I think is appropriate, and I'm asking things to change, and they don't change, then I have no other recourse other than to adjust my behaviour to try to force the referee to change his. Is that a good strategy or not? I'll say this after I get the yellow, I don't think it's a coincidence that they pick up a yellow in the next play.
Got to say I expected to lose today and it doesn’t sound too bad but not looking great with Arsenal and Chelsea being the next two games. Squeaky bum time. Can’t believe we’ve got to be cheering on Chelsea tomorrow ♂️ Would be nice if Cooper is back for the next game. Any chance of Harrison LB, James LW and Gelhardt ST next weekend?
Also, not looking great if Marsch went defensive and lost 4-0 but still didn’t have the strongest side so that’s a let off but the over training comments aren’t looking great now we’ve lost Summerville, Forshaw, Dallas and possibly Cooper under is watch. Maybe it wasn’t Bielsa training methods? I really want to see us stay up because obviously I’m a Leeds fan and want us to do well but I think it’s going to be interesting for the board to buy players, make a squad for the PL without blaming Bielsa for wanting a certain type of player or playing with a small squad because he was quite an easy scape goat but I do worry by the time we’ve played Arsenal and Chelsea that we’ll be in the bottom 3 and we’ll have massive pressure against Brighton who hammered Wolves today.
Honestly not sure what to make of today's performance as at times we were damn good whilst never looking like getting a positive result. What I will say is there's definitely something there but unfortunately the teams we have still have to play may just be too good for us. Final thought is how absolutely amazing the ER crowd were tonight with the whole stadium fully behind the lads. The chanting and support must have gone on for at least 10 minutes after the final whistle.
