My player ratings: Rachubka - 5 - Could have done better on a number of occasions i feel. Could have maybe stood up on the goal and not commit himself (although the goal certainly wasnt his fault by any means) and definitely shoulda been catching the ball more confidently and punching the ball better. Although better than recent games as he didnt actually directly cost us a goal. Connolly - 7 - Did well getting forward and i generally thought his defending was reliable Lees - 7 - Won headers well against opponents who were double his side. Was unlucky not to clear for there goal O'Dear - 3 - Just plain ****. I dont see how people dont agree with me on this one White - 8 - I have been his harshest critic of late but he played well. Got forward very well, his decision making is still questionable but will only improve. Is certainly changing my mind on him Snoddy - 8 - Definitely looking so much better, his shot with his right foot was awesome, still doesnt seem to be able to beat his man as well as he was but everyting good is coming through him at the moment Clayton - 7 - First half was pretty average but second half was very good. He ran the midfield better and it didnt look like they had a man advantage in the midfield Howson - 6 - Was very poor in the first half, dont think i saw him on the ball. Second half wasnt too great either however got into the game alot more in the last 15 mins or so Pugh - 5 - Was very poor, on the odd occasion he got the ball he lost it Keogh - 8 - Was so unlucky to be brought off and our whole game dropped when he did, I have now decided he is our best striker. Sorry luciano but your not getting back into the team for a while McCormack - 7 - Had some nice little touches and teed a few people off, seems to be losing his goalscoring a bit though, lets hope he gets back to that. Subs Kisnorbo - 8 - How he is not in the team above O'Dear is stunning, looked very good and im hoping theres more to come. Needs to play against blackpool Becchio - 6 - Didnt really do much Sam - 7 - Didnt get enough time on the pitch imo. But when he did get the ball, something always looked likely to happen These are my views on the performance, feel free to agree / disagree and put your own
By the way, i didnt mention that there goalkeeper shoulda been given man of the match, everyone of his shots was not only saved but he parried it away from all of our players everytime, he was fantastic and i feel he is the reason we didnt win this game
Josh,I agree with you about O'Dear,I said he was useless before he'd even kicked a ball for us as I'd seen him a few times playing for Ipswich,whose fans also thought he was ****. Nothing I've seen from him since has changed my opinion of him,& it doesn't reflect too great on Grayson the fact he signed him & continues to play him. Kisnorbo,even if he's not the player he was,is a much better option than O'Dea. I'd pick Bromby ahead of him as well.
O'Dea went off complaining of double vision? Can't help but feel it was his excuse for such a shocking moment, looked to be pulling a fast one out if you ask me.
yea exactly but on the positive, kisnorbo looked very comfortable, i was impressed with him considering his early season was poor
Why are you always defending him 18? He isnt good enough and even if he was concussed, surely that gives more reason to just put your foot through it? Or even tell grayson or whoever what the issue is before that, go down and say that you cant continue not let your whole team down. I reckon he is our worse CB behind Paynter
Something was mentioned about O'dea, apparently he was brought off because he had something wrong with his eye. He's looked solid lately and he definitely had an off day.
I'm not a defender of his. I thought he did better than people gave him credit for at Doncaster, but otherwise I've found him pretty run-of-the-mill 5 or 6/10. I.e. not a Leeds United quality player. I said today on the Cardiff match thread that the goal was his fault and he should have been rested for Kisnorbo. He was apparently concussed though so I don't buy this theory that he made it up as his get-out clause after making that hideous error. In short, if we'd been ambitious in the summer, we'd have got a proper talented defender who wouldn't make silly errors like O'Dea can and who'd partner Tom Lees well. But this is what you get for a policy of enforced failure.
im not gonna comment on how hes looked last few games but even against donny i thought he looked uncomfortable against a poor side in agame we were well and truely controlling so for you to say hes looked solid means that every single game i've watched of him, hes had an off day and if that is the case then he needs to be dropped for inconsistency. Either way, he should not be first choice imo.
I suppose it's all relative. I'll say anyone looks solid if we don't look like conceding, and often times of late we haven't looked like conceding until a stupid error (usually made by Rachubka) comes out of absolutely nothing. That said, O'Dea has made his fair share, but so has Lees.
Yea most errors of late have been rachubka, O'dear has made a hell of lot that havnt been costly though. lees has but not as much, against cardiff, he looked fantastic and i reckon he will make it big. He'll be playing most of his career in the prem i feel. He seems to be able to win headers off people who are double his size
I agree O'Dea made a big blunder and cost us, BUT lets have a look at Howson, he goes missing for long spells and IMO he is not happy with Clayton being in the team, as Clayton is a better player and Howson knows it, couldnt understand why they took Clayton off at Brum City as he was our best player that night, i think Grayson has a problem on his hands here, time will tell. MOT
Howson is unfortunate in the role hes had this year, fair play to him he would play in the net to wear the leeds shirt! I get frustrated at his reluctance to get forward (because he is so good at it) when in the 4-4-2 formation! I also think Odea has been lucky in the past few weeks that we have been up against **** opposition, yesterday they where **** opposition who had basically no chances but still managed to score, we had 10 chances and scored once!
Howson hasn't been getting forward nearly as much as Clayton, that's why he doesn't stand out. Just because he's not storming into the penalty box, doesn't mean he's not playing well. His passing is great, can anyone remember him giving the ball away? He drops back, which allowed the fullbacks to get forward. If he'd been attacking as well, we'd have been killed on the counter attack. He's playing as a deep lying CM this season. He's doing that role very well IMO, because he never gives the ball away and starts attacking moves. 7/10 performance for me. He did well.
Agreed. I think its easy to criticise him as he wasn't storming box to box as we know he can, but he did all the simple stuff right, which allowed others to do their thing. I'd always have Howson in the side alongside Clayton, although I wish he'd push forward more at times, as thats his forte. As for O'Dea, anyone who thinks he wasn't chatting s**t is extremely nieve. He lost all fight and hunger for the game the second he made that error and just wanted off the field. I dont think he's absolute rubbish, but Kissa should start, and apart from one error from my memory, was outstanding as soon as he came on. Admittedly it was against a poor Cardiff side, but he needs to start against Blackpool. Anyone know when Lonners is back? i dont trust Rabs to catch a cold!
I get called all the names under the sun for criticising Grayson yet it seems fashionable to criticise Howson whether he deserves it or not. Our fans are warped. Lees was man of the match for me. He's so good in the air. We don't seem to have had a centre half who's a threat from set pieces for a while, but he always is. He always heads the ball out of danger, too, and gets the right weight on his headers. I don't want to get carried away and start making big comparisons but he reminds me a bit of Vermaelen.
I've been saying for the last few weeks that Kisnorbo would look better alongside Lees than he did with O'Dea, much like Naylor looked a lot better when he wasn't playing alongside Collins. Most fans would probably have gone with Kisnorbo and Lees at the start of the season, we've finally ended up with them together after Grayson has gone through everybody else!
Lees is good in the air defensively, but when a corner comes in, his attacking accuracy is akin to Bradley Johnson's (aside from the Donny goal). He has a superb spring in his jump and if he neatens his overall play by passing to midfield more and finding the right ball over the top like Kisnorbo has the knack of doing, he could go far. Still needs a dominant centre-back partner, for me.
