How did you rate Llorente on Sunday ? To me there were signs that he might get his mojo back but one misplaced pass (into touch 1st half) and his confidence seemed to take a hit.
last year set piece: scored 10 about average, conceded 19 (joint worst in league) this year scored 6 conceded 6… both about average. So more improvement defensively than offensively. Agree though… the eye test says we look more threatening - just still keep missing the headers from the better deliveries!
I’m not, I just keep getting reminded we sold our best players, but that doesn’t answer the question, which three would you pick? Whoever sanctioned the signing of Aaronson and Roca wants speaking to. One look at Wober in midfield and it’s obvious he’s a bit on the chunky side, slow and ponderous, if he’s the answer for a new LB then I’m a China man
I actually think Llorente is our best centre half. His first season with us was great. Last season he was, like everyone else, just overwhelmed as teams just flooded through the middle at him. He couldn't cope and his confidence was soon shot. No problem with that, it's football and that can happen. The problem I have with Llorente is that he hasn't bounced back at all. Instead of going back to basics and getting the fundamentals right he's kind of gone the other way and tried to show his inner Beckenbauer. Problem is that he isn't Beckenbauer and he keeps ****ing up which sends him in to a crisis of confidence again. I'm not sure he can get out of that viscious circle here. As for his performance on Sunday I thought he was good for large parts of the game. The problems were largely on the left channel. Him and Kristensen looked a bit more steady defensively than Struijk and to a lesser extent Firpo (who had a good game going forward). You rightly point out that he made a small mistake which seemed to affect him. That's his mental fragility coming out and you can't have players that are weak like that. I think he's done at Leeds unless a new manager can somehow turn that around. I suppose we'll find that out at some point given his contract extension.
well he looked good compared to struijk! seriously, missing the header for the second wasn’t a good look, but no one picked up the runner… some sloppy passes. Truth is they didn’t actually threaten apart from the goals, so it was quite impressive of us to look so bad at the back without really having much to do. He wasn’t the worst though jambo… maybe he needs a run instead of Koch to get his mojo back, but after Brentford Jesse seemed to decide that Koch was the least risky of the two.
Last year's 3 of Phillips, Klich and Dallas (although rarely, if ever, played together last year) is massively let down by Klich as he was last season. He had run his race and was a passenger. Dallas is a steady Eddie. I rate Phillips extremely highly btw, very underrated player. I'd just about pick this lot over Adams, Roca and Aaronson but having Phillips in there is the only reason and he wasn't available for most of the season. Roca does alot of stuff off the ball that I like and he tries to play through the lines but he's no Phillips. Needs to get back to pinging those balls out wide he did earlier this season. Adams is very busy and has started to influence things further forward. I like Aaronson and his energy, he's got quick feet. He thrived early season but he needs to do everything quicker. Needs to build himself up stronger for this league but all is not lost with him. The emergence of Greenwood in that role has been a good move by Marsch who identified him lacking pace up top so moved him back. When Bielsa did that with Phillips he was a genius. When Marsch takes a younger guy and does it....
New formation, back from long term injury and probably not fully match fit. Doesn’t make kp a bad player. I don’t see a huge difference between last years and this years midfield if all fit. Though roca and aaronson started the season pretty well, dropped off form but bit early to right them off as no hopers. Wobers had a month off on the pies so not fully fit but I Agree I don’t see him as the answer at left back. LCB maybe.
That's a good spot actually, Phillips and Greenwood being moved back. I forgot Bielsa inherited KP as a box to box AM.
Think the term mental fragility used earlier is 100% right. Llorente was brilliant and looked a baller in season 1, Struijk was doing fantastic right up until he was wrongly sent off for hurting the scouser he never really got back to his best. Koch was good but too much in and out through illness and injury just like Llorente. I see the whole defensive unit being mentally fragile as if wearing that shirt is too much at home. Any slight mistake from one of them they seem to collapse, we were all over Cardiff until Struijk stupid back passs and then he lost his man and then he was gone. Llorente made an error and it took him an age to find his mojo again. The Kristensenand Aaronson problems I believe can only be explained by them being told to do something they have never been asked to do before by Marsch. I get the feeling these ex Marsch players need to sort Marsch out
Evening all. If a new LB on his first start for us had a shot that needed to be handled away on the line, giving us a pen, and then played a neat flick to get us the equaliser you'd be peeing your pants over him. Our CB pairing looked lost without Cooper. Just saying.
