Good Morning. It's Friday 13th January, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds set to out-muscle Serie A pacesetters in pursuit of Ounahi With the signing of Georginio Rutter imminent, Leeds have swiftly turned their attention to Moroccan midfielder Azzedine Ounahi. The 22yo rising star has been on Leeds radar since the World Cup, and has attracted the attention of many top European Clubs, including Serie A pace-setters Napoli, but according to the Italian media, Leeds are now favourites to sign the Angers player. “As regards the Napoli transfer market, we can say that Leeds are in pole position for the Moroccan Azzedine Ounahi,” “The English have offered €25m (£22.2m) to Angers and €2.5m (£2.2m) to the player. “Higher figures than those offered by Napoli which had stopped at €1.5m (£1.3m).” please log in to view this image Confidence, belief and commitment issues It was after the West Ham game that Jesse Marsch revealed that his squad are suffering from "confidence, belief and commitment" issues. Whilst this may be true, should the gaffer have blurted it out to all and sundry? What effect could this have on their fledgling stars? Is Marsch suggesting that some of his players are not 100 percent committed to the cause? The Senior players too, have a responsibility to rally their comrades as they wage war against their opponents. Liam Cooper is a fine example of this. His leadership qualities are well documented, which has seen the 31yo maintain the Captaincy for the last six years. With wearing the armband, comes great responsibility; an obligation to ensure his team mates are mentally ready for what lies ahead. If the squad are suffering mentally, is it time for Adams to take over skipper responsibilities? please log in to view this image Bamford set for rare appearance More than two months since his last appearance, Patrick Bamford is finally back in a Leeds shirt tonight. He has been dogged by injuries for the last 18 months prompting the Elland Road faithful to want rid of the 29yo; yet if he can turn things around, keep fit, and start banging in the goals again, it won't be long until his name echoes from all four corners of Elland Road again. Bearing in mind, his last injury came about taking practice penalties, Bamford will be reintroduced gradually, and should we see him tonight, it will only be a cameo appearance. Surely, this is Bamford's last chance! please log in to view this image
Am I reading this right that we’re offering 25m for a player someone else offered 1.5m for. Has victor lost his abacus or maybe his marbles. As for Bamford, don’t let him near the senior squad till he’s played a half dozen u23 games at least
No you have been in the mancave early methinks.....it's the wages that are the figure you're mixing up....... bottoms up
I presume he meant we offered 2.5 million in wages and Naploi offered 1.5 million. Rumours are that he said he didn't want to join us. Addressing the OP. Marsch was talking in the presser about confidence. He admitted he has to find a way and its his responsibility. He implied that players were taking the safe option too much instead of being brave and playing forward more. Also implied that was a big part of signing Wober who has never shied away from that and is a leader himself. He's right imo. We play our best football when we are losing and we have nothing left to lose so might as well take chances and bomb forward. That's when we shine.
Morning all Squeeky bum time for Marsch now as a loss tonight will start the sack him bandwagon and in fairness he’s now only a couple of bad results away from the chop. If reports that we are about to spend another £20m+ on a midfielder are true, it would mean that the club have backed Marsch in January with circa £60m-£70m on top of the £100m in the summer. He has been backed simply because the club need him to succeed as they will look stupid if he fails. Villa have Dick Emery as their coach now a top top coach who wins European cups and has always done well. They will be hard to beat and will be well safe this season. Wolves will be safe as they too have a top coach and a club spending big money as 2 more deals have been done today on top of the £45m Cunha deal yesterday. Nathan Jones down at Southampton pulled off a great result the other night, which means has he got what it takes to save them. Lampard at Everton is in the same boat as Marsch and needs results Wober looks a good buy and will start tonight, Rutter will sign today and travel but not feature and I hope he’s the catalyst to save Marsch
Morning all I’m going to test myself today, I’m going to try and not talk or comment on Jesse Marsch in a negative manner, I’ll need loads of willpower with us playing Villa. On the other hand it should be easy, I’ve nothing negative about him left in the tank, I’ve emptied it. Bamford set to return, whoopee ****, keep him away from the team, no let’s give him a cameo 15 minutes at the end, let the footballing world remember he does still exist, hope that he doesn’t manage to injure himself and get rid of him
Morning all If Jesse can't motivate them I'm not seeing what he's bringing to the table as he is no master tactician. Really hope he can turn it around with the new additions but if not we need to act fast and get him out. I've got a feeling the board will stick with him even if we go down though. Morning all
Another rumour going round is Firpo maybe on his way out for 15 mil Like him or not he's nor nailing down a starting place, if we can use that cash to bring in a recognised left back and we get Ounahi over the line as well then we are looking good aren't we? Really good, as in no excuses and time to start climbing the table
Don't think motivation is a problem. The players are certainly running their socks off for him. In a role reversal with @ristac I'm going to scrutinise Marsch alot more after this window. I'm happy to give him time to build his own team but it looks like he has been heavily backed this window and last. This is fast becoming his side and although I've largely stuck up for him and alot of the performances, it's about time we started winning a few more games.
Firpo was our best defender against Cardiff, sadly it was only Cardiff so hardly a real test. If the plan is to use Wober at LB I’m not convinced. Firpo is certainly injury prone, for that reason alone I think £15m is an excellent price for him, I’d have thought we’d have been lucky to get half what we paid
Not a role reversal mate, I said today, just 24 hours, even I’m not stupid enough to set myself a longer target than that. If I said “I’ll be welcoming you onboard” would that be considered negative towards Jesse, if so I won’t say it
Keep those balloons away from Firpo, Bamford and Forshaw, They’re definitely three players who could injure themselves in a room full of them
I think when marsch talked about commitment it was committing to the plan. Ie being ‘brave’ enough to play the game he wants, rather than being safety first and scared of making a mistake. our defenders in particular look like they really don’t want the ball and that edginess can be catching.
I thought we paid 15m in usual staged payments for him. Probably about 12m left due so if we can recoup most of that well be doing ok
morning all good point made here. Perhaps he will start wober as a six alongside Adams. Roca for me seems spare and not assertive enough. Give the defenders an outlet or they will lump it back to Villa.
Firpo bought for £13m and Real Betis want him but can’t afford him. Their reasons are his price and his wages but also not having played much. A loan solution could work so he proves himself and sold in the summer. Marsch told everyone Firpo was his chosen LB and he has been fully fit for ages but not used. Tonight we probably see Wober start at LB if Cooper is fit and if Coops out we will see Wober at LCB and Struijk at LB so Firpo 3rd choice LB behind 2 non LBs is damning and you have to feel for Firpo as he isn’t getting the game time he needs to show everyone he can do his job?
