Good Morning. It's Wednesday 8th March, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Rutter did not want to join Leeds Leading German sports magazine 'Kicker' have revealed that Georginio Rutter had no intentions to leave Hoffenheim in January, let alone for Leeds , and had to be coerced into it. His agent Roger Wittmann was forced to fly to Hoffenheim’s training camp in Portugal to push the £35m deal over the line , as it would bring in a lot of money for everyone involved. Kicker also revealed that the 20yo would be earning €30m (£26.7m in wages) or circa £92,000 a week over his five and a half year contact, which I'm sure made him feel better about the situation. To pay that sort of money for someone so young, who has yet to prove himself is ludicrous, however bright his potential may be. Borussia Dortmund only shelled out £17.8m for Erling Haaland in 2020, and he was by far a more complete player than Rutter is now. Age may be on Rutter's side, but time is against Leeds. Does he have the firepower now to get Leeds out of trouble? please log in to view this image McKennie needs to get forward more in quest for goals Speaking on his 'Don't go to bed yet' podcast, Leeds journalist Adam Pope shared his thoughts and concerns about midfielder Weston McKennie. The 24yo joined on loan in January, in a £1.5m swoop, with a £35m permanent Summer deal in place, if it all works out. In 467 minutes of game time, he has earned a 'Whoscored' rating of 6.48, placing him 16th in the current rankings. Leeds need goals. With Bamford and Rodrigo sidelined yet again, and Rutter unwilling to get into goal poaching positions, the spotlight falls on the Leeds Utd midfield for scraps. Between them, only Sinisterra (two), Harrison (one), Arronson (one) and Roca (one) have registered at all this season, which as Popey explains, is a real concern. “He (McKennie) does some things really well, like the box-to-box thing, I get it, that’s the thing he’s talked about himself as being." “And he does. He gets up and down well. He crunches into a few [tackles]. And I felt, particularly at Fulham in midweek, you saw the better side of him. He’s starting to be a bit more creative I would say… “So some aspects of the game, really good. I think there’s a bit of bite there next to [Tyler] Adams, so in the absence of some senior players there’s some leadership there too." “My worry is are these going to put three or four goals [in] over a season? Are they going to get 10 between them? “He is someone who’s getting forward, he’s not deep-lying like a [Marc] Roca. And that’s a real worry for me, I just don’t see that in his particular game.” please log in to view this image Wober - the pressure is insane Speaking on Sky Sports Austria recently, Max Wober has opened up about his first two months at Elland Road. The little known Austrian International was Leeds first signing at the beginning of the New Year, and has already made quite an impression, over his 11 games (from all competitions). Costing just £11m, the 25yo has quickly become a fans favourite with the Elland Road faithful. He may not be blessed with pace, but his positioning, tackling and ability to read the game has seen him rise to third in the rankings with a respectable 6.76 rating. Even with his inclusion, the only game Leeds kept a clean sheet (over the 11 games) was their 1-0 victory over Southampton. According to Wober:- “Of course, I miss Jesse. I made this move because he was keen to bring me to Leeds. But that’s the business of football, everything can change. If the successes don’t come, the coach is the first to vacate the pitch,” “Of course it’s a difference to Salzburg, where you know that you can take the three points in at least 90% of the games. “Now every weekend is a full fighting game, anyone can win against anyone. You can tell that there is insane pressure and that the club’s existence is at stake. It’s definitely the toughest league I’ve played in so far. Every game feels like a Champions League game in terms of intensity. You have to be alert every second, otherwise it will rattle at the back.” please log in to view this image
Morning everyone who makes these claims to know players wages. Who in there right mind would pay that much money including transfer fees for someone who might be good in the future. Add together all the wasted money orta has pissed up the wall and we could have bought someone with experience. Fat kev.. Dan james.. Rutter.. Bamfords stupidly long contract all add up to a very large sum. I truly believe rads /orta and kinnear are absolutely hopeless. We had wingers so buy some more. We had defensive mids so loan McKennie who is not creative. Danny ings would have been better than rutter. I cannot see the 49ers group paying what rads wants and taking the debt on. What about the great season ticket waiting list con. Nothing has been done to improve the ground since rads bought us.
Morning all. After watching highlights of Brighton against West Ham I'd be considering playing 3 holding midfielders. Adams and McKennie definitely and then either Roca or Gyabi depending on who's most suitable from this weeks training sessions. Defensive ? Well yes of course as it would mean one less attacking midfielder, but as that would be Aaronson I'd prefer to pack the midfield and let Brighton come on to us. The Hammmers were way too open against them and were easily picked off, also West Ham repeatedly lost possession in their own half as Brighton pressed them and won the ball back. To counter that I'd scrap playing out from the back and hit the channels for Summerville and Rutter to get after. In other words welcome to Big Sam football from the Jamster. Bottom line is if we try to play Brighton at their own game we'll lose, so let's make it difficult and frustrate them before hitting them with the sucker punch. Actually it's probably what Brentford have been doing for 2 seasons now but Thomas Frank is not Big Sam so is heralded as a tactical genius.
I’d also scrap playing out from the back. We often lose the ball playing like that so play the percentages, hit it long. Players like Gnonto, Summerville and Adams are nippy enough to win the second ball and we’re on the attack. Not pretty but needs must.
Plus the fact he’s not ready. Not his fault. Looks like we’ll be relying on him though, plus Joseph and Perkins, who are not ready either. We’re lightweight up front to put it mildly.
Let's face it Vic got shafted by Hoffenheim and Georgio's agent to the tune of around 20 million + no wonder the agent was whispering in the kid's ear ......we are left with Perkins, Joseph and wonderkid to hopefully fill the forward slot after rodders was stupidly risked and who's to say when he is back he Will still have his shooting boots primed and ready.....then again the supercomputer has us in 17th by season end with a 3 point cushion from the toffees so let's hope technology has got it correctly predicted ......
Rutter needs outing now. Let's face it, he hasn't taken things by storm in his four or five appearances in a new Country. I mean, Rodrigo only took, ahem, nearly two years to look anything like justifying his price tag. Feeling double extra positive today after waking up this morning and thinking, whatever happens, next year will be better than this. We will be either comfortably mid table in the Prem if we stay up or taking the Championship by storm if the worst comes to the worst - I mean, what is not to like about that? Oh what a beautiful morning...................
As I have pointed out previously, I can see why Mrs Eire was so encouraging with your man cave project Won't happen anyway, if we stay up, we will be much stronger next year. Great foresight from our owners I am sure you will agree?
