Good Morning. It's Tuesday 4th April, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Gracia - Rodrigo is not in the best condition Speaking during his pre match press, Leeds interim Manager Javi Gracia commented that Rodrigo is not in the best condition. Whether this means he's carrying a knock, or has not regained full fitness following his latest injury isn't clear. Many were surprised to see the 31yo benched last weekend at Arsenal, prompting speculation that he was being saved for the Forest match tonight! Does this mean that Gracia is going to use him sparingly over Leeds remaining matches. "Rodrigo is trying to make a big effort to help the team. Maybe he's not in the best condition but he tries. The same way as the rest of the players. All of them have the clear, collective objective: to remain in the Premier League." please log in to view this image Must win tonight Former Leeds and England striker Brian Deane has labelled tonight’s game against Nottingham Forest as a must win. The 55yo, who was born and raised in the City, believes that anything less than three points tonight will mean that they'll need to turn over Crystal Palace at the weekend, who after a dire run, have started to hit a bit of form. Forest have the joint-worst away record in the Premier League. They have collected just one win and amassed six points on the road this season. Only West Ham have equalled their dismal away record, although Forest have scored a mere four goals away from the City Ground, and leaked 32 goals. Unfortunately Leeds home record is not much better. Apart from the Saints game, Leeds have not won at home since beating Bournemouth back in early November. Speaking exclusively with the Breakfast Debate, Deano said:- "I think it’s a must win. In order for Premier League survival you have to beat, or at least pick up points from the teams around you, otherwise you’re in trouble. If Leeds don’t win tonight, they will need three points at the weekend [against Crystal Palace]." please log in to view this image Gracia tight-lipped about injury duo Javi Gracia remained tight-lipped about Leeds injury concerns ahead of tonight's match from Elland Road. Wilfred Gnonto and Max Wober picked up knocks whilst on International duty, and missed the Arsenal game last weekend. 72 hours later, it's difficult to see that much would have changed. The pair have arguable been two of Leeds most influential players this season, and with such importance on tonight's result, will Gracia risk playing them? "About injured players, I prefer not to say anything. You know our situation isn't good, all the medical staff and injured players are working really hard to recover. But in two or three days, things do not change a lot. We have to prepare for the game with the players we have." please log in to view this image
Morning all. If Im being honest Im not looking forward to tonight at all. The injuries are a big big problem. That drivel from Spurs last night didn't help the mood either
I think the term not in great condition gets lost in translation. Rodrigo and Sinisterra are now fully fit but not yet fully match fit
Spurs passing made our passing seem unplayable. Spurs were crap and looked like relegation fodder, not top 3.
Ive watched them several times this season. Almost always rubbish. I can't believe they're challenging for a cl spot. Hope they're as bad on last day of the season
They won't be that's one thing you can be sure of this season, probably end up sending us down . On a happier note Good morning everyone, on this wonderfully bright sunny morning here in Southampton. Hopefully i will be able to repeat the above sentence tomorrow morning. c'mon LEEDS really go for it tonight, and do the fans proud
Fair play to Everton though. At 1-0 down and against ten men they really got on the front foot and pressurised Spurs into losing the ball. Still a long way to go, but Dyche's mantra that maximum effort is the mimimum requirement is standing them in good stead as on paper they should be dead and buried.
Its now obvious we cannot rely on teams around us failing, so must crack on and win games now. Start the evening in the bottom 3 but finish the night on a season high point of 13th. That’s all we need to do then repeat again on Sunday and watch them behind us. Easy
Don't want to tempt fate but 3 times we've been in the bottom 3 this season and we've gone on to win the next game. Liverpool, Soton and Wolves.
Roberto De Zerbi is now the 11th longest serving manager (Brighton) in the Premier League. He was appointed in September.
We know why Jammy is singing dyche’s praises but why does everyone think they have such a poor squad? Valued higher than ours on paper, despite two poor seasons. They have strong physical players, good defenders, and he’s got them playing to their ‘hard to beat’ strengths’… fair play to him for doing what he does… but lampard ‘compromised his principles’ last spring and in doing so kept them up.
All about opinions milky but; Wober Adams Gnonto Summerville Sinisterra Bamford Rodrigo All walk into the Everton starting eleven any day if the week. If we'd apponted Dyche before the WC, as many of us wanted, we'd be above Villa by now. You seem fixated on his style but what's apparent to me is he gets players to work hard and run in a way which is not dissimilar to Bielsa or Marche so really he would have been a good fit for us. Oh and the myth that he plays to the big man up top...err Demari Gray ??? yeh right
Leeds still haven’t filed their latest accounts so due for a fine. Wonder whatthe hold up is and who is doing the auditing?
Don’t agree on your ‘walk in’ selections. He has a squad light on strikers and the main target man is crocked otherwise he’d play with one. As for being above Villa? There’s chunky bait on that hook. As I’ve said previously, I know someone who’s played for Dyche, so I’m not completely unfamiliar with his methodology and I actually quite like him. Just don’t think our squad is suited to his ‘style of choice.’ Whereas I thought Everton’s was. I was hoping they’d take Bielsa as I think that would have relegated them (and then brought them back up in style next year) We’ll see how our current coach’s more defensive set up pans out. For all the excitement about this new controlled style of play ( some of which has been good by the way) we have been less efficient in terms of chances created and less efficient in terms of stopping opponents’ chance creation. … Lower xg for, higher xg against. There’s precious little evidence of defensive Improvement beyond doing more if it. Am I critical of gracia? not at all. He’s doing what he can with what’s at his disposal. Main difference… (pre arsenal) we’ve taken our chances.. and our opponents haven’t. Both things coaches can’t control. Unlike some, I’m just stating the stats, I don’t make them up. We have a run of games against ‘beatable’ opposition coming up so it would be reasonable to expect/hope we create more and offer up less in upcoming matches. I have found it fascinating to read people saying how unlucky we were against Arsenal, when similar occurrences under the previous manager were always the manager’s fault. Gracia still appears to have the honeymoon grace period from the fans which is a good thing… so let’s hope the team delivers for him in this critical next week.
There's no certainty that Dyche will keep Everton up as they've some tough fixtures left and only 4 at home which includes Newcastle & Man City. Also not sure who thinks we were unlucky at Arsenal as giving away a stupid penalty has nothing to do with luck. After that we were second best and deservedly beaten by the end. Personally I thought we did just about ok but nothing more or less than expected really. Regarding stats, my personal preference is still to judge things as they appear and under Gracia we're looking better as a team. It may be that the stats say we're still conceding big chances but to the naked eye we're less exposed than previously. Anyway let's see what happens tonight, but win, lose or draw we're still right in the thick of things.
