Good Morning. It's Tuesday 9th May, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds slip deeper in the mire The Bank Holiday served up a goal bonanza for the clubs in and around the relegation zone, as Leeds dropped to 19th, with three to play. Everything started so well, with Fulham rediscovering their goal scoring touch, to smash five past the Foxes at Craven Cottage. Dean Smith's men never gave up, and come up with three goals of their own in the last half hour, but the damage was already done. Next up was high flying Brighton, against Everton. Up until yesterday, the Toffee's had only netted 27 times all season. Any suggestion they would rattle five past a potential European placed opponent, sounds ridiculous, but that's what they did. Their superior goal difference means, Leeds are effectively three points behind them. The writing was firmly on the wall when Nottingham Forest edged a seven goal thriller against Southampton at the City Ground, to climb three points clear of the Whites. It looks as if Leeds will need six points for their remaining three games if they stand a chance of survival, and the bookies agree. Southampton (1/500), Leeds (2/5), and Leicester City (4/9) are now odds on to be playing the likes of Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town next season. please log in to view this image U21's reach play off final after edging past Villa Leeds U21's will face Nottingham Forest in the Premier League 2 Division 2 play off final, after edging past Aston Villa last night at Elland Road. First half goals from Mateo Joseph and Sonny Perkins turned the game on its head, after Brad Young had given the Villans a shock 17th minute lead. The hosts were by far the more dominant time, carving out 18 shots to Villa's 5, yet there were no further goals in the second half. Record signing Georginio Rutter was treated to 70 minutes of game time, and along with Darko Gyabi, Sean McGurk and Mateo Joseph sparkled, in front of the 4000 crowd. please log in to view this image Big Sam on a permanent basis? Assuming the worst happens, would you like to see Big Sam be given the ER gig on a permanent basis? Although the 68yo has his work cut out pitch-side, he's already taken a massive step to restore harmony amongst the ranks. The negative body language, and signs of dejection were bordering toxic levels under Gracia's tenure, but scenes from the Etihad seem to show a togetherness and unity not seen for a while as Leeds enter their final three games of the season. please log in to view this image
I think its all too little too late unfortunately God knows how long we will be back in the championship for either. Needing a win against Newcastle is a very tough ask, but it's literally now or never Come on Sam, we need a miracle
If we go down I'd go and get Corberan. If we stay up then Big Sam wouldn't be the worst choice if he was given money to spend on defence.
Morning all. No point in letting the current situation get us down and what will be will be. Plus if we do end up in the Championship we’ll simply be looking to bounce straight back as Burnley have just done and they were/are absolutely skint. Radrizani and the 49ers will be the ones who suffer and we as fans should concentrate on enjoying supporting our team through their ups and downs. We’ve already done angry and the players know exactly where they stand. Orta has gone which many wanted, so let’s at least show a bit of class for the remaining 3 games and go down with our heads held high.
Depending on our last three performances of course, i would most definitely keep sam, because of his vast experience of English football, if we were to bounce straight back our best chance would be under his guidance, than an unexperieced guy like Corboran ( been their done that with rooky managers/coaches). Defence needs the most attention unfortunatly Sam does not have a magic wand to sort this lot out, he can only get them to play better as a unit, signs of this in the city match, but if he did stay, with a bit of funding would sort it out, possibly with some good British no nonsense defender signings, these european budget defenders to me have no backbone, grit or determination for the more physical side of the English game.
Morning all Leeds fans. Nine points to play for so who knows ? Miracles do happen and we've seen some mad results at the bottom in recent weeks (Everton !!!), as with every other season. But it does look likely that we'll be playing Championship football next season. With that in mind it would be nigh on impossible to get any of our preferred targets for manager, so we cut our cloth accordingly. Having said that I don't want to see Allardyce given it next season whatever division we're in.
Morning all. If relegated we need an English manager who has experience of earning promotion. That puts Sam ahead of Corberan in my books. Give him the major say in recruitment. He'd hopefully have resources to rebuild a bit using the parachute payments if we don't have to waste it all in paying off daft contracts to get rid of our rubbish. Ship out most of current squad. If the u21's are as good as were told, use them and a few currently on loan in Championship to form a large part of new squad. Bring in a few seasoned pros to complement the younger lads, maybe a Billy Sharpe type if he's still up to it. Well still be an attractive proposition for Championship standard players and no reason we can't bounce back this year or next.
True but there aren't many Bielsas around capable of improving mainly average players by 20% or more and jury remains out if they can keep it up over an extended period. I just don't agree with the dof thing, maybe its my age, we need something different maybe in my opinion
We just don't have the quality to win 2 more games this season. A midfield of McKennie, Roca and Forshaw isn't good enough, pure and simple. Bamford doesn't score enough goals and our defence is the worst in the division. Yes, miracles do happen but I think we got our miracle last season. The powers that be then sold our two best players and replaced them with absolute dross, therefore it should come as no surprise that we are battling for our lives with 3 tough games left.
Afternoon all, Do I believe we are down? Not yet, I ain't heard no fat lady. But I have resigned myself to the fact we probably are. Do I want Allardyce to stay on if we go down? No. His best days are behind him as a coach as is his style of football. It might be ok for a few games as a firefighting tool but over a season I think it would turn fans off. We need someone younger with fresher ideas. Corberan is a good choice and not just because of the Bielsa links. He has proven himself to be a very good up and coming coach in his own right.
I said previously that if we go down I’d go for Rowett, has done a good job with clubs that should have far less resources than us even allowing for their last day meltdown.
Those two results last night were the nail in the coffin. Forest could get 3-4 more points, Everton could get 3 or even 6 if they play like that again. Leicester's games are just as hard as ours, and are harder than either Forest or Evertons. Realistically, we need at least two wins from the last three games to edge Forest on GD. Unfortunately we are in the worst form and unless Big Sam comes up with a winning strategy right now it's more likely that we won't win any games at all. The time to collect the points was last month.
Rowett seems too much like a championship level manager. Not someone I would expect to take us up. Feels like we would be saying we are hoping to be comfortable in the championship. See also Alex O Neil and that sort. Not bad coaches but not elite and likely to take us to the next level
