With 2 home games this coming week things could look very different by 5pm Saturday. Let's hope so anyway
Rodon has done well so far but the sending off was stupid. First yellow wasn’t a yellow but it had been given so you can’t then make the second challenge. If Farke is making a statement then he’s making a statement, but maybe he just thinks the others have been better in training, followed his orders better whatever. His job, his call. Personally I’ll decide at the end of the season who i think our best centre half is, whether the squad is the best in the league and how good the manager is. Mugs game making judgements from the outside early in a season in my view
they had a good start last season that saved them, and they were among my favourites for the drop this year. For me October’s fixtures for us looked an easier set than Septembers. Let’s see how it pans out.
I didn’t see West Brom ‘bagging’ 4 but Preston’s staggeringly spawny run had to come to an end sometime. If you looked at the xg you’d know that
We have watched leeds many times but Farke is new. We know the limitations of yesterdays defence and hopefully now so does he.
Our centre back options are Cooper, Struijk, Rodon and Cresswell. I know it's early in the season but if the answer is Cooper and Struijk as a pairing then I hate to think what the question was. From my experience as a fan watching the likes of Meslier in goal, Cooper, Struijk and even Shackleton at right back over the years it's no shock that those 4 play and we concede 3 goals so easily. It really was just a matter of time. Might be harsh on my mate Struijk who actually did OK yesterday as an individual. I like repeating myself but playing Byram at left back long term also isn't the answer. We are so imbalanced as he can't play with his left foot. We should have bought a ****ing left footed ****ing left back. Firpo is not the answer to any football related question apart from who is the worst player to play for Leeds. Roll on January.
Byram was so embarrassingly bad at LB yesterday I’d rather see Shackleton there any day of the week (if it was a choice between just those two) Imo Shackleton has done well in both fullback positions and is a far better player than Byram.
Shack was our worst player yesterday mate. He shied away from the challenge. He's a mid to bottom end championship player. He came up against a good winger yesterday and was absolutely beaten all ends up. More worryingly was that he was beaten mentally after about 5 minutes. He can't play Wednesday but let's face it Byram can't play 2 games in 4 days either so I fear Shack will retain his place on the left with Ayling coming in at right back. Cooper will be replaced by Rodon and Kamara will move aside for Gray. Meslier is on thin ice with me too. He's had 4 clean sheets but he's dropped a few balls and flapped at a few balls during that run and it was just a matter of time until he returned to his usual polo mint self where every shot just goes through him somehow.
He’s still better than Byram who is better than Firpo wonder if Gruev can fill in at LB till January what a mess LB is ffs
Mesiler wasn't at fault for any of the goals and you know that but you still have to have a pop anyway. First one is an excellent finish and that's pretty much the first time he's been beaten in a one on one this season. Second goal no keeper on earth is getting near and third one he actually saved but Struijk own goaled. Defenders to blame for all 3 goals and not the keeper.
As Emu said we only have 4 centre backs so not that much to judge really. Go on try it you might even get it right
Thought he could have done better with the first yesterday. He could have closed the angle quicker and he sat down a bit too early for me but yeah defence was poor yesterday. He's had a few near misses recently has Meslier. He dropped a cross yesterday and got away with it. Did the same against Hull and was fortunate to get a free kick for nothing. He also flapped at a cross and palmed it out in to the danger area in that game which was a nod to what he did last season on multiple occasions. Him and Cooper have miscommunicated a couple of times and (I know we differ on this) his communication with Rodon at Ipswich left a lot to be desired. Just because his little flaps haven't led to goals against or defeats everytime its happened doesn't mean they should be ignored. Same with Cooper and Struijk. They still do some weird stuff but because we have been winning its almost like they are now deemed good enough for us. Just wondered if anyone can explain Coopers positioning for their first goal. I have no idea what he is doing.
Thanks. Need to check with the con club to see if they have the red button. Don’t know if pub subscription is the same as personal account.
Meslier got his angles slightly wrong on the first goal but hey not easy when Cooper has let their main striker clear through on goal and as I said Meslier has been excellent at one on ones so I'm prepared to overlook that as it still took an excellent finish to beat him. Cooper was and should have remained marking Armstrong but decided to go towards an advancing midfielder instead. Great positioning from Armstrong to then get on Coopers blind side but really poor defending.
