He's been head and shoulders our best player and probably the best in the league thus far. I don't think moving him would do us any good.
Had to stay off here yesterday because I was so fed up planning my day around the game and being really exited by what we would see and then watching a bewilderingly bad performance. Certainly first half, player for player they were better than us in every single position and I’m not sure that really changed much after half time. Obviously they got the boost of a very early goal but that meant we’ve got 88 minutes to turn it around. Kick up the bum, liven up and speed yourselves up. Well no, let’s stroll around and carry on with tippy tippy in our half and see if that works. On the goal, maybe Meslier could have stood up and stepped forward a pace but you have to blame Cooper wtf was he doing? It was simply slipped into space behind him and he is never getting back from there. Very early doors it was obvious that one of their tactics was to hit long high balls towards Shackleton and it was constantly paying off. It was also obvious that, while their keeper was involved in playing out from the back he was doing so much faster than Meslier, invariably with pinpoint passes out wide but also going long when he felt he needed to. Still waiting for us to get going and getting a bit twitchy with the all round lethargy and they score the second. I said to Ben “we need to make changes” & he said “yes, I would at half time”. I said “no mate, we need to make changes now or this will go 3-0 or even worse”. Sure enough they get the third that they probably deserved without needing to be great. Second half no changes wtf? Farke must have given them a roasting, we will come out all guns blazing. Err, no, more pre season urgency and depressing to watch. Decent goal from Struijk, cue cavalry charge? Err, no, 10 minutes in third gear and then back to playing like a couple of hours would get added for injury time. Slight nod to Rutter, he did start trying to pick the ball up and get things going but it just didn’t really happen for him. Slight oddity and I don’t know if it is deliberate on our part but I gradually became aware that a lot of our passes to Shackleton and James are when they are pinned to the touchline meaning, if there is a defender goal side they have to play square or back. Not sure what we could gain from that? Other teams seem to try and play 5 yards in at least allowing for an overlap. Now the moment that finished it for me (although I did endure the rest of the borefest). 3-1 down, away from home and we win a free kick midway into their half. I think it was Anthony that took it and there was a sequence of backwards and sideways passes that ended up with Meslier getting a less than comfortable back pass and having to launch it upfield resulting in an aerial challenge where they win a free kick in almost exactly the same place as this bewildering move started. Surely, with 15 or so minutes to go you put the ball in their box and try or hope to make something happen. Onwards and upwards, hopefully the enthusiasm will return tomorrow.
Firpo has been training on his own now for a couple of weeks so let's hope he's not far away from returning to the main group. This would free Byram up to play on the right side until Spence recovers from his injury. Poor performance from Byram yesterday though but as he's been excellent so far this season we can forgive him that.
Last few teams we played had virtually no attacking threat so defence looked comfortable with the clean sheets. Meslier hardly had a save to make for September. First team we play who can finish give our defence a roasting. It’s too early to tell but I don’t buy into this we’re miles better than every other team nonsense. We’re certainly miles better than a lot of what we’ve played so far but that defence looked as bad as ever yesterday
We all tried to warn Farke but he wasn't listening. Plus he was adamant after the game that the centre back pairing wasn't an issue. Hopefully that was just for player/squad unity and he never repeats his mistake unless injuries dictate otherwise.
Onwards to another potential banana with QPR... they're ****,crap,****ing certainties for the drop etc....so we are just the opponent's they're hoping for .... about time we stopped all the gratuitous surrendering to teams that are on a bad run of form and pick up that banana skin and stop slipping on it FFS...two big home games and we must get the six points to keep within that one auto slot available, Leicester for me will take one more than likely....Danny boy play your cards right this week because you played a duff hand v saints
As you well know jamster as I’ve been saying it for some time. I think 3 of them are sh*t and it’s too early to judge the fourth.
Christ, did you have to say that, we are all well aware how we play against teams with poor to no form My so called bloody mates haven't stopped taking the pi**, they are either saying thank you Leeds for getting them out of that rut, or thank you for such an easy win, in fact they say that they haven't had such an easy match since --------------- well Leeds played their last season. What annoys me, we have been looking on the up lately, and typical of Leeds, we the fans are soon brought back to reality.
Go into every game expecting us to lose, and then be delighted when you are proved incorrect. It's a lot less stressful
Tyler Adams wasn't available for Bournemouth yesterday after making his debut midweek. Apparently he has tweaked the same hamstring and will be out for 'some time'. I think we stole £23 million off Bournemouth.
