Good Morning. It's Friday 13th October, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Should Struijk retain the Captaincy this season Pascal Struijk has endured many ups and downs since first arriving at Leeds five years ago, but for now at least, is enjoying a new lease of life at Elland Road His performances this term have been nothing short of exceptional. The Whites may have dropped down a division, but they have gone from a team that were leaking goals like a sieve, to have the second stingiest defences in the Championship. Only Leicester City have conceded less. Whilst defensive partner Joe Rodon must take some of the plaudits, we can't overlook the 24 year old's contributions this season, which include five clean sheets from seven games. He was even handed the Captain's armband on his 101st appearance for the club, against Bristol City last week. Would you like to see the Dutchman retain the Captaincy this season. Is he good enough for the top flight? If Leeds were to get promoted this season, would you like to see Leeds make the Rodon deal permanent? Are they a better partnership than what we have seen over the past few seasons. please log in to view this image Meslier told he must quit Leeds to continue International football French media outlet L’Equipe have reported that Illan Meslier had been considered for the French National side during the current International break, but just missed the cut due to him applying his trade in the Championship. The 23yo shot-stopper, once dubbed one of the finest young keepers in Europe has regained his confidence after a nightmare campaign last season. It was rumoured that the 6' 7 monster was going to be one of the first departures out the door this Summer, but after certain assurances were made (by Daniel Farke) decided to stay and fight for his place. Along with Ethan Ampadu and Pascal Struijk, Meslier has played every minutes of Championship football so far. It was rumoured during the Summer that his days could be numbered, when Karl Darlow penned a three year deal towards the end of the transfer window. It would have been very easy for him to join the mass exudes of players, and join a European top flight club, but he stayed put, bringing a temporary hold on his International career. According to the French publication, Meslier needs to find 'a competitive environment, more in line with the level of the French National team' if he wants to be considered for France. please log in to view this image
Morning all A bit early to be bigging up Struijk even if he is equips g himself well this season. We cannot forget that he was garbage for most of the last two seasons and part of the worst defence in the league. He is doing a good job so far this season though I admit. As far as Meslier is concerned not bothered if he leaves as he was a dissapointment last season too and think we should cash in
Struijk as improved as the season as gone on, the incident with Elliot left its mark ofor his servicesn him, last season, a season no one really shone, let's not forget he's still only 24, so will be coming into his prime over the next 2-3 years, whether he's captain material, only time will tell, Farke's happy with him, so that will do for me. Meslier, after last season didn't attract any top flight teams to want to sign him, all well and good saying he needs to be playing at a higher level but if he's not wanted by those clubs, surely that means he's not international quality regardless.
Morning all. There are 2 different types of player. 1) Those that are good enough to shine at any club and in any top league. 2) Then those who are capable of performing at the highest level but need to play in a strong team with good player around them plus a coach who can help mitigate for their shortcoming. Last season we had far to many of the second category and it would likely be the same again if we went up. As it stands we don't really have any proven top PL players in our squad but we do have 6 or 7 who could form the basis of a team if we add the necessary extra quailty. These are the players who in my opinion have been (category 1) PL quality in recent years. Raphinha Phillips Tyler Adams Sinisterra Harrison Rodrigo You'll note there are no defenders on that list. So in short if we'd retained Phillips and Raphinha as well as adding Adams and Sinisterra then we might have been on the right track but we'd have still needed to buy a centre forward plus some quality defenders.
Phillips has proven that just sitting on a bench at a higher level is enough to make the national squad.
Like the observation I made about Rutter, we have to bear in mind we have dropped down a level. Has Struijk improved massively or is it just because he’s up against lesser opponents?
Good post Jambo. Could have saved yourself a few minutes typing if you’d just said. ‘Emu and Milky were right all along’ Appreciate those are hard words for you to type
Lots of that post is sensible and on point mate but the striker situation was fine with Rodrigo and one big problem with the defence was aging Cooper and Ayling and keeping them rather than keeping Drameh and Davies and playing Struijk as a LB. The defence was garbage for 2 seasons in the prem. the aging duo were also injured for much of it and the Emu LB we needed wasn’t even looked at. Obviously this comes down to various managers after Bielsa was sacked
If the captaincy was determined simply be performance on the park, Ampadu would be the 1st choice, surely? But it's not, is it, & I have no idea what Farke's requirements are for a captain. None of us do. We don't know what players are like behind the scenes. Farke does, and he's chosen Struijk. For now. Or was Struijk voted in by the players, like Coops was? No idea. None of us do. So, bottom line, like many things, we have to trust Farke. Simples!
If Farke is like other foreign coaches, they don’t put the same importance in a captain as we do over here and tend to hand it to the most experienced player in the team playing that game or in Bielsa’s case, let the players choose.
I thought Coops had been voted in long before Bielsa, & he said he was happy for that to continue. Would you really consider Struijk to be the most experienced player, though? He's not even an internationalist, or played in Europe. Plus, there's the old saying about experience: you can experience one thing a million times, or experience a million things once.
Most experienced in the team as in longest at the club. Didn’t Ayling captain a game recently, if memory serves?
Think you're right about Coops being voted in as captain. If memory serves me right I think it was that fella who came in before Heckingbottom. Mr Nice Guy (can't remember his name).
I think the point I’m trying to make is you asked if Struijk was captain material but many foreign coaches don’t hold the captaincy in such store as we do here.
Was it Tommy Christiansen? I get the litany of managers / coaches muddled up. Too many to process. LOL.
