Dan James brought on for the last 20 mins for Wales to try and the win the game but for some reason the coach played him on the left wing before moving him to left wing back a few minutes later. It would seem Farke is the only one who realises that DJ need the space on the outside where he can use his pace to the best advantage rather than coming inside and running into traffic all the time.
Watching Holland v Rep of Ireland in yet another sold out stadium, same as Latvia v Croatia and Armenia v Wales earlier. Last night England filled Wembley against the minows of Malta and do so virtually every time they play regardless of the opposition. Seems the fans have an appetite for these borefests
Lets face it Rob Page is lucky to have a job but clearly shown he hasn’t a scooby as a coach. He got his job by default and kept it for years. He has a lot of talent at his disposal but never uses it properly and tries too much unclever tactics that show him up.
If Phil Hay is right about Sam Greenwood being allowed to leave for £1.5m then someone needs their head testing and then sacking. After a slow start Greenwood has scored 4 goals in the last 6 games, but lets look deeper into what’s happened at Leeds. Gelhardt, Drameh, Greenwood and Summerville brought in by Orta for the future. But due to first team injuries under Bielsa and not playing football Drameh and Summerville wanted out. Greenwood and Gelhardt were starting to get minutes. Drameh went to Cardiff and won player of the year whilst Summerville was talked into staying. Jesse Marsch comes in and and after lots of talk allows Drameh to go on loan as Kristensen brought in ahead of him. Marsch then uses Greenwood as a midfielder. We now have a situation where 2 of these kids have had enough and Drameh has refused a new contract with a big pay rise as he wants out. Greenwood looks like going. Summerville and Gelhardt still here and have excelled or have. Due to mismanagement we are only going to get what we paid for 2 of them. 50% strike rate I suppose is ok for kids but we have seen a lack of patience in this area as not only losing these 2 but Leif Davies who is still smashing it as a LB and Niall Huggins another LB or RB. Gelhardt may have to leave but at least FARKE has given him a chance
Thing is that to develop you need to play and the lads that have left are at clubs where the expectations and pressure is far lower than at Leeds. They are given time to bed in whereas if you don’t perform immediately here then the crowd are on their backs, the head coach drops them because his job is on the line if we’re not performing well or challenging for promotion. It’s actually why we use the loan system so badly. We don’t loan them to get first team experience and then bring them back, we seem to loan to get rid and often get proved wrong in our judgement of the players. That said, I wouldn’t exactly say that Gelhardt has excelled here as you’ve described.
Totally agree about the lack of patience Doc, sometimes from the club and also at other times from certain players but another huge factor were the covid lockdowns which put their developments on pause and then they found themselves at an age to be playing first team football without being fully ready. Perhaps that's why we're now seeing the improvement from Greenwood, Davies & Huggins as they've just needed that extra bit of time that no one at the club seemed to realise. The pressure from the next age groups below is relentless in football meaning decisions have to be taken and it would seem some players didn't get the benefit of any doubt and were shipped out too early.
For some reason Geldhart thinks he can play as a 10 when he's really more a fox in the box type striker and his career is now stalling because of that. That said sides can't carry players like that anymore and perhaps that's why coaches have been sending him in a different direction. Greenwood was always the better of the two when playing at no'10 (for the U21's) and so it's proving now he's being given the opportunity up at Boro.
LoL excelled was meant to show that when Joffy broke through there was a buzz in the crowd every time he was warming up. He scored and made some crucial goals. However he hasnt really done anything last season. His loan move was broken too as he can’t play as a loan striker but was forced into it. He hasn’t done it so far this season and why I predict he will be moving on. Hope I’m wrong and he gets a chance and does what I think he is capable of.
Totally agree. Gelhardt is at best mid championship standard like a lot of them. Wouldn’t lose much sleep worrying about them going tbh. On another note I posted on a Facebook page yesterday my feelings on the championship and got dozens of replies all so positive how fans are enjoying it so much compared to the circus
Are you talking about Leeds fans mate or fans in general. My view is I think the championship is shyt and only look at the table. Probably why I’m doing so badly in Stonkins league. I knew the premier league and why I did so well last season
If we were 13th in the Championship, as per your pre season prediction, then the positive replies would have been zero. Instead there would anger at the owners, board, coaches, players etc etc.
It was fans in general. Burnley ones hating this season. Saints fans stating this is most enjoyable for ages. Fans of weaker pl clubs like us just got fed up with the constant stuffings and having to be happy with odd scrap from the top table
Teams in bottom three or four will never enjoy life anywhere. We know all about that. The wendies will be competitive again next season in league 1
Well from a personal perspective the time we spent in the lower reaches of the PL was thoroughly enjoyable. The main difference being finishing 17th made it a celebratory ending to the season, whereas last season getting relegated was horrible. Which is why we must hope to do it all again next season because whilst the Championship might be fun it quickly sucks you into its vortex of mediocrity if you stay too long.
The prem season we finished 9th was brilliant, but from Xmas onwards there was no pressure I wasn’t feeling any pressure so the team must have been Sky high. I loved it and we were watching some masterclass football. The following season was a nightmare which was all due to a lack of investment and massive injuries. Yes we managed to escape butthe season was hell and then last season under the 3 stooges was even worse. So yes I’m fairly happy so far this season but won’t be really happy until we get the chance to put right what the club got wrong
Steinsen is in charge of transfers at the moment but Hammond is staying on until after the summer which Parag Marathe said last week. So temporary Hammond will have done well over a year and that’s if he leaves after next summer. Weber hasn’t arrived so that says to me we are doing transfer deals in January and setting up deals for the summer.? Going to be busy as there will be plan A and B depending on the league we are in.
