Good Morning. It's Thursday 14th December, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Is Spence the answer to Leeds LB woes Nobody loves an inverted footballer more than Daniel Farke. Fielding a right footed player on the left, or vise-versa may be an alien concept to many, but for the Leeds Manager, its a big part of his tactical game, which has seen Crysencio Summerville's morph from misfit to best player in the Championship overnight. Leeds struggles at left back stretch back years. Long gone are the days of Tony Dorigo and Ian Harte; these days the player wearing the No 3 shirt is synonymous as being the chink in the Leeds Utd armour. When Djed Spence arrived on a season long loan, fans were ecstatic to see the Spurs ace bomb up and down the right channel, but a freak knee injury in training, and a loss of form to Leeds vice Captain Luke Ayling saw Archie Gray plucked out of midfield, to plug the gap. It's an area of the field the 17yo knows well; having represented King and Country in that role many times at youth level. Now that Spence is on the mend, Farke must try to find somewhere else where Spence can slot in. Farke is keen not to pile too many miles on Gray's clock too soon, so moving him back to midfield is not an option, at least not at the moment. We saw Spence start his first game for the Whites on Tuesday evening, and he didn't disappoint. Operating at left wing back, the England U21 ace received an outstanding 7.2 'Sofascore' rating, second only to Summerville. Would Leeds be foolish to invest Millions in a new left back, when Spence is more than good enough to operate down the left channel. Is the Spurs loanee better than Gray at right back? Would you prefer to see Gray moved back to midfield? please log in to view this image Is Meslier's continued criticism justified With seven clean sheets this season, Illan Meslier boasts the second best record in the Championship for not conceding, yet is still a target for the Leeds boo boys. The 23yo is enjoying his fifth season at Elland Road, and already boasts 123 appearances. He has been a regular starter under Daniel Farke, playing every league game so far. Many were convinced that the former French U21 International was going to lose his jersey to experienced shot-stopper Karl Darlow following his £400,000 move from Newcastle Utd, but apart from a disappointing Cup game, hasn't had a look in. Meslier has the fifth lowest percentage saves in the Championship (64.3%), but is the criticism justified? It always seems that opposition keepers turn into World beaters when playing against Leeds, but only need one clear cut chance to score against us. Is this the case, or are you happy with Meslier between the sticks? please log in to view this image
Mesliers stats for last two seasons don’t count. He had an awful defence in front of him. This season he’s as good as I’ve seen in championship. Almost got us a point against Sunderland until more defensive brain farts. Maybe we should sign a better keeper first before we stick him in the for sale window. Morning all btw
For me Spence should play RB and Archie rested and used in the middle, then buy LB FFS and regarding Meslier I would sell and play Darlow because Darlow looks like he signed after hearing Meslier was going. Darlow has had one start in the dodgy cup against Salford. Last season he was Hulls best player and wanted by a load of clubs including Bournemouth. I have no confidence in Mesliers positioning or commanding the box. Yes he can pull off the odd outstanding save but also lets in a few howlers
Morning all I can’t help feel that Meslier has cost us more points than won us. He pulled off a great save against Sunderland but it was his poor keeping that cost us the corner that lead to the chance. Shouldn’t all keepers be saving those though, the Sky commentator said good save but it wasn’t struck with enough power. At the start of this season, we faced some great opposition keepers, if they’d had Meslier and we had their keeper we’d have more points on the board. He is bang average and not improving. I’m happy for him to be in goal in this division, if we go up and he’s number one choice next season we’ll be straight back down. Spence needs to play at RB and we can use Archie as a super sub for a bit.
The thing about Archie: Ampadu who has been maybe our best player has had 3 average games in the bounce. Kamara has also been a revelation but his passing caused us serious problems at Sunderland We also have Gruev not given a game yet Plus Archie who can play anywhere in the middle, but being played almost every minute of every game isn’t good for a 17yo. FARKE said he needs to manage him but no sign of that yet
I agree that Meslier hasn't improved in commanding his box and dealing with high balls. That also begs questions of our goalkeeping coach. However, way too many times the positioning of our defence has been poor and watching replays shows too many players ball watching and too many in a congested space in our 18 yd box with no awareness of runners and where passes may go.
Like so many before, he's close to legendary status. Amazing how many never get to make ten starts for the club despite the promise they show
Why buy a player and not use him and as for him not doing much in the Stoke game maybe it’s because he isn’t match fit as he hardly plays. The team he puts out every game have gradually lost their edge and one is only 17yo. I’m starting to question FARKE, maybe because I was as disgusted with the Sunderland performance as much as I was with the rats team last season. Angry as fook. Man City have a top top squad but because they are using a lot of their second string this season results have been shyte at times. Maybe because some players are only just getting game time now. You dont get promoted with 11 players who play every game. Yeah I know it’s just me and my view but we’re now 10 points from automatic again
It's definitely the right thing to do in questioning Farke's tactics and selections. However we're only a few months into his time as manager and also last summer's transfer window was a particularly difficult one. This means he deserves credit for mounting a strong promotion challenge and averaging nearly 2 points per game so far. Also the general consensus is that we will get better as the season progresses so finishing top 6 and qualifying for the play offs should not be sniffed at as it still offers a credible route back to the PL. That said though, one poster on another forum stated he was reminded of Japp Stam's Reading at one point and whilst we're not quite that laborious with our pointless possession you can see why the comment was made.
We were like that with 10 men against boro - maybe forgivable in a game where your 1 up… think the truth is we’re built to stretch teams with a mobile front 4. Great in transition but We’re not great at breaking down low blocks… but then not many teams are to be honest. We need to up the tempo of the passing and maybe lack that creative 10 to unlock defences. But easier said than done.
