Good Morning. It's Monday 29th January, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Misfiring Leeds face Pilgrimage Leeds face an extra trip to Home Park after failing to overcome Plymouth Argyle in the fourth Round of the FA Cup at the weekend. The two sides are set to meet in the League in little under three weeks, but must now factor in a midweek excursion in the interim, after Adam Randell's strike seventeen minutes from time. It puts pay (temporarily at-least) to a mouth watering trip to either Chelsea or Aston Villa in the next round. Leeds were wasteful, careless and sluggish, against a lowly Championship outfit that had made seven changes to their starting line-up. The Whites continue to lack that killer instinct and put games to bed; a trait that could set them apart from a top two finish, come May. The Whites had gone ahead on the half hour mark, thanks to a magnificent solo effort from Jaidon Anthony, an effort quite rightly dedicated to the memory of his late mother, which earnt him a booking in the process. please log in to view this image Anything but our strongest 11 isn't good enough If we learnt anything from our 1-0 defeat at Stoke earlier in the season, it's Leeds lack strength in depth. On that fateful evening back in October, the gaffer rested Summerville and James, in favour of Anthony and Gnonto; it ended up costing the Whites dearly. It was Gruev's first start of the season too, during a time when he was still finding his feet. In all fairness to him, his recent displays this year have made him an invaluable member of the first team squad. We saw an almost identical line-up at the weekend, with a similar performance at Elland Road. It only goes to show the urgent need for new personnel. Leeds have had months to prepare, identify their targets, and make approaches, yet with little over 72 hours of the transfer window remaining, all is quiet in West Yorkshire. There continuous to be massive question marks over the form of Sam Byram, Jamie Shackleton and Junior Firpo, although the latter at-least has been in great in attacking positions recently. The trio have also spent the longest amount of time on the treatment table in the entire squad (apart from Stuart Dallas) this season. I'm wondering whether Leeds will regret sending Djed Spence back to Spurs? He may not have been in the form of his life, but considering he hadn't kicked a ball for over six months due to injury, he was showing great promise. please log in to view this image In other news... Leeds will battle it out with Luton Town for Japan International Daiki Hashioka. Belgian news outlet HBVL have indicated that the 24yo right back is keen on a move to England, and Leeds are very much in the running for the £2m rated star. He currently applies his trade with Belgium top flight outfit Sint-Truiden... Leeds have finally made an official move for Everton forgotten made Ben Godfrey. According to the Sun, Leeds have made an official move to reunite Godfrey with his former Norwich boss until the end of the season. Godfrey, 26, a centre back by trade, can play right back and defensive midfield.... please log in to view this image
Morning everyone the sooner we are out of the cup the better. We have needed a striker and full backs all season. None of the trio can stay fit with Shakleton being the worst and way too small.
Not sure anything but the strongest 11 is correct, it upsets the rhythm of the side when you make 5 changes, does to most teams but let's face it, only poor finishing stopped it being 4 or 5 at half time, seemed complacency did us second half, and even then, the last 10 minutes we shuld have had a couple more. Disappointing but not a disaster. Hasioka having a medical at Luton today, so forget him.
Morning all. Noticed the San Franscisco 49ers have made it to another Superbowl Final last night where they will play the Kansas City Chiefs. Apparently it's a repeat of the 2021 and 2023 final but don't ask me who won those, although I'm pretty sure the Chiefs are the reigning Champions. Seems they know what they're doing on that side of the pond at least.
Two Superbowls in four years is pretty good which is why I'd rather have Paraag Marathe as Chairman down at LS11 rather than anyone else we've had in the last god knows how many years.
And Taylor Swift. Should be a good final but as it's in Vegas probably a late late one for fans in the UK. Edit: Just checked and it's Sunday 11th Feb KO 11-30pm.
Morning all As Gessa pointed out, there is a fine line of how many changes a team can make before it unsettles the balance. Quite a few teams are finding that out, we are not alone. What’s best, 22 average to slightly above average players in rotation or 11 superior ones with 11 below average as back up. 22 superior would be great but it doesn’t happen at this level. Saying that, Gnonto and Anthony would walk into most teams in this division
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Change the team and you lose, Why change a winning team? They cry. Don't change the team and lose, Why not rest some and rotate the squad? They cry. Some don't seem happy unless they're bemoaning anything the club do, we even had it under Bielsa, then they moaned about him getting sacked, it's tiresome.
Watched the Chiefs game last night and we could learn a lot from how the onfield behaviour of the players is controlled by the strict application of the laws of the game. For example one player made a fantastic catch from a long downfield pass and then got up and stood gloating over his opponent but didn't physically touch him. Immediately he was penalised for taunting and then penalised 15 yards for the offence. Now in in the NFL that's a big deal. Yet in our football we allow chest pushing and all sorts of handbags without any punishment. Time for sin bins and bloody well use them because this has all filtered down to youth level where every strong tackle now results in a melee of teenagers getting invloved pushing and shoving each other because that's what they see on TV.
Totally agree mate, thing is the powers that be don't seem to want to do anything about it. Anyone found guilty of diving, 2 game ban, not difficult to impose, even if the ref misses it, can be done retrospectively
