Hard to judge given we could only see the near side of the pitch but here goes... Meslier - 7. Smart stop in the first couple of minutes which might just have turned the away form around instead of going 1-0 down again. Could be a key moment of the season. Otherwise okay. Bogle - 9. Exceptional game, especially first half where he really pushed us forward and pegged Stoke back. A top class pass to send Dan James away for the second goal. Man of the match. Rodon - 7. Him and Struijk dominant again but that Stoke chance 2 minutes in is becoming a habit recently. Struijk - 7. Very similar to Rodon. As a pair were dominant after the first two minutes. Needs to switch on at the start of each half a bit more. Byram - 8. Him and Solomon have a good understanding and Byrams ariel strength is a good asset against teams like Stoke. Hopefully we can nurse him through the next couple of games until we get cover back to give him a rest. Ampadu - 8. No coincidence that we had a comfortable evening with him mopping up any danger. We must keep him fit for the rest of the season. We are a better side with him in it. Rothwell - 7. Decent without setting the world on fire. Had some very good set piece deliveries. Aaronson - 7. Picked up some wonderful positions and managed to warm the fingers of Johannson a couple of times. Frustratingly tried to be too fancy and flicky too often. Played the ball through to Piroe for the first. Should have got on the end of a James cross 1st half. James - 8. Had his boots on the wrong foot first half but his intelligent runs in behind were a key element and got us in behind. Ended up with an assist but could have easily walked off with 3 or 4 assists. Solomon - 7. Continued his good form with another strong showing. Didn't quite have the end product but certainly caused problems. Piroe - 8. Match winner. Covered some ground. Held the ball well, good movement and clinical with his two goals. Subs Gnonto - 7. Useful cameo. Ramazani - 7. Pushing for a start. Joseph - 7. Very positive impact. Busy. Tanaka - 7. Saw the 3 points safe. Schmidt - n/a. Gaining more confidence as he gets a few minutes here and there. Farke - 9. Made the right choice in taking Tanaka out for Ampadu who made a big difference to us. Sticking with Piroe also proven to be right. Having another solid season at the helm.
Interesting to hear Farke talking about Ampadu. Everyone talks about tanaka, but Farke thinks Ampadu is our most important player. Personally I really like tanaka but think Ampadu is a leader on the pitch and really solid defensively. Think that’s especially important away from home. Be interesting to see what combos he plays with the games coming thick and fast.
Touched on it in my ratings. I've regularly stated that Ampadu is our best player. Others seem to play a bit better and a bit more freely with him as the insurance behind. He reads the game incredibly well and has those leadership qualities on the pitch. Its no suprise that his return has coincided with a comfortable away win. I'd like to see him with Tanaka to see how they work together.
can’t argue with any of those. Bogle was our best attacking player, my MOM too. I think Schmidt had a nice little cameo. I say ‘think’ because I couldn’t tell for sure if it was him.
ditto… I’m a big fan of amps… if he wants to Play a double pivot then tanaka and amps are perfect… I guess rothwell is the one of our midfielders who offers that attacking urgency. Horses for courses maybe when everyone’s fit.
I found rangers and st mirren instead. This has been a cracking days footie. Leeds Win. Scum and rangers humiliated
Scum result a delight. Only blot on the day was Lampard & Coventry winning. And Burnley win was probably bad news for us.
2 dms… eg Southgate’s England and Farke’s Leeds with gruev/ampadu you need to get used to this new fangled lingo wakey Where parking the bus is called a low block etc all bollox
Farke out - rubbish manager, one trick pony, subs to late! Seriously guys I want you to go up and sit mid table in the prem. Let Man U have your keeper and with money for transfers I think Farke will do okay in the prem
I think the vast majority of fans like him. I think he's doing a great job. He certainly gets alot of support in the ground. Not so much on the forum. Post Bielsa Leeds reminds me of Post Keegan Newcastle back in the day. Winning isn't enough, it has to be free flowing attack and risk taking or it's seen as **** football from a boring manager. If we never had Bielsa, Farke would be the seen as the best manager we had in years. If we go up this year, Farke will need to spend ALOT of money to get 4 or 5 players in. How do you think he would have fared if he was given money in the Premier League?
I think he answered that - would do OK. But only with financial backing that he didn’t get last time - there’s the issue.
