Thoughts on the game as a whole? As for signing big physical lads to deal with the PL, today was a massive fail. Villareal played us off the park but more infuriating was the fact that they bullied us physically throughout. Today was a scary performance from Leeds as we were never really at the races and were 2nd best all over the park. Schmidt and Aaronson should not play on the right again as a pair. They were dreadful first half. Aaronson improved once Schmidt went off. We need another winger and we need another full back. A midfield three wont work either. We dont have the quality in the final third to score goals and we still gave away too many chances to an average Villareal team. We need a 10. It was also apparent that Ampadu is still our best midfielder with Gruev and Tanaka performing better than Stach and Longstaff. Gruev changed the game for us more than any other midfield player with his willingness to pass forward. Up top, we looked better with Piroe than with Nmecha. Today didnt fill me with confidence if im honest. Big Nasty Bastards United looked soft, passive and slow. Last seasons players looked a step above the new signings other than Gudmundsson. Lots of work to do in the transfer market before Everton.
Farke Didn't sound convincing on Bogle in the pressy after the game.Also said our defence and midfield basically done but need players upfront then went back on we need a fullback.
Thought we did ok. good opposition. Aaronson my Leeds MOM. Still not reading nowt in the score as numerous changes but we held our own and a draw was probably fair.
I've been to non league and our bogey opponents harrogate railway scored at the death for a 3 all entertaining draw. What was the leeds result today please.
Some generous marks there. Darlow 7 - was decent. Schmidt 3 - was ****. Needs to leave. Rodon 7 - was solid but should have gone through the forward and set him straight. Struijk 7 - Stepped in to thwart promising attacks quite often. Gudmundsson 7 - Solid enough. Ampadu - 7. The only physical presence in midfield. Stach - 5. Some nice touches but nowhere near the level needed to keep us up. Longstaff - 4. Schmidt hung him out to dry numerous times but another who Leeds need to step up a couple of levels if he is to start regularly. Gnonto - 5. Some nice touches but never really looked too dangerous. Aaronson - 6. Improved as the game went on. Ran around alot, had a hand in the goal but alot of the frustrating stuff still remains. He's not the answer on the right. Nmecha - 5. A bit statuesque up front for the large part. Only moves when the ball is played to him, no pressing, no challenging for headers. In short, a lack of fight. Meslier - 4. Everyone looks nervy around him. Get him gone. Byram - 6. Much better than Schmidt, nowhere near Bogles level. Bijol - 7. Steady Eddie. Gruev - 8. Was the bravest midfielder on the ball. Tried to progress the ball up the pitch more than any other midfielder and that's a scary thought. Tanaka - 7. Neat and tidy. An improvement on the starting midfield. Piroe - 7. Looks fighting fit and hungry. Ramazani - 7. Got stuck in and showed a bit of nastiness.
Emu what did we look like at set pieces with the new size formula. On telly it looked like we stand a chance defending set pieces better and look threatening at the other end?
It feels a bit like we’ve done the Koch, Kristenson and Roca signings and a bit more stardust is essential. Which, by the way, I’ve got a particularly good batch of at the moment
{was away at a family get together so only saw snippets on phone. Relying on reports here and elsewhere. New lads not getting rave reviews but likely too soon for them
Defensively we looked okay. Can't remember too much drama in our own box from set pieces. Attacking set pieces were difficult to gauge. We had Gudmundsson taking the corners and set pieces and he doesn't have that whipped delivery in his locker. That made us easy to defend against but not due to our size but due to delivery. Gruev came on and took a few free kicks and although they were better, they weren't really PL class. The one delivery that looked dangerous was from a Stach delivery from our left side. Bijol nodded one back across the goal from a Gruev delivery if memory serves me right. In short, defensively sound and promising at the other end if we get someone to cross the ****ing thing.
Its early doors and a small sample size. Stach does some really good stuff but I want him to do more of it. We know Longstaff can do a job but he played on the right more often than not and Schmidt had a stinker at right back. Nmecha is third choice because we need a striker signing. Bijol looks okay. I was a little disappointed that Big Bastards United weren't nasty and horrible to play against. If anything Villareal bullied us.
Jeez, A voice of reason at last. So the players that have played together across a 46 game season looked more cohesive than the new boys that have never played together at all. Who’d have thunk it??
Unfortunately Everton, Arsenal and Newcastle wont wait for us to play a 46 game season to get up to speed. Im trying to give an honest opinion on where we are NOW as a team or squad.
It’s preseason, it means very little other than fitness and system/style of play. Fans are obsessed with the short term. Arsenal lost to Spurs, Everton lost, Newcastle lost so by your logic we should beat all these?
Villareal kicked the **** out of us at times. Friendly or not, if someone is taking the piss like Eyong was by trying to injured Rodon 3 times, then it's time to become more physical. Especially when you've spent the summer budget on physical players who can handle the physicality of the Premier League. They couldn't handle Villareal physically. It would have been nice to see us match them when they started kicking us and pushing us around. Its not about getting injured, it's about not getting injured.
