Lonergan - ok as backup keeper or first man, but the class of Kusczak just shows what we missed out on. Need a new one. Connolly - solid enough, but slow and does not keep his managers onside. Gotta go. Lees - Not tall enough, not strong enough, not enough nous, just aint gonna make it. Ship him out. Bruce - slow and cumbersome, not tall enough, not strong enough. Ship him out. O'Dea - definite buy. Robinson - committed and pasionate, but old and slow. Don't buy. White - young and pacy but small. Question marks over his best position and his football nous. One for the future, so we are likely to lose him. Contract ends in summer. Parker - slow, injury prone, runs like a penguin, no strength. Goodbye. Snodgrass - the jewel in the crown, but slow and hit and miss at crossing the ball. Unlikely to sign a new contract so either sell this summer or see him slope off at end next season Clayton - young, undoubted talent, but blows hot and cold and can appear to go missing. Is it because he is stuck in a midfield of just two, while the wingers do very little to shore up the middle? I see him as being let down by the tactics from the manager and the wide men. Keep as he is the future, but he may not want to stay. Brown - old, some question everything about him, but I see him as a key part of a Warniock team, he just has to build a proper midfield around him. Give him another year. Webber - been a revelation, fast, tricky, good ball control, good football nous. Desreves a contract, especially when fit. Nunez - offers something different, small and nippy, good shot, will take players on, but lightweight and not a tackler. I don't think that either Grayson or Warnock know how to use him as a team player in the same way his national team does. Will probably be shown the door. Becchio - strong and willing, does a real shift and is battered by defenders, brilliant at heading, but oh so slow, has no peripheral vision, has no ball control, can't pass, can't dribble, falls over a lot, and pisses off the referees so he rarely gets the fouls he should. Needs a player with Beckford's speed to feed off him - without that, he is a mediocre player. Sorry Luciano, I love you loads, but you gotta go. McCormack - the other jewel in our crown, ever so brainy and makes fantastic runs, great ball control, but is not strong enough, is not fast enough, and we don't have anyone who is on his wavelength to get the ball to him at the right time. He will move on and will prove himslef in a team that has players who work to his skills. Everyone else is just a squad player, which means they are not even as good as the ones above. We need a long-term 10-year plan to turn this round, not a one-year wonder manager and a narcissistic despot as chairman. Get the ticket prices down to a reasonable level - £200 off - get the fans back in the stadium without promising Premiership football, and slowly build this club and team with an ethos for a way of playing leading to only certain types of players being bought or brought in, and get in a proven manager who is aware of what it takes and is willing to stick it out (eg Curbishley, McCarthy etc)
What we need: GK - Lonergan is crap. CRAP. Put him on the bench and make him earn his place. Get a proper goalkeeper in who can kick the ball, save shots and do the basics right. Sack Andy Beesley, he's a shocking goalkeeping coach and an embarrassment to Leeds United. RB - Connolly can't be arsed unless it's on the telly. Serial hoofer and a paceless plodder. CB - O'Dea and Lees have both looked slightly below average. We need a LEADER in this position. CM - Clayton and Brown have both shown they don't have enough energy for 46 league games. Get a classy all-rounder in to make them work their arses off. Preferably another character who can inspire other players. Winger - White is a left back, and needs to play there. Webber is pointless. What we'll get: More ****e.
We need a good start to the summer, for Bates that will be White leaving on a free, meaning we'll get compensation and the sale of one of our best players (Snodgrass will do).
Wow. Thanks for the constructive input. Bet you're great fun down the pub. Maybe you just don't see the team very often to be able to add any value. I don't know, so-called supporters nowadays, they just don't know how to debate football anymore from a point of view of knowing about the game
I never saw any announcement that we'd replaced him, so I assumed it was just Miller and Snodin that left with Grayson. Just looked it up and Andy Leaning is our new GK coach, apparently. Thanks for updating us on that, LUFC. Either way, Lonergan's deteriorated in exactly the same way Ankergren, Higgs and Schmeichel did. And that can't be a coincidence.
I do remember seeing it somewhere on LUFC site Agree about deteriorating form though. Could **** defenders and no confidence/ buildong of trust and communication be part of that?
It could well, but it still doesn't excuse limp-wristed save attempts like at the 7-3 game, and the constant, fruitless hoofing that we've seen today and on most other occasions. Lonergan's a confidence player who makes good reflex saves, but like Schmeichel, Higgs and Ankergren at the end of their Leeds tenures, just can't do the basics right. Even Rachubka was the same to some extent - he was fine in pre-season. A top keeper is needed, and I think we need to look abroad to find that. France and Germany are prolific producers of good keepers, and English goalies are hugely overpriced. If only we had a scouting network which didn't consist of one inept Bates crony.
It's been the same for the last 3 home matches, Lonergan just launches it long to Becchio, must be the managers instruction. With Taylor at CB for Watford, common sense tells you not to employ that tactic today.
Actually, been following the Whites since 1965. How can you write Colin off so easily? Mindless if you ask me. Curbishley? Arrogant joke of a manager who suffers from a god complex. McCarthy? Loads his team with giants who hoof and kick. Come on, be a bit more sensible!!
I thought Curbishley's achievements at both West Ham and Charlton were impressive. Apparently he left because he was unhappy with the clubs transfer policy and won his case for constructive dismissal. That ruled him out of joining Leeds. McCarthy's success at Wolves was also very commendable, including how he got them up and kept them up.
Just listened to Warnock's post-match interview, and he was particularly scathing about Connolly, which I was pleased to hear: "That tackle [that got him sent off] was irresponsible. He obviously doesn't want to play at Reading... we might as well play a couple of youngsters at Reading if we're going to lose." Grayson was right to say the lazy cretin should never play for Leeds again. If only we'd played Zac Thompson there instead. A scouser who actually seems to care about playing for Leeds instead of this journeyman wage-waster.
Nice to know which bit you disagreed with. So not all of it was cobblers then? If you read it again, you would see that the issue I am trying to make is that the short term nature of the way the club is looing at thingsand in particular of Warnock's contract means chances are we willfail without having give him a chance. Or rather that he never really gave himself a chance. That is the only real issue I have with our Colin: not got the time to build it
Are people seriously calling Lonergan crap?....after today. You can't of been at the game. Because if you had you would of seen that chance were the Watford striker was one on one with Lonners, no defender around in miles and it seemed certain that they would score but Lonergan managed to save it....twice I believe. Lonergan deserves better fans, he's kept us in so many games and all he get's is criticism.
Apologies about the cobblers bit, but I didn't have time to add detail as my lady walked in wearing just stockings and holding a G&T so got cut short Curbishley has openly said he will only manage in the Prem which means he won't manage again. We are Leeds not Wolves or Sunderland so we don't want a manager like McCarthy who signs a bunch of cavemen to get us up and then fight relegation until he gets sacked. We go up and then we must push for top ten consistently. We are Leeds.
I see where you are coming from BS. Seeing your missus just in her stockings would probably make me confused aswell You haven't grasped that my issue is more about Warnock's lack of longevity and the short termism of our strategies that will mean we are very unlikely to succeed in getting to the Prem. And after getting there, any idea that we would not be faced with years of battling in the lower half (assuming we are not relegated very quickly) is over-optimistic at best. Choice of best manager for a long term strategy can be argued about ad nauseam, but first we need to actually have a long-termism about us.
Agreed. I have said countless times before that Bates has never revealed a five-year plan for Leeds United, and has never committed to any actual goal. He mumbles every now and then about promotion, but there has never been any genuine commitment from the Leeds board towards any target or plan, and ultimately this lack of desire will hurt us.
