Good Morning Everyone, It was Leeds who left the lions den with their tails between their legs on Saturday, and it could have been a lot worse. Sure, we can all makes excuses saying the players have not had time to gel, we were without some key players, our dabbling in the transfer market hasn't finished yet or the age old excuse, we rarely get a result at the Den!!! We all know that it could have actually have been a lot worse then it actually was!!! The bookies have us down as one of the favourites for relegation and you can see why!!! The one guy who kept us up last year has left and joined Fulham. Talking about McCormack, he didn't have the best of debuts. They lost, and McCormack was substituted with just less than an hour on the clock due to being unfit. The next day Fulham boss Felix Magath slated Leeds Utd for selling them an unfit player. There are a few points I would like to make here :- i) Fulham have had long enough to assess Ross, and his fitness levels ii) If Ross had gone to the fitness camp in north Italy, his levels of fitness would be a lot higher (and it was probably Fulham that told him not to go) iii) I blame Tom Lees (or can't we do that anymore)? Staying with Fulham, they now join Southampton and Sunderland in the race to sign Sam Byram. Over the weekend Saints had a 4.5m bid turned down for our star right back. One thing for sure, Cellino won't let him go on the cheap.
Morning Elland, Saturday started with so much expectation and then turned into more of last season. I'm not a Hock fan as I think he has no idea about tactics required in this league, or has the experience to try and play football at this level. Yes our boys may be fitter but half of them have not been with the squad long enough so his harsh fitness regime was wasted too. I thought he was slowly getting it but after Saturday I don't think he's up to it and would love to have heard what Cellino said to him on Sunday.
Good morning from a cloudy Cote de Bardsey to Matt and everyone I think that playing Hunt does not bode well for Hock anyone with half a brain could see against Dundee that he really isn't up to it Charlie Taylor and Berardi should have played and we desperately need a centre back a striker and I mean now not in January I wonder how many coaches we will have this season if we lose the next 2 games I expect him to be off but is it all his fault who chose the team who were clearly not up for it .Who buys the players surely they are accountable as well It was galling to see Chris Burke score a delightful goal you probably remember I wrote to MC about him I bet he wished hed listened now Agard also played for Rotherham I thought he was away and he looked dangerous Unless we move fast we will have a season to remember for the wrong reasons and I can't believe someone as astute as MC will allow this to happen Its obvious that we will lose another star Byram I expect will leave this week lets hope this money is invested in the team mike
He loses his job tomoz if we lose that match!! I've been reading the papers this morning and Eddie Gray sums it up really: " same as last season, need new blood in the team, Smith should have been on from the start, the front three were not in the game so why have 3 up top, tactics wrong in the first half and a bit better in the second. I also read Hock saying that players did their own thing in the first half, thats Hock's fault then because the players don't like what he's told them. He also said that we were passing the ball too much instead of going through, round or over we were going sideways. Sort it out fast fella because the only direction you'll be going back to Essex
Morning Mike, What do Managers see in Hunt??? We need signings now. I agree. We don't want to get sucked in a relegation battle.
Morning all, I am expecting this week to go further down hill with the sale of Byram and the signature of Nile Ranger. I knew it was going to be a season of ups and downs, just patiently waiting for that up curve to begin.
This is what gets me, Hock said that we got our tactics right and yet, obviously that statement suggests that in the first half we didnt. As you say Doc the obvious question has to be why did the players do their own thing in the 1st half then. Did they not understand Hock's instructions or did they all decide individually or collectively that those instructions were rubbish, either answer is not good for Hock, the players or us the fans. As for Fulham all I can say is tough, why blame Leeds, why not blame the player they bought for not keeping his own fitness levels up
Morning all. I know we lost on Saturday and the Hock's team selection was called into question. But he picked allegedly the best side available to him i what was always going to be an intimidating atmosphere. Yes, he should have started with Smith instead of Hunt. Yes, it was a bad result and we didn't play as well as we could have done. But based on some of the comments, you'd have thought we'd just been relegated to the Conference after one game. Tomorrow is another day and another game. I think Smith will start. I think Bianki will play at the head of a diamond, or at least somewhere in the centre of midfield. I wouldn't be too surprised to see Beradi at RB with Byram at rm. Quite liked the look of Ajose (or whatever his name is). Looked quite lively and looks as though he'll give us some width. Just to placate all the meatheads, I can see the Hock getting the order of the Cellino directed by a well placed size 10 if we don't win and win well. On Byram, I doubt he'll go anywhere anytime soon unless we get a silly money offer from someone desparate to take a chance on a player who, last season as a result of an injury, dfinitely wasn't the player we had in 12/13. On Ross, good luck to him I say, and more fool you Fulham for not putting him through his paces in pre-season training.
Oh, and as for relegation, ome people need to grow up. The Hock will get it right sooner rather than later, or he'll be moved on and his replacement will.
I could see Saturdays result coming from the Swindon game, I was surprised it was not worse. I said after Swindon we were dire and was shot down by some, who did not even go to the game. Major changes needed in the coaching set up, but on the bright side I think we still have some decent players.
Mornin all. An awful start Saturday but some of the stuff written since has been over the top. It will likely be another month before we can fully assess where we are in terms of ins and outs, who's gelling any who's not. Having said that, I dont expect the Hock to be around in a month. As for talk of relegation, as Boggers said, Cellino won't allow that. Theres plenty of rubbish broke outfits in our division that will still finish below us, we played one of them Saturday. Cheer up lads
How many displays like the one on Sat will you start to see what others can see. I've never owned a club or been a top coach, but even I can see that we need a named coach who the players will respect and listen to, Cellino needs to remember that this is not Italy and we aren't going anywhere if he continues to buy/loan cheap imports. Yes it's only one game played, but we were beaten according to E.Gray by a poor Wall side, how are we going to do against the better teams.
We'll be bottom in a months time Eire. The players don't respect the coach, the coach is out of his depth and Cellino should stick to running the club and leave the signing of players to a more experienced manager. He should leave all this continental nonsense in Italy.
I will judge both the Hock and the team after 10 games, starting with tomorrow. A win, and confidence will exude for next week's game. Should also help to have Bianchi and even Morison back. Hunt has no future at Leeds.... unless we can send him out on loan to get some game time and improve his confidence. However, a loss or even a draw at home to AS and the writing will be on the wall for Hock & his team.
I agree Shaks but the bottom line is Cellino has put the money in and will do it his way whether we like it or not. That involves cheap coaches on 100k a year, pay peanuts get monkeys. Also involves virtually all foreign players as he seemingly believes about 5k a weeks enough for the players to keep running costs down. That rules out all British players so no point in people dreaming on about Burke, bringing back Becchio etc. I hope he eventually irons it all out because we are out of options. We can moan here for the next decade and he won't change his game plan. In fact, dont be a bit surprised if the next coach in a few weeks is Italian
Morning all Not much positivity around at the minute. While it was only the first game of the season and not time for overreacting, I think it was the manner of the defeat that stings more than the fact it was a defeat. It's a bit worrying to hear that the players were doing their own thing for the first half. Drastic improvement needed in a lot of areas tomorrow against a weak opposition, a loss tomorrow would be hard to take. Speaking of tomorrow, match thread will be up around lunch today
