But thats only your opinion gained first hand. What you really need to do is trawl through the entire internet looking for validation for you views and post them in the first person.....
Just my opinion.... I think it is all down to us going back to 4-2-3-1 and persevering with best player for best position. Our mini run of four wins has been slightly fortunate in places but we are getting there. I believe we could and should have been higher in the table were it not for two things, a terribly short preseason against mainly poor opposition and Monk not knowing his best team and formation. We could blame the latter on the preseason or we could say a professional coach should know better. In a way, Cellino backing Monk with so many new players and attacking options left Monk trying to fit Roofe, Wood and Antonnson into the same team. Monk wanted a new striker, we probably still need someone else capabable of filling in up front on their own but... If Monk had got that new Striker Wood would have been dropped and would we be sitting on 4 consecutive wins? I'll give Monk 100% credit for Bartley, Jannson and preserving with Green and how we have the best defence in years. I still am not confident in his total ability but... maybe he has to and will improve at Elland Road, a bit like Wood. Cardiff and Blackburn meant very little on their own, Ipswich was a big one, not just the win and clean sheet but not a single person, not even big Mick saying Leeds didn't deserve it.
Shaks, olof, davy, gobspawn can you attend this hastily convened meeting of the heather, peg and tarmac sellers guild?
Agree with you on the 4-2-3-1 formation. I'd said before he has always played that and needed to go back to what he trusts. You could also be right that the switch to 4-4-2 was to accommodate the new signings, which is the wrong thing to do. Players need to earn their place.
Exactly. I think he has finally learnt his lesson. I hope he is able now to get a little bit more respect for what he has done this season and push to the side what he has done in previous Seasons.
After the hour period when Ipswich went three at the back as you rightly said this would restrict them to the odd chance. In previous season that's all they would need to get a goal or two. Maybe Big Mick did not do his homework properly
Morning troops. As I've said a couple of times already, its all coming together. Best of all was either another clean sheet, Wood scoring, or winning without our best DM. Whichever way you cut it, a good win with us now 3pts off top 6. Plenty of harder matches on the way, but with Monk trusting in 4231 I think we can now give all the other sides in the division a decent game. tOP 6 is now a real possibility. Keep the faith one and all. In Monk I trust. MOT
He is getting banned next week for bunging the agent, or next month after the italian court case. The ****er is having to take a back seat and deserves absolutely no credit, he hasnt and wont ever change. BTW We are 12th not first or second, give your head a shake. Hopefully he is now forced to sell..... Should have happened two years ago!
Fine thanks. Just seen your enquiry. early days but things progressing nicely at Elland Road. I think we are beginning to look forward to the next game again.
Yes whatever it takes lads,if we have to make a human sacrifice of Glory we are prepared to go all the way.In the paddies I trust. Glory.
No Chippy, the only foolish thing is your never ending cr&p you keep posting. We are now 12th, 3pts off play offs. If you can't cope with us now starting to head in the right direction, phark off to JA where your continual diatribe of cr%p might be better appreciated
Here's my writeup on the game.... Overall, it was a great game. Thoroughly enjoyed it & didn't feel we were going to concede at any time. Long time since I've felt like that for a whole match.The back 4 were solid - all 4 of them this time. Midfield 2 were solid too, and the midfield 3 were very, very creative, and defended well too. Wood had his best game ever. If you listen to LeedsLover, he got one header right. If you listen to Mick McCarthy, he had an outstanding game. I know whose opinion I value most. Only downside for me was that it all got very scrappy after an hour or so, as big Mick went to 3 at the back. Worked well for them in as much that we weren't so dominant, and were restricted to the odd chance. The reality is that that's all they got out of the tactical switch, as we never looked like conceding. Thought Monk might have made a tactical switch to get us back on top, but he seemed to be content for us to slug it out. Personally, I'm not happy about this, but I guess he knows better. He's still persisting with no-one on the back post at corners. We're going to get found out on this before long. And even more worrying, he still doesn't put anyone up front for a corner against, so as soon as we clear a ball, it comes sailing back in for them to have another crack. And another. And ... Green - Didn't have a great deal to do, but did it well when the time came. Cacked myself when they got a free kick in the last minute just outside the box - his most vulnerable situation to date this season. Fortunately it was a row Z job *snigger* Ayling - Much improved performance. Can't think of a fault to report this time! Jansson - The boss. End of. One of his tackles resulted in a substitution because of injury. Perfectly fair - no foul awarded. Bartley - Another solid performance. Taylor - Still not back to his best. Crapped out of a couple of tackles again. Running less than 100%. Seems to be avoiding straining or hurting himself. Made Philips look poor by retreating during one attack, meaning Phillips inch-perfect pass looked like it was over-hit (which was pounced upon unfairly by some of the Philips-haters around me). Still a 7+/10 player, but not performing as well as he should be. Phillips - Perhaps his best game for us to date. He was looking as good as he has done in the past for the u23s. The games he's played this year have matured him very quickly. Didn't look like a youngster today. Like Jansson, he fairly injured one of their player, resulting in a substitution. No foul play, just hard, hard tackling. Another Bridcutt in the making. Love it! O'Kane - This lad has settled in so quickly. As a DM, I expected him to be another Bridcutt. I think he could be even better! Time will tell, but he looks like he's been a fixture in our team for yonks. Dallas - Yet another outstanding performance, both in his defensive duties (which he's always been great at), and in attack mode, which he seems to be doing more & more (thankfully). He played particularly well in the first hour, as he & Hernandez doubled up on the left wing. Tactic worked wonderfully - we were all over them. Another full & deserved 90 mins. Hernandez - Another excellent performance, As I mentioned above, doubled up with Dallas on the left & they both caused havoc. I really am starting to warm to him. I watched him defensively - he actually defends from the front & covers a lot of ground, whereas Dallas defends deeper. Hope it continues to work as well as it did today. Sacko - Spells of brilliance, but still a number of poor decisions. Seems to think he has to hit the by-line to get a cross in, and often takes on (& fails to beat) a man too many. He should watch old footage of Beckham. Don't recall Beckham ever hitting the bye-line, but you couldn't fault his deliveries, could you? Hopefully Sacko will learn to get early balls in. And hopefully he won't miss open-goal sitters like he did today. Despite his faults, he's exciting to watch & would deffo have him in the team for the next match. Did tire towards the end, so I wonder of he might be rested on Tuesday. Wood - Best game for Leeds ever. Was doing everything you would want a lone striker to do - and doing it brilliantly. Hit the post with a sizzling shot, as well as scoring with a cracking header. Subs Roofe, Grimes & Mowatt - didn't get a chance to impress. Game was already scrappy by the time they came on. OK performances from them, but nothing special to report Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I find it strange that people are claiming 4-2-3-1 was being thrown at Monk as the correct formation all along ... when Leeds started with this, there was a lot of clamour on here for Antonsson and Wood to play up front together in a 4-4-2 otherwise we'd have no chance of scoring goals ... when it became clear that 4-4-2 meant our defence was exposed more and Monk was going back to a lone striker, the loudest calls were for Wood to be banished to the U18s and Antonsson to be the main man ... come on already Wood is a damn good striker, and like any out and out goalscorer, he needs to be playing every game and be given the chances by his team ... I really hope that people start to appreciate his ability and contribution, because we are very lucky to have him at our club ... same goes for Monk, who has always needed time to get things settled and pointed in the right direction ... this is a tough division, and togetherness and belief are the two key ingredients to be a top six club ... trust me, the players had very little belief in and respect for the likes of Evans and Redfearn, but it is very clear that they respect Monk and his staff ... we are fortunate to have a quality striker and a high class manager, and we need to continue supporting them as we move on up the table ... there are no easy games, and every team can get walloped on any given day, so togetherness is vital ... Wood has surely now earned everyone's respect and admiration, and Monk must surely now be recognised as a very capable manager considering the immense pressure and negativity he's had to overcome in getting his squad to stick together and winning .... MOT Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
My opinions from yesterday... Wood was excellent. Has never shown that level before, work rate, touch, heading, desire, the full package. Defence and Green. Calm and composed at all times. Ayling showed a marked improvement on recent games and looked good going forward. Sacko has frightening potential. If we have an option to buy we should exercise it at the earliest opportunity. Phillips for me didn't have a great first half. To his credit he did much better in the second but for me he will never be top class. I know that goes against most opinions from yesterday but I feel he lacks that little bit of zip in his game that Bridcutt and Vieira don't. Very harsh comments as he did play well yesterday but I want a team to win automatic promotion and for me whilst he's a good squad player and has time on his side to develop he's not there yet. Hope to be proved wrong and interested to hear others views on this player. Charlie Taylor is playing with the handbrake on. Maybe it's tactical from Monk as he's not overlapping half as much as before and it could be that Monk's preference is for him to keep the defensive shape unless he sure we're not exposed behind. Roofe when he comes on needs to stop giving cheap fouls away. Even though it's in the opposition half it allowed their keeper to launch it to the edge of our area and put us under pressure. Other than that he looked lively. Grimes actually looked quite sharp in his few minutes on the pitch. First time I've seen him other than on TV and interested to see a bit more of him as he probably wasn't fit at the start of the season. Mowatt showed his usual lack of pace. It much be so frustrating to be blessed with such great technical ability but you just can't get there. If he was a yard quicker he'd be in the PL by now. Overall a fantastic team performance with some outstanding individual ones as well. The team picks itself now and the understanding between players in all areas of the pitch is starting to come.
How did the wallies get on yesterday? Just seen the news that a load of asylum seekers have got to Berlin but have Cockney accents and are crying in their jellied eels
