Alrite lets do the negatives from the game first. Im unbelievably dissapointed, we looked a shadow of the team we were last year. Not really being able to be composed and pass the ball nicely along the ground and things like this. I think O'Dea is probably the ****test player in the history of football and to see him make his proffession out of it is a joke. O'Dea was constantly out of position and hence made kisnorbo practically play LB for him which pulled a man out of CB for us. I do believe it was his fault for the second goal (although O'Brien could've done better by showing him the outside) and most of there chances was down to O'Dea. The first goal i am putting down to a mixture of clayton and Lonergan. Hammond was Clayton's man and he and Brown went and marked the same player and let him get through. Lonergan should've been at least a pace or two to his right hand side and he would've saved it if he was, basically out of position but i cant fault lonergan in any other area really today, he did okay. There third goal i would put down to Brown in truth, however i think you have to give them, that it was quite good play to southampton and a good finish from connolly. We let them play there game today and not enough tackles from brown and clayton. Andy O'Brien didnt have a good game either and thats another reason we lost in the way we did. That is prbably the worst i have ever seen snodgrass play, his passes were terrible and he was unable to keep possession far too many times. His set pieces were constantly terrible as well and i was expecting a far better game from him. I think McCormack didnt really do enough either, maybe made a nuisance of himself every now and again but not really enough from him. Didnt work hard enough for me, wasnt chasing the ball down enough although he wasnt really getting the service i still think he could've put there defenders under a bit of pressure. I remember seeing howson often running past McCormack to put pressure on their defence. When Paynter came on, it was pointless having him on the pitch. McCormack cant win headers but at least he can play on the floor. Paynter didnt win any headers, worked even less than McCormack and then misses a glorious 1 on 1 chance which should've gone in all day long. For a striker to miss a chance like that suggests they cant really score goals, doesnt matter who the keeper is or how well he does the striker should always 10 out of 10 times should score that. Gradel worked hard as usual but often lost the ball and made the wrong decisions. He got some good crosses into the box, however something i have noticed about him is he doesnt pick out players in the box rather just kicks the ball. I think he didnt have any composure today. Worse player that game would definitely be O'Dea, i cannot describe in words how bad he actually is. If you disagree, thats fine..... but your wrong Positives I think Howson did rather well through the game although he didnt do enough to shift the way the game was going which is hard to ask from one player in truth. He worked very hard and often won the ball and kept possession, played through some good passes and when he went back and played the defensive role it really shored up the team massively, Howson rather ghosts into positions and often is unmarked, just we were unable to execute the passes required to play him in, they were'nt hard passes but the team just was unable to do it. I think apart from the first goal clayton looked like he could be a decent player for leeds, certainly towards the end of the game, he doesnt look comfortable in a defensive midfield role, but has an excellent range of passes, i thought he had a decent game when we went 4-4-2. Kisnorbo looked very good and often was cutting out passes, winning headers, winning tackles, beating players for pace and making last ditch tackles on occasion as well. I think it is a shame that he basically had to play in two positions as i think if O'Dea wasnt such a liability i think we would've looked about 10 times better with kisnorbo more central when it counted. Lonergan made some good saves but i think it was more a less out of his control. Connolly had a okay game, nothing good, nothing bad just did his job and got on with it. Although he could've covered a little bit more and helped snoddy a little bit more as well. Nunez did okay when coming on but just okay, sam didnt do that well though The player of the game for leeds would probably be howson or kisnorbo, i would probably go with howson. On that performance the team that i would start with next week would be: -----------Lonergan---------- Connolly--O'Brien--Kisnorbo--Parker Snoddy---Howson--Clayton--Gradel --------McCormack--Nunez-------- or if he insist on playing 4-5-1 -----------Lonergan---------- Connolly--O'Brien--Kisnorbo--Parker ---------Howson--Clayton--------- Snoddy-------Nunez---------Gradel -----------Sign a Striker----------- Im kinda stuck with that LB position, im considering Lees playing there, Bromby, Parker, Bessone and White. I think we did better in 4-4-2 and i've always said this. You can work your way out better when your playing 4-4-2 and also it works when your not in control of the game. The only time 4-5-1 is when we have a good striker who can win headers and when we are in control of the game. I would also consider dropping O'Brien as well who didnt have a great game but i would probably give him the benefit of the doubt as he has just come back from injury, not really had a pre-season and there was a hell of alot of pressure on him particularly during the game. In hindsight, it was a bad choice to play him above bromby. Keep the faith though guys, the first game of the season always throws up results that we dont expect but i reckon we will bounce back, we have the players i just think grayson priority needs to move to a striker and honestly i would call up all the top clubs in england and just say to them, we need a striker, who do you want us to give games to for a month or two who isnt making your team, they'll be a 24hr recall clause. WE NEED A STRIKER GRAYSON!!!!
Ratings - out of 10 Londergan 5 - should have got the first goal... Connolly 6 Paddy 6 Obrien 3 - woeful Odea 3 - how can we keep getting rubbish left backs Gradel 4 - sorry did not seem 100% committed to me Howson 7 - only one who came out with any credit Clayton 3 - lightweight and not good enough on that display might have played well in pre season but.... Brown 4 - lucky to be on the pitch Snoddy 4.- poor game McCormack 5 - he is not a loan striker and never will be Subs - no real impact Paynter 5 Nunez 6 Sam 5 ok.... first game and away top a promoted side..... Southampton played with passion and were well organised. We had 5 in midfield and never had control It proves one thing....we need a Loan striker on Monday who is strong powerful and can win the ball and hold up play... i remeber last seaosn we started with Derby and lost 2-1 so this is not a doom and gloom message... but we have to do better....what i will say is Johnson was missed yesterday!!!
agree with the lone striker, we need one. The things i would edit on yours is Lonergan 6 - Should have got the first goal but made at least 2 saves that i can think of that coulda and from a southampton perspective shoulda gone in O'Dea 1 - I've never seen a worse player in my life and i've seen paynter, never in position Gradel 5 - Did put in some okay crosses and covered for O'Dea a few times as well but overall a bad game Clayton 3 - in the first half but probs about 6 in the second half Paynter 3 - Did worse than McCormack when come on, didnt win headers and should've scored the 1 on 1. I'd prefer to have Bromby upfront
What did you guys expect especially from o dea. Basically a poorer squad than last season. New keeper not an improvement on previous one. Paynter useless but now starts matches. O dea who couldn't get a game with Celtic. Celtic who play in a league where I could line up in their defence for 90% of the season. One of our few shining lights Maxie will be forced out over the coming months. Mid table is the best we can hope for
Saints fan in peace! My view is that you weren't that bad. If you had got the first goal early, things would have been very different. I noticed the huge difference from the League One football from the last two years. We didn't play as wide as we normally do, and managed to snuff out your midfield. I felt you looked dangerous when you went forward, but as we got the first goal, you left gaps at the back. Once the third went in, you had no choice but to go for it. We played good football at times, but I am under no illusion that that is the best you lot can play. You're a big, big club with fantastic support (the "we all love leeds" chant got me screaming to let you score if you would shut up!) and one game does not define a season. Good luck for the rest of the season - after the sh*t of the last few years (for both of us), you deserve it. No7
Glad a few more Leeds fans were watching the same game as me, O'Dea and Clayton were amongst the worse 4 players on the pitch along with O'Brien and Brown. Closely followed by an out of sorts Snodgrass and a 'should I be here?' looking Gradel. I thought I was going mad reading another thread where someone feels Clayton was the best player on the pitch and O'Dea was a great signing. I went into this season expecting little out, I feel more sorry for those Leeds fans that felt we had a good chance of promotion. If this is what Southampton can do to us I fear for our away games at West Ham, Leicester and Ipswich who I feel have even better teams.
I wholeheartedly agree with this. His save vs Chaplow (when it hit the post) was top class. he just managed to get his fingers to it to tip it onto the post, class save. He also spread his body well when saving from Lallana point blank. I will leave my thoughts on Brown up to you, considering he played for Pompey last season. * *Extremely dirty. Should have been sent off within first 10 minutes.
I appreciate your views but i think thats the worst we've played since we came up from league 1 at least. O'Brien as i said im going to give the benfit of the doubt as he has been injured and hasnt had a pre-season however, O'Dea regardless of how bad a game you can have, you dont find yourself out of position that much. He was poor in anyone's description. I think clayton did show a little bit more in the second half, ii just think he had a bad game, i think he'll come good but grayson must be having a go at em right now. Snoddy just looked terrible Maybe im not giving enough credit to southampton but we were just bad all over the pitch. I think that Kisnorbo and Howson are the only ones that came out of that with some credit
I doubt Grayson is having a go at them thats the issue - He seems a weak bottleless individual... They all need a rocket up the ars* but it will be more rubish press staements... I'm not one for knee jerk reactions but I see a long season ahead... MOT
no i think we'll be ok if we drop O'Dea and get a striker in. I dont think people realise how much O'Dea compromised our team and also not having a lone striker that can win headers on the pitch or on the bench
josh... you think that was the worst we've played since promotion? You didn't watch us against swansea last season then. We lloked like Brasil yesterday compared to that. O'brien and snoddy were our worst players yesterday by some distance imo. O'brien should have closed down the first goal, messed up a straight forward defensive header and then got skinned by lallana for the second, and fell over and nearly gifted them a third a minute later. Clayton showed some good some bad... i agree he looked a bit lightweight, but he aslo showed some neat touches and the only quality forward passes we made in the match came from him. Other than his shot after 5 minutes i didn't notice howson playing... Lonegran 6, could of stopped the first, pretty good after that Connelly 5. Typically connelly, solid but can't pass kisnorbo 7. Easily best defender o'brien 2. At fault for 2 of the goals o'dea. 4. Looked what he is, a centre back playing full back brown 3. Kicked people got subbed. clayton 6. Showed glimpses of quality but no support howson 5. Anonymous snodgrass 2. Ran into people and lost the ball, or passed to the opposition... looked overweight and disinterested gradel 5, beat his man a few times but never when it mattered mcCormack 5. Didn't do much, but got no decent service to feet. Bottom line is it seems no 2 leeds fans agree on who were our biggest liabilities, we just all agree we were sh**e.
In the first half the only player who seemed capable of keeping the ball was Clayton, ran our play in the 2nd especially with the great pass to put Paynter through. He didn't look like a DM because he isn't one. I'm afraid in my view Paddy was at fault for the second goal, came out when he didn't need to and let a pass through meaning O'Dea had to rush out of position to try to cover. The first goal caught the defence cold and would have been avoided if O'Brien had either come out earlier, blocking the shot, or stayed where he was meaning Lonergan would have seen it earlier. O'Dea looked uncomfortable when it came to getting down the wing and positioning himself in relation to the centre backs but was very rarely beaten one on one by a winger. Gradel did his usual frustrating thing of beating a man then putting the ball too far ahead letting the next defender win it easily. Snodgrass was our worst player, didn't look fully fit or concentrated. A bad performance but hardly the end of the season as some seem to be predicting.
Leicester fan in peace, Interesting to see the reaction to the performance, thought Southampton looked very good and in Lallana they have a class player. Leeds looked poor at the back and thats the concern after last season. Kisnorbo is a good centre half who throws himself in front of the ball and a more committed pro you won't find the big concern for me about him is his injury record just can't see him playing 40 games a season. The reason he left Leicester was because of his injury record and don't think thats improved at Leeds. Think Lonergan will be a good keeper for u and the save he pulle off from Chaplow was top class. Not sure why you thought Brown would be the answer to the defensive midfield problems he's 34 and not going to have teh same engine he had 5 years ago. The encouraging thing for Leeds is that your forward line won't fail to fire like that again. Snodgrass wasn't good but he will get better he's too good a player not to and for all the histrionics gradel will cause problems. Thought Howson looked good and he will create for you. The key thing for Leeds will be getting Bechhio fit as he leads the line (pardon the pun) very well and is a goal threat how long is he out for? Think you'll need to work on your defense but the goals will come i'm sure.
don't you come on here making calm objective comments zen... even if its in your nature. We only allow Leicester fans on here to wum and spit vitriol.
lol sorry milkyboy i forgot my place. Forgot Leicester fans are supposed to be arrogant sods now we've spent £5. Lol in all seriousness best of luck for season the more stronger teams there are in the division the more exicting it is and love them or hate them people enjoy playing Leeds
You don't blame him for the third goal then when he stood and watched then got on the wrong side of Conolly? He was easily one of the worst 5 players on the pitch, sadly the other four were all wearing Leeds shirts too.
You're all saying that O'Brien had a bad game (and, at least in the 1st half, he did), but then Josh you've gone and selected him for your next game? Do you not have a 3rd CB? It's all well and good everyone saying you need to go and get yourself a striker in on loan, but a succesful side generally builds from the back. Plug the defence first! If you don't have anyone better than O'Brien, surely there danger signals are there and that is where you should be strengthening? Just an observation, not trying to wind you guys up or anything.
