A game where we hit the ground running from the off despite an early goal for Wigan. First half saw us back to playing the quick touch football that Bielsa is instilling into the players, and it was a pleasure to watch. 6 mins and Wigan got an early goal with a good free kick over our wall. The commentator mentioned BPF being out of position, which means I didn't have too. The camera angle in the highlights clearly show BPF was to far to his right leaving a big gap to his left which he obviously couldn't cover. Despite going 1-0 down after 6 mins, we soon rallied and equalised 3 mins later from a great run by Klich, a side step and accurate pass to Pablo who popped it into net with ease, 1-1, game on. A minute into second half saw Roofe capitalise on a keeper mistake and was able to walk the ball into the Wigan net. One thing I noticed during second half is we tended to take our foot of accelerator and become complacent in patches. For me Klich and Forshaw bossed the midfield, with both having impacts on our pressuring the Wigan defence. Forshaw has found his feet again, as I said he would, and Klich continues to raise 2 fingers at Thomas Christianson and Heckingbottom. A Vlogger on net claimed Phillips was the glue that holds the team together, can't see it myself. He has plenty of side and backward passes, but I can't see his impact on any of our games. Douglas had one of his better games for me, he seems to be slowly gelling in well with the quick one touch passes. There was an incident where Jansson was left 1 on 1 with Windass, but not for long cos 7 other players raced back to help Jansson out, something you didn't see last season. A lot of people noticed this and are talking about it. Another incident nearly saw the young Shackleton score his first goal. A good touch from Alioski to Pablo, a shot from Pablo which hit the far post and rebounded back to Shackleton, Shackleton took his shot but apparently Roofe couldn't get out the way in time, it could've been 3-1 and a good game for Shackleton. With Saturdays results going in our favour, it was a game we needed to win to take back top spot. Game ended 2-1 to us and a leap back to the top of table where we belong. Still a long way to go though. Enjoy. Ext highlights Bielsa interview post Wigan Paul Cook comments It's the now semi famous wainmanjoe The 1 on 1 between Jansson and Windass, Janssons comments after (narrated) Bonus, Jack Clarke comments on his Leeds debut. Leeds fans in full voice.
Thanks for the links, agree with most of comments (even BPF). Phillips and being the glue - think whoever said that had the wrong words, but I think his role means the midfield players know they can risk losing the ball as we’ll have it back quick
Genuine question re bpf’s positioning for free kick. The free kick was just off centre and he lined himself up with the taker, to one side of the goal where he could see the ball and primarily cover the unprotected side. Potentially there was a left footer and a right footer who could take the free kick. He’s obviously expecting the wall to cover one side and him the other (idea being any free kick that goes over the wall has to be hit slow enough to give him some chance to get across). So. If he stands in the middle of the goal, to cover both sides, as is being suggested, what’s the point of having a wall? Or was he not out of position, and just following standard practice? Which none keeper do you want to listen to, goodman or jfh? Would you stick a player on each post in these circumstances? You would imagine they practice facing free kicks from a variety of positions and have agreed wall placements and keeper starting positions. If BPF wasn’t where he should be on something this straight forward it’s poor from him.
Just one point... In regards to taking the foot off the gas. I read a while back that Bielsa instructs players to take mini breaks, obviously not all at once but I think a lot of the sideways passing around the back 4 is part of this strategy. We couldn’t keep the tempo up for 90 minutes, nobody could so these little lulls are necessary
If you can't see how important Phillips is to the way we play I suggest you email Marcelo to let him know how wrong he's got it, since he picks him for every game including cup matches. Maybe you can point out that as he's never played in goal he isn't viewing KP from the correct angles to notice his shortcomings
I've said for a long while that we should have two men covering the posts as Billy and Paul used to do. They saved us conceding loads of goals that way
Yeh, Bielsa needs to get out of the technical area, he never leaves it, even for corners... his positioning is terrible and he’s rooted to the spot every time we concede. Also, he can’t see that all Philips passes are backwards from there. He needs to find a replacement for himself in the January window and put the bucket in goal... gotta be better than that clown BPF.
Can you tell us how important Phillips is in the team, and why?..............you left that bit out of your errrrrm, comments.
Because if he wasn't in the team we would only have 10 players and that would make life more difficult He links play from defence into attack He holds the ball up He wins possession Creates opportunities for our attacking midfielders and forwards He is the first line of defence Breaks up counter attacks Covers for our fullbacks breaking into attack Probably not the best in the world at the above but generally doing well this season Got a contract until 2021 so hopefully we can hold onto him in January, as we haven't an obvious replacement By the way when did you become plural ?
I disagree with everything you wrote above, except for not the best. I think you'll find Klich and Forshaw are doing most of the linking play from defence to attack, followed by Cooper, Jansson, LB and RB, doesn't leave much but a few morsels for Phillips. He holds the ball up, yep, in our half, then passes it back or sideways. Wins possession...in that case he needs to increase his win possession stats a thousand fold. What opportunities does he create for our attacking mids?.......oh yeah, when he passes sideways to them, or a 5 yard pass. Phillips our first line of defence..... Phillips breaks up counter attacks, where, on his FIFA game on his puter. Covers for our fullbacks breaking into attack. How the hell does he cover for 4 fullbacks at same time. are you watching rugby by mistake? Granted, he stops the ball occasionally, he passes forward occasionally, runs back occasionally and rarely wins headers. He's not as good as you make him out to be imo. I get he's liked by many just cos he's a local Leeds lad, but he ain't that good. He brings no impact to team, he's not a force to be reckoned with, and goes missing. Yes Bielsa keeps picking him, but he picks BPF as well. Bielsa's brilliant at moment, but not perfect, and it doesn't mean everyone has to agree with him. Many fans disagreed with his Dallas selection at RB. I've had these debates before about Wood, Cook and Mowett. Not looking good for them at moment......
Two of them are at premier league clubs. Given where we are in the league currently, and despite your greater playing career and background in football than his, I’ll think I’ll go with Bielsa’s opinion on Phillips than yours thanks
Tut tut LoL, you never learn. Based on your comments aimed at me, and given your non or very little playing career, this would mean your comments and replies are woth sod all, wouldn't it? In your eagerness to attempt to drag me down, your thinking, and foresight ability, if any are numbed. Cook, found it hard to get in starting line up from start of season, when he does he gets subbed. Wood can't get in Burnley starting 11, maybe Burnley have realised they can score more goals without him, just like we do now. Prem or not doesn't make a difference. I said Mowtt would end up in lower leagues. Thankyou. .
In answer to your question, The keeper is responsible for organising the wall, that's not negotiable. If the keeper organises it wrong then he's to blame, if players ignore the keeper then the players are at fault, but so is the keeper for not taking control of the wall. Looking at the highlights you'll see BPF organised the wall in wrong place, the wall should, by all accounts be in front of the ball between the FK taker and the goal, it wasn't.......Has anyone ever seen a wall organised not in front of the ball. The FK taker looked up and saw the huge gap to the left of BPF and exploited it, as we saw, BPF was unable to cover his left side cos he was over to much to the right. Mcmanaman did the same thing, but luckily blasted it over the bar. When I was playing in that situation, I would tell the wall to leave a player space in middle, so 2 or 3 players left and 2 or 3 players right, 1 space in middle. This tempts the FK taker to aim for the space which I was directly behind, or he could go over the wall. Advantage for the keeper is, he can see the player and ball, he's covered the shot directly through the empty space, he can see where the balls going before it gets to the wall. A keeper should never rely on the wall, it's there to reduce the FK takers vision of the goal, stop the ball reaching the goal, or hopefully put him off. One of the things I was taught about free kicks is, if you look at the direction the left foot is pointing, it gives you an indication which side the ball is going, obviously right foot for left footed FK takers. If a keeper puts himself in a position where he can't cover either side of his goal, then he's at fault. A keeper should always know where his posts are, more importantly, know where to position himself between the posts for free kicks, corners and crosses.
